Jesús Herrera

Havana, January 16 (RHC) - Cuban volleyball players continue to shine in the best volleyball league in the world, the Italian league. In the most recent date of the Superliga, Jesús Herrera, Wilfredo León, Osniel Melgarejo and Robertlandy Simón had memorable performances, although not all of them enjoyed the victory of their clubs.

Herrera and León guided favored Perugia to a 3-0 success over Padova to extend the world club champion's unbeaten run (15-0).

The left-handed Herrera, Cuba's best volleyball player in 2022, scored 14 points with a 60 percent attacking efficiency, while Polish-born Cuban Wilfreddo Leon, for many the best player in the world, also had 14 points, 4 aces and 62 percent attacking efficiency.

For Perugia it was their fifteenth win in a row in the Superliga, and they now have 45 points, well ahead of Modena (29) and Civitanova (26).

Milan defeated Modena 3-1 on Sunday, in a match where Cuban Osniel Melgarejo had another remarkable performance, scoring 17 points and finishing second in scoring behind Japan's Yuki Ishikawa (20).

Meanwhile, Lube Civitanova suffered a costly 3-1 loss to Monza and dropped to third place in the standings. Canada's Stephen Maar paced Monza with 27 points, while for the Lube, Cuban Marlon Yant scored 11.

Another of the big teams, Trentino, was unable to beat Cisterna and fell 2-3, despite the outstanding performance of the giant world champion Alessandro Michieletto (27 points). For Cisterna, Croatian Petar Dirlic scored 37 points to reaffirm his position as the top scorer in the Superliga with 305 points in 15 games. Cuban José Miguel Gutiérrez (Cisterna) played as a substitute in 4 of the 5 sets.

Another high voltage day had the star Robertlandy Simon, but Piacenza could not beat the inspired Siena and fell 1-3, in a hard-fought match that lasted 2 hours 11 minutes.

Considered the best center back in the world, the Cuban left with 25 points, 17 in attack, 5 in blocking and 71 percent effectiveness in attack.

Simon is the second best middle blocker in the Superliga with 133 points in 12 matches, first in aces (21) and in average points per set (0.68).

In Piacenza's loss Roamy Alonso scored 5 points and Yoandy Leal did not line up.