Volleyball, the PalaCatania is leaking (literally): Sviluppo Sud loses and announces a complaint

A PalaCatania not up to the situation: Sviluppo Sud Catania loses at home 3-1 to Consar Ravenna, but the defeat on the court takes a back seat this time to the controversies over the numerous water infiltrations inside the arena that compromised the match. The guests, in fact, never wanted to change sides to avoid putting their players' safety at risk.

"The problem of water infiltration contributed a lot to our team's defeat. For this reason, we have announced a complaint to bring to light things that cannot exist in 2026," said the president, Pino Carbone, at the end. "A city like Catania cannot afford to have an arena where it rains inside. This is not the first time; we have already had this problem in other matches, but this time the locker rooms also flooded. We cannot continue, in the South, to have these situations: when we go to other arenas in the North, we find heating and everything we need."

In the first set, Ravenna starts strong (4-1), but then Arinze takes charge with a couple of aces, and Cottarelli is excellent at the net, with the rossazzurri going up 7-4. The marchigiani come back, and it’s point for point: at 19-19, a great point from Luka Basic, who then repeats himself at the net, 21-20 for Sviluppo. In the advantages, the Frenchman seals it at 27-25.

The second set starts with Ravenna immediately ahead: the Romagnoli are more precise in serving, at the net, and in defense, 11-7, and Montagnani calls a time-out without the desired effect, as Consar goes up 15-8: the guests maintain an average lead of seven to eight points, managing the set. With a winning spike, they close 25-16. The third set begins with a red and blue tint with points from Basic, a block from Feri, and an error from the opponents, 3-0. Ravenna doesn’t give up and recovers (5-5), and after much balance, they go ahead for the first time in the set (11-9). Consar continues to play better and goes up 19-14. The Etneans make mistakes, and the point arrives at 25-17.

The fourth set sees a balanced start, then the guests gradually take the lead, going up 9-5. Montagnani calls a time-out to shake things up for his team, Ravenna maintains a lead of 4-5 points for a long time but the rossazzurri react, stringing together a series of points and this time it is Consar who calls a time-out. The Romagnoli go up 21-16, this time it is Montagnani who stops the game. The desired effect is not achieved, the Etnei make many mistakes in the final stretch up to 24-16, many match points for Ravenna who closes and wins 25-16 under the “rain” of PalaCatania.