Epic Victory for Servigroup Playas de Benidorm in Promotion Phase Debut

Nobody said it would be easy, nor did anyone predict the journey would be short. The path to promotion, if it is to be, will be long, arduous, tortuous, and filled with seemingly insurmountable obstacles for the average person, suitable only for great warriors like the 14 men under Adriano Lamb's command who landed in Leganés this afternoon to finally take Playa de los Cristianos, Arona, and set their sights on Barça (Friday, 17:00 hours).

Only six of the 36 teams that began the regular phase of the Superliga 2 Masculina last summer have reached this Europa Pavilion in Leganés to compete for the only two tickets to the top tier of national volleyball. Six teams, now present in Leganés, representing the absolute elite of the category, a parity that was evident in the first set of the match between Servigroup Playas de Benidorm and Arona, the teams tasked with opening the tournament, who in that initial set of the opening match barely found ways to inflict significant damage on each other's ranks.

As expected, it was a probing set between two squads that had not faced each other this season (coming from different groups and not meeting in the Copa Príncipe), and at the same time, it was of very high intensity, leading both teams to commit those small errors that, as the classic saying goes, decided the set 'by details'.

Details in which Servigroup Playas de Benidorm was slightly superior, ultimately taking the set 22-25 and gaining an advantage that, at least psychologically, transferred all the pressure to the Canary Islands team, who were forced to come back.

However, that moral boost, at least at the start of the second set, seemed to be led by Arona, much more focused in those initial stages of the second set against a Servigroup Playas de Benidorm that experienced its own desert crossing, being very erratic in serving and weak in blocking.

The situation, in any case, was resolved midway through the set when, after trailing by four, Servigroup Playas de Benidorm managed to level the score at 16-16 and get back into the game, only to complicate things again in the final stretch with the same errors as in the initial moments, seeing Arona reach 23-20 on the scoreboard, with everything in their favour to achieve the equaliser, which finally appeared on the scoreboard with a 25-22 partial that not only highlighted the enormous parity between the two teams but also reset the match counter to zero.

Having learned the lesson, Servigroup Playas de Benidorm came out with their wildest and most ardent side in the third set, soon becoming the (almost) unbeatable team of the regular phase, constantly setting the pace of the match with, among other important details, an excellent Luca Cuminetti in serving, who in his first rotation turn took the score to a very promising 3-9, leaving things very favourable for the Benidorm team.

But volleyball, like any sport, is composed not so much of continuous time but rather a succession of 'moments'. Moments that, for a while, Arona seemed to know how to make their own, gradually, like in a war of attrition, reclaiming the ground gained from a Servigroup Playas de Benidorm that entered the final stretch of the set with a very tight 18-23, which Arona managed to turn into an alarming 21-23, forcing Adriano Lamb to call a timeout in search of a reaction from his team, seemingly unable to close the set.

And although very tight and hard-fought, that reaction came, allowing them to regain the lead in the overall score after closing the set with another tight 23-25.

The fourth set began again with total equality in play and a scoreboard that, once more, fluctuated according to those 'moments' of brilliance from each side, with neither Servigroup Playas de Benidorm nor Arona able to open the slightest gap that could predict anything beyond a continuous exchange of plays, each more intense than the last, with some seeking to close the match and others to stay alive in it.

And so it was, with the score at 20-20, that they entered the final stretch of the set where, besides the game, nerves or perhaps the opposite, composure, would be the determining factor in tipping the balance.

With nerves of steel, the final, the desired 25th point (with a two-point advantage) approached and receded for each team based on their merits and demerits. Arona was the first to have a set point (24-23), but Servigroup Playas de Benidorm levelled at 24, extending the agony a bit longer.

A misinterpretation of the game by Servigroup Playas de Benidorm once again gave the Canary Islands team a set point (25-24), and again, the Benidorm team equalised the score. More agony. More suffering and, once more, a Canary lead (26-25) that was undone in the next play. Then, finally, the match was closed with a great 26-28 in favour of Servigroup Playas de Benidorm, leaving Adriano Lamb's team at least one step closer to the great achievement.