SERIE A1 TIM
Games preview
Sunday 23 November at 6pm
Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Yoga Forli
(La Micela – Lavorenti)
Trenkwalder Modena – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia
(Giani – Boris)
Sisley Treviso – Framasil Pineto
(Locatelli – Zucca)
Marmi Lanza Verona – RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia
(Caltabiano – Cinti)
Sunday 23 November at 6.30pm
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Itas Diatec Trentino LIVE ON SKY SPORT 2
(Castagna – Barbero)
Monday 24 November at 8.30pm
Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza – Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari LIVE ON SKY SPORT 2
(Pol – Bartolini)
CLASSIFICA SERIE A1 TIM
Itas Diatec Trentino 21; Lube Banca Marche Macerata 20; Sisley Treviso 16; Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari, Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza 15; Marmi Lanza Verona 14; Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo, RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia 12; Framasil Pineto 11; Stamplast Martina Franca 9; Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia, Yoga Forli 8; Trenkwalder Modena 7; Antonveneta Padova 0.
LUBE BANCA MARCHE MACERATA – YOGA FORLI
Past encounters: 10 (9-1 Macerata).
Last game: Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Conad Volley Forli 3-1 in 2000/01, 2nd round return games.
Record chaser: Max Di Franco needs only one point for the 1500 in regular season. Martin Lebl’s aim is to score 3 spikes for the 1500 in his career. Omrcen is 17 away from the 2000 spikes, while Valerio Vermeglio could reach 1000 points with 7 more.
Jan Willem Snippe (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “Forli is a good team, I’ve had the chance to see it at the beginning of the season when we met them in a friendly game. We were in pre-season, but they already made a good impression, especially the setter. We’ll have to serve really well to win. This is the serve that made the difference last Sunday against Padova”
Alberto Casadei (Yoga Forli): “I proved I could do well as Rodrigues and Tuba’s substitute. I’m glad I can help the team, just like I was before. The Macerata game will be important. It will be an opportunity to consolidate our game, why not by taking a few points out”.
TRENKWALDER MODENA – TONNO CALLIPO VIBO VALENTIA
Past encounters: 6 (4 vittorie Modena, 2 Vibo Valentia).
Last game: Cimone Modena – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 3-1 in 2006/07, 1st round return games.
Record chaser: Paolo Cozzi is 3 blocks away from 500, while Simeonov will celebrate his 300th game in the Serie A. Endres Murilo needs 5 aces for the 100, while Luca Tencati is only 5 blocks away from the 700.
Andrea Sartoretti (Trenkwalder Modena): “This game is very important for us. We’ll have two opponents: we’ll have to win against ourselves, then against Vibo. We have to get back on track, the group is working hard to make it happen. I feel everybody really pulling together. We want to play a great game”.
Ventceslav Simeonov (Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “It won’t be an easy game, Modena is going through a tough period and they really need to win. We’ll try to play a good game and take the points. That would help us to face the future with more confidence”.
SISLEY TREVISO – FRAMASIL PINETO
Never met before
Record chaser: Cosimo Gallotta is only one block from the 200. Teammate Stafan Hubner only needs 4 aces to reach one hundred and 5 blocks to get to the 500. Besides, he is only 22 points away from the 2000.
Alessandro Fei (Sisley Treviso): “Pineto plays well, it plays a flowing game. Their volleyball is exciting even though the setter and the wings don’t have exceptionally great athleticism, they are a threat because they play with fighting spirit. We all saw what they did against Modena, that’s why we can’t afford to think it’s going to be an easy game. Our target is to find consistency in one same game. It went better against Perugia but there is still a long way to go and it is fundamental that we get some points on Sunday, before facing the big games we have ahead. We want the three points to consolidate our league position in order to qualify for the Italian Cup finals”.
Marco Fabroni (Framasil Pineto): “The spirit is good following our win over Modena. We’ll obviously travel to Treviso knowing we’ll be facing a very strong team. Treviso is full of excellent players, we’ll have to be careful. We watched some of their games this week and we know they do make mistakes too. We’ll have to take advantage of them, trying to play with the determination we showed against Modena. That’s the only way to get points out of it”.
MARMI LANZA VERONA – RPA-LUIGIBACCHI.IT PERUGIA
Past encounters: 14 (9-5 Perugia).
Last game: Marmi Lanza Verona – RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia 0-3 in 2006/07, 12th round return games.
Record chaser: Michal Laskocould reach the 2000 spikes with 18 more.Andrea Semenzato is only two blocks away from the 200. As for Perugia, Goran Vujevic hopes to score 3 aces to reach the 300.
Maurizio Latelli (Marmi Lanza Verona): “Perugia has two exceptional players in reception. Our aim should be to avoid these two guys but it won’t be easy. On our day, anyone can be in difficulty against our serve. Our main weapon right now is this, the serve, and consequently, the block. We’re working hard on the other fundamentals looking for different solutions. We have to try to win, these are crucial points”.
Giacomo Sintini (RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia): “We’ll face a tough opponent, who proved more than once that it was in great form. Still, we shouldn’t think about this, we have to get on court with determination and the conviction that we can win any game, no matter who the opponent is. We have to limit the number of mistakes and bounce back after the recent defeats”.
BRE BANCA LANNUTTI CUNEO – ITAS DIATEC TRENTINO
Past encounters: 24 (16-8 Cuneo).
Last game: Itas Diatec Trentino – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 3-1 in 2007/08, 1st round return games.
Record chaser: Francesco Biribanti is only one block from the 300 in the Serie A.
Gregor Jeroncic (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “Trento is a very organised team, just like last season. Their style of play is very effective. We have to give our all to get some points. We have a good team, the important thing is to always believe in our chances. We saw that in Cannes in the Cev Cup, a very difficult game that we managed to win in the end”.
Garcia Pires Ribeiro Riad (Itas Diatec Trentino): “I think this is one of the toughest road game of the season, if not the toughest. Their inconsistency doesn’t matter much, Cuneo has always been a competitive team, focused and it’s rare they have an off-day. Thefact they have the two ex Jeroncic and Nikolov will allow them to have some extra information about our game. They will tactically make it difficult for us. Personally, I’m glad to have Stoytchev back. It’s been his first real week of training after his injury and I’m glad we have now a good alternative in the middle. I played at Cuneo but that doesn’t matter much to me. I want to focus on my performance, the rest is part of the past”.
COPRA NORDMECCANICA PIACENZA – ACQUA PARADISO GABECA MONTICHIARI
Past encounters: 12 (6 wins each).
Last game: Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari – Copra Piacenza 0-3 in 2007/08, 5th round return games.
Record chaser: Hristo Zlatanov is about to reach the 600 blocks, he only needs 1.
Marco Meoni (Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza): “Piacenza and Montichiari are two teams with different characteristics but they both produce a good volleyball. We’ll both try to prove we are worth our current table position and why not even more”.
Enrico Marchionni (Direttore Sportivo Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari):
“We’re going to Piacenza eager to get the best possible result after our terrible performance against Verona. I’m sure we’ll have a great game, the team was waiting for this series of tough games to challenge the top teams of the league. We’ll try to beat the Monday Night jinx, which always saw the home team come out winner. The boys worked hard during the week and got rid of the bad thoughts that came up after the Verona game. I’m sure we’ll give the fans and the viewers a good game”
