Serie A1 Sustenium
Round 15
A weekend of volleyball begins on Saturday with a superb encounter betweem Macerata and Roma. There will coincidentally be a repeat on January 25 in the Italian cup quarter finals. Other game of special interest will be the derby between Belluno and Verona with both teams coming off victories respectively in Latina and at home against Cuneo.
Round 15 Serie A1 Sustenium
Saturday January 14 at 5.30pm
Lube Banca Marche Macerata – M. Roma Volley Live on Rai Sport 1
(Sobrero-Santi)
Sunday january 15 at 5.30pm
Sisley Belluno – Marmi Lanza Verona Live on Rai Sport 1
(Bartolini-Braico)
Sunday January 15 at 6pm
Itas Diatec Trentino – Copra Elior Piacenza
(Prandi-Cesare)
Fidia Padova – Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza Live on Sportube.tv
(Sampaolo-Frapiccini)
Energy Resources San Giustino – Andreoli Latina
(Boris-Castagna)
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia
(Pasquali-Ippoliti)
Casa Modena – CMC Ravenna
(Pessolano-Saltalippi)
League table
Lube Banca Marche Macerata 35, Itas Diatec Trentino 35, Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 32, Casa Modena 29, Sisley Belluno 22, Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza 21, Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 20, M. Roma Volley 18, Andreoli Latina 17, Marmi Lanza Verona 16, Fidia Padova 15, Copra Elior Piacenza 14, Energy Resources San Giustino 12, CMC Ravenna 8
Lube Banca Marche Macerata – M. Roma Volley
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 10 (7-3 Roma)
Simone Parodi (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “In the last few games, besides the result, I think we showed some excellent volleyball, this is the way to go if we want to be at our best when it will matter the most. This Roma game represents a very important intermediate stage. They have not taken many points of late, but this remains a strong team, in my opinion they have a huge potential. We’ll have to stay focused throughout, be determined and play well with good serving, our main strength, if we want to win it”.
Alberto Cisolla (M.Roma Volley): “I know playing Macerata s not exactly the ideal to get back on track but at least we have an opportunity to improve our level of play and play a game with maximum focus. The difference between the two teams is obvious but we’re going to give it a go, and maybe get the luck we did not have against Modena. We’ll face them twice in just a few days. Tomorrow’s match up will be a test before the Italian cup. It would be nice to play with the determination we had against Modena. This would prove we’re getting better”.
Sisley Belluno – Marmi Lanza Verona
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 22 (15-7 Belluno)
Emmanuel Kohut (Sisley Belluno): “We have improved a great deal since the beginning of the season, shame we lost some points at the start when we missed some players and had some new ones to settle in. Without this poor start we’d be in a much better position right now. We got less than what we deserved against Trento and Modena too. But never mind, now we have found a good rhythm, we have to keep playing like this. Verona is a tough team, they proved it by beating Cuneo, one of the strongest teams in the league. This won’t be easy by any means, this is also a derby, but we have to keep our positive streak going and keep going up the table. The key? Keep serving well, get important points from serve and block”.
Marco Meoni (Marmi Lanza Verona): “We are satisfied with what we’ve done so far and now hopefully we’re on the right track, the one that will lead us to the playoffs. Now we’re up against Belluno which has improved an awful lot since the beginning of the season, they play top quality volleyball. If we keep playing like in recent games I am convinced we can get good results on court, starting against Belluno”.
Itas Diatec Trentino – Copra Elior Piacenza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 32 (19-13 Trento)
Dore Della Lunga (Itas Diatec Trentino): “We have to be concentrated on this encounter. Piacenza’s current league position does not reflect the real level the team and individual players can play at. In the first meeting, we only won it at the tie-break. Besides, the recent change of coach could give them an extra spark. Players like Zlatanov, Nikolov and Papi are always capable of making it hard for the opponents. We have to forget they are third from bottom”.
Alessandra Fantoni (Team Manager Copra Elior Piacenza): “This will be a very difficult game, which comes at the end of yet another week of passion and pressure characterised by the painful resignation of coach Lorenzetti, but also by the arrival of Monti and Cleber although it’s difficult to know how much the latter will be able to be used, given that he only arrived on Thursday. But we’ll try to turn things around, put those episodes behind us and play again with positive energy”.
Fidia Padova – Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 48 (30-18 Monza)
Javier Gonzalez (Fidia Padova): “We’re coming off two very positive games against Roma and Piacenza. This will be a tough game on Sunday against Monza which is going through an excellent moment of form. I don’t fear anyone in particular but Sunday’s game will be a big test for us, to see if we can get back to playing well in the PalaFabris arena and not only away from home. Hopefully, we’ll get back to winning ways at home with a fundamental help from our fans”.
Emanuele Zanini (coach Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza): “Sunday’s game is a difficult one, Padova is a tough place to go to. We’ll have to play at our best and with consistency. Padova has experienced players, with technique, nothing will come easy”.
