Here comes another midweek round in the A1. Trentino stands above the rest after sixth round with four consecutive wins in two weeks. Its next opponent is Taranto. Just two points behind is Treviso and Modena who will face each other at the PalaVerde gym in the 90th meeting between the two teams in history. Both Piacenza and Cuneo have ten points: the first plays away at Forli, while the second hosts Perugia, as you can see it live on Rai Sport Più. Vibo Valentia plays host to Loreto, while Pineto entertains Verona. Finally, there is a meeting between teams tied in the table: Monza versus Latina. Macerata is rested.
Round 7
Wednesday 21 October at 8.30
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia Live on Rai Sport Più
(Pol – Bartolini)
Itas Diatec Trentino – Prisma Taranto
(Giani – Gnani)
Yoga Forlì – CoprAtlantide Piacenza
(Padoan – Cinti)
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Esse-ti Carilo Loreto
(Perri – Boris)
Acqua Paradiso Monza – Andreoli Latina
(Caltabiano – Saltalippi)
Sisley Treviso – Trenkwalder Modena
(Sampaolo – Sobrero)
Aran Cucine Abruzzo Pineto – Marmi Lanza Verona
(Cesare – Castagna)
Lube Banca Marche Macerata – RESTED
League table
Itas Diatec Trentino 15, Sisley Treviso, Trenkwalder Modena 13, Prisma Taranto, CoprAtlantide Piacenza, Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 10, Lube Banca Marche Macerata 9, Marmi Lanza Verona 8, Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia, Esse-ti Carilo Loreto 7, Acqua Paradiso Monza, Andreoli Latina, RPA-LuigiBacchi.itPerugia 6,Yoga Forlì 3, Aran Cucine Abruzzo Pineto 0.
Note: 1 game in hand: Trenkwalder Modena, Prisma Taranto, Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia, Acqua Paradiso Monza, RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia, Yoga Forlì; 2 games in hand: Aran Cucine Abruzzo Pineto
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 14 (9-5 Cuneo)
Alberto Giuliani (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “Perugia is a very ambitious team in which there is the couple of spikers of the Italian National team, the setter-outside hitter combination is full of knowledge, there are ahead of us. We keep working with the necessity to obtain points to stay in the top part of the table, and also with the aim to improve as quickly as possible. Compared to the game against Trento. We will need more patience in attack and more determination in dig”.
Andrea Sartoretti (RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia): “I’m expecting my team to be consistent. We have targets, even after the defeat against Verona, and we have defined some steps in order to reach those targets. Even if we’ll be facing a strong and experienced team like Cuneo, we have to improve in certain situation and fundamentals all the same”.
Itas Diatec Trentino – Prisma Taranto
PRECEDENTI:12 (7-5 Taranto)
Sergio Busato (Itas Diatec Trentino): “We can’t afford to rest on our laurels just because we have won three important games in the last nine days. We won big games but what makes the difference in Italy is not losing points against the other teams. Wednesday’s game is certainly one of them, even if we have to say that Taranto, together with Vibo, are amongst the main surprises of this season. Not many expected to see Taranto so high in the table, but they deserve to be there because they have an excellent squad. Suxho is a setter that plays well in the centre and manages to find a good understanding with its outside hitter very quickly, in this case Rivaldo. No need to tell you how good he is after the performances he had last season. On the wings they have a good combination of Brazilians: Cleber is a spiker, a 4, with good technique and character, while Abbadi is excellent in dig and disciplined. It would therefore be wrong to face this encounter without the same determination we had against Piacenza, Macerata and Cuneo. We know that for well and we will keep mentally highly focused”.
Rivaldo (Prisma Taranto): “This break came at the right time. We could recharge the batteries and work well. In Trento, we will see what we can do against the best teams of this league. We will try to win, then if the opponent proves to be better and stronger, we will just shake their hands. The challenge against Vissotto ? I’m not interested in individual challenges. I prefer my team to win scoring just five points rather than lose and me having 20 points”.