Energy Resources San Giustino – Andreoli Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 17 (13-4 San Giustino)
Larry Creus (Energy Resources San Giustino): “The game against Latina will be difficult like all games are. We know we can win it, but we have to be the one to impose our game. They will not give anything away, if we play well we can win. Hopefully we’ll not feel the pressure too much. An advantage we have is that we are extremely united. We’ve never argued between us and you can see that”.
Andreas Fragkos (Andreoli Latina): “This is a very important game for us. We’ll have to play with confidence, we have to believe in our ability. We need to take advantage of any favourable situation coming our way to win it”.
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 14 (12-2 Cuneo)
Flavio Gulinelli (coach Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “This is a very important game for us. It’s fundamental to bounce back immediately after the defeat against Verona. We’re coming off a long road game in the Champions League but we got the result we wanted and secured top spot. This gave us a boost. Vibo is a very dangerous team, they have obtained interesting results in the first half of season. They have been unlucky to lose the setter Coscione, but they found a good solution with Serafini who greatly helped them to get a win last Sunday. Besides, they have a top class Dutch outside hitter and other excellent players. We can’t underestimate them”.
Gianlorenzo Blengini (coach Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “Despite Sunday’s defeat in Verona, Cuneo is a team that will fight for the league title with Trento and Macerata. They have a lot of quality, and not only in the starting six. Besides, they’ll be at home just after a defeat. There are all the ingredients to make sure Cuneo will get on court up for it and ready to fight for their lives. But we’ll give it a good fight too”.
Casa Modena – CMC Ravenna
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (Modena)
Daniele Bagnoli (coach Casa Modena): “Ravenna has improved a great deal since the start of the season and they have troubled quite a few teams even top ones. Besides, they have a dream, difficult but not impossible, staying up, which is why they play all out wherever they go. Having said that, it’s logical that we want to win and take all three points. Unfortunately, we’ve had a difficult week with the flu hitting many players and me included. We did not train properly. We are satisfied with our league position but in the mid-long term we want to be more demanding with our level of play, we want to improve and be ambitious”.
Antonio Babini (coach CMC Ravenna): “There are fewer and fewer games to play and the gap with the safety zone is increasing. We have to focus on our game and try to win every game we play, even in Modena, even if the level of our opponents will be extremely high given that Modena is among the league favourites, but we are in good form and we’ll try our best”.
Serie A2 Sustenium
Round 19: Perugia-Segrate and Castellana-Città di Castello.
Exciting round 19 ahead with the top four facing each other. Tied in second place, Perugia and Segrate meet with the place of sole runner up behind the leaders at stake and who knows maybe the top spot too if Castellana was to lose. The leaders will take on the fourth, Città di Castello. Di Pinto’s team will try to maintain its two-point advantage on the followers against a team that has gathered three wins in a row with maximum points to start the second half of season. Particular game between Molfetta and Atripalda as the match will be dedicated to coach Giancarlo Imbimbo, who tragically passed away as he came back from the winning trip to Loreto. Knocked out of the Italian Cup by Molfetta, Milan will try to bounce back at home against Genova, which moved up to 8th just three points behind Milan. Second consecutive home game for Sora, which takes on Isernia after the three points taken at the expense of Corigliano. Isernia was stopped last Sunday by Perugia after taking points in each of the previous six encounters. Reggio Emilia ended its ten game losing streak last week and is ready to take on Corigliano. Eleventh, Santa Croce wants to get back up the table as it entertains the young team of Club Italia, 13th. Cantù will play host to Loreto, which is dealing with injury problems that prevented them from taking any points from their last two games.
Round 19 Serie A2 Sustenium
Saturday January 14 at 8.30pm
Sir Safety Perugia – Volley Segrate 1978
(Piana-Gini)
Sunday January 15 at 4pm
Pallavolo Molfetta – Sidigas Atripalda Live on Sportitalia 2
(Somansino-Gelati)
Sunday January 15 at 6pm
CheBanca! Milano – Carige Genova
(Marchello-Cappelletti)
Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora – Cicchetti Isernia
(Simbari-Bartoloni)
Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia – Caffè Aiello Corigliano
(Puletti-Orpianesi)
NGM Mobile Santa Croce – Club Italia Roma
(Lot-Florian)
Cassa Rurale Cantù – Energy Resources Carilo Loreto
(Pristerà-Piubelli)
BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte – Gherardi SVI Città Di Castello
(Astengo-Prati)
League table
BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte 42, Volley Segrate 1978 40, Sir Safety Perugia 40, Gherardi SVI Città Di Castello 36, Pallavolo Molfetta 34, CheBanca! Milano 33, Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora 31, Carige Genova 30, Caffè Aiello Corigliano 27, Energy Resources Carilo Loreto 27, NGM Mobile S.Croce 26, Cicchetti Isernia 20, Club Italia Roma 19, Cassa Rurale Cantù 10, Sidigas Atripalda 9, Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia 8