Yoga Forlì – CoprAtlantide Piacenza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 5 (4-1 Piacenza)
Goran Maric (Yoga Forlì): “I think we have learned from the last two games, to make less mistakes. We can play a lot better and we will start to do so from the two coming encounters against Piacenza and Macerata. These are ideal games, we haven’t got much to lose. There have been good training sessions in recent days and the team is back at the level seen when we beat Pineto”.
Leonel Marshall (CoprAtlantide Piacenza): “We have to face this away game with the same motivation as against Vibo. We are still disappointed to have let important points slip away against Macerata. Forli is a tough team, we met them in pre-season. There are no weak teams in our league, but teams with different targets, all of them can be dangerous. They need points and they will be eager to do well at home against the Italian champions”.
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Esse-ti Carilo Loreto
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 8 (4 each)
Pippo Callipo (Presidente Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “Shame my boys did not manage to get at least a tie-break in the last game. After losing the first set, for a couple of mistakes too many, they reacted well in the second set which is why I was hoping for a different outcome. I can’t really reproach anything to the players because I know they are working well and very hard. In the last two games they have lost a bit their concentration and I hope there will be a nice victory against Loreto in front of our amazing fans, in order to regain this winning spirit that allowed us to do great performances”.
Luca Moretti (Esse-ti Carilo Loreto): “Vibo Valentia is definitely a good team, with good and experienced players, they can aim high. Our target will be to limit our mistakes during the game and try not to have too many ups and downs, like it often happened to us, especially away from home. We’ll have a chance to stay in the game and maybe get something out of it only if we manage to reach this target”.
Acqua Paradiso Monza – Andreoli Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: None
Mauro Berruto (Acqua Paradiso Monza): “Wednesday’s game against Latina will be extremely important, not only for our league position but also for the spirit of the group. Latina summed up two consecutive wins, a victory would really do us a lot of good. Given our season targets, the main thing is not so much to find a perfect harmony in the game but show the necessary character to get the three points. We’ll work on the quality, level of play when the calendar will allow us to train more. These games must be used to take as many points as possible in order to stay up in A1. Sometimes the substance is more important than the form”.
Leondino Giombini (Andreoli Latina): “It will be a crucial game against Monza. After two consecutive win against Forli and Pineto, we have to show the progress we made against a better team. It will be a game on a neutral court given that the club and the fans are from Montichiari. For many of us (Cortina, Nikic, Spairani, Ricci and me) it is a comeback to Milan although we used to play at the PalaLido and not in Monza”.
Sisley Treviso – Trenkwalder Modena
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 95 (51-44 Treviso)
Alessandro Fei (Sisley Treviso): “We are on the right track, we learned from the first few games that we should never stop to put pressure on our opponent, and that’s what we’ll have to do against Modena. It’s too early to look at the league table. Let’s focus on playing with a smile and will to fight on every ball, putting pressure on the serve and at the net. I can see the attitude is right. The Modena game is an important one. Hopefully the fans will give us a hand just like they did in the last two home games”.
Mikko Esko (Trenkwalder Modena): “Treviso is a very strong team and it started brilliantly this season. I can’t wait to play this game, it’s a classic between two teams with a great tradition. We have won four games in a row and we gained confidence. Tomorrow’s encounter will tell us where we stand at this time of the season”.
Aran Cucine Abruzzo Pineto – Marmi Lanza Verona
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 4 (3-1 Verona)
Mauro Talleri (Aran Cucine Abruzzo Pineto): “The team is still shocked by the traffic accident suffered on Sunday night. The players are especially affected, and it’s difficult to prepare for such an important game in those conditions. Verona is a strong team, aiming to end high up in the table. This is another reason this will be tough tomorrow but we have the obligation morally to get off that zero point in the table and get our first result”.
Robert Kromm (Marmi Lanza Verona): “We have to focus on our game and go to Pineto with this target, trying to put them under pressure with our serve and at the net. We are said to be superior to them but we have to prove it on court. Everybody is expecting us to win, this brings a bit of pressure, we’ll see how we handle it. We still have to improve in terms of consistency: at times we play great volleyball, and sometimes it’s a lot less impressive, we have to find our ‘average’.
