Serie A1 Sustenium
Ravenna vs San Giustino at the bottom
Round 16 will open up with a huge game between Ravenna and San Giustino, the two bottom teams in the league table which will fight for their lives in this crucial encounter. Other highlights of this weekend: the Champions Trentino take on Padova, while the big game of the day has to be Modena versus Monza, two teams that will meet again in the Cup quarter-finals just a few days later.
Round 16, Serie A1 Sustenium
Saturday January 21 at 5.45pm
CMC Ravenna – Energy Resources San Giustino Live on Rai Sport 1
Live streaming on http://www.raisport.rai.it/dl/raisport/multimedia/diretta.html
(Pasquali-Sampaolo)
Sunday January 22 at 5.30pm
Marmi Lanza Verona – Andreoli Latina Live on Rai Sport 1
Live streaming on http://www.raisport.rai.it/dl/raisport/multimedia/diretta.html
(Saltalippi–Cerquoni)
Sunday January 22 ar 6pm
Itas Diatec Trentino – Fidia Padova
(Genna-Satanassi)
Copra Elior Piacenza – Lube Banca Marche Macerata
(Pozzato-Rapisarda)
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Sisley Belluno
(Caltabiano-Gnani)
Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza – Casa Modena
(Cipolla–Puecher)
M. Roma Volley – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo Live on Sportube.tv
(La Micela–Pessolano)
League table
Lube Banca Marche Macerata 38, Itas Diatec Trentino 38, Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 35, Casa Modena 32, Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza 24, Sisley Belluno 22, Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 20, Andreoli Latina 19, Marmi Lanza Verona 19, M. Roma Volley 18, Fidia Padova 15, Copra Elior Piacenza 14, Energy Resources San Giustino 13, CMC Ravenna 8
CMC Ravenna – Energy Resources San Giustino
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (San Giustino)
Antonio Babini (coach CMC Ravenna): “The league table does all the talking, both team will play this game with a lot of pressure. I think the winner will be the one who deals better with the pressure during the game”.
Claudio Sciurpa (President Energy Resources San Giustino): “Staff and players have to be aware of how crucial is this game. Everybody have to give 110% on Saturday. I want to see the fighting spirit, effort and focus that a game like that requires. In sport you either win or lose, in this case we can only win. It’s the only result I want. We cannot underestimate Ravenna, we have to remember we went close to lose at the tie-break in the first meeting. This is a key game”.
Marmi Lanza Verona – Andreoli Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 15 (10-5 Verona)
Matteo De Cecco (ass.coach Marmi Lanza Verona): “We’re facing a run a three games against team that are first aiming to stay up, just like us, but at the same they aspire to a good position in the playoffs. It’s evident that we are playing good volleyball right now and with great competitive spirit. This will help us for this game, although we are aware of the quality of Prandi’s team, which will be pushed by former Verona player Daniele Sottile. But we know there will be a great atmosphere in the arena”.
Murphy Troy (Andreoli Latina): “An important game, in the first meeting we won but they are playing much better now and they’re coming off a victory over Belluno, a good team. It will be very cold in Verona, the kind of climate there is in Saint Louis in Missouri, I’ll feel at home. The serve will be crucial for us, if we serve well we can win it”.
Itas Diatec Trentino – Fidia Padova
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 19 (15-4 Trento)
Raphael (Itas Diatec Trentino): “This will be a good advantage to host the next two games, no more travelling and the help of the crowd on our part. We’re playing an awful lot of games and the help of the fans can make up for the building tiredness. We’ll have to be very careful with Padova’s serve, they hit it strong, they are on the up and they can make it difficult for us if we don’t adopt a good attitude”.
Paolo Montagnani (coach Fidia Padova): “Very complicated fixture for us, but we’ll give it our best shot as we always do. We are training with intensity for the coming games, especially for the one against Verona, which will be an important test for us. We’ll need maximum focus and we’ll have to be aggressive to obtain good results”.
Copra Elior Piacenza – Lube Banca Marche Macerata
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 26 (14-12 Macerata)
Luca Monti (coach Copra Elior Piacenza): “This is my first full week in Piacenza. Training is going well, I am satisfied, although there are still a couple of things to sort out. The most positive things I saw was how open was the team. What I expect from the Macerata game is to see the good attitude there is in training and, even if we are not as strong as Macerata, try to take the opportunities that come our way. In my opinion, Macerata does not have the same killer instinct as Trento, even if they are more balanced and more solid at the net. I want consistent fighting spirit and determination during the whole game”.
Igor Omrcen (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “In the next few games we’ll basically play our whole season between League, Cup and Champions League, starting with this match against Piacenza. It will be important to start off well, to bounce back after the loss in Novosibirsk and stay top in the league. This will also help prepare the key games against Trento and Cuneo which will follow. Strangely, Piacenza had a lot of difficulty this season, but in my opinion this remains an extremely strong team, given the top class players they have. They’ll be all the more dangerous given their desperate need for points”.
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Sisley Belluno
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (Vibo)
Matej Cernic (Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “This will be an extremely important game for us. They are going through an excellent moment of form. They are two points above us, we’ll try our best to get the most out of it. I expect a very difficult game, we’ll have to try to limit Fei as much as possible, he is the key figure in their team. They use his experience a lot and we’ll have to do a good job with him”.
Roberto Piazza (Sisley Belluno): “Vibo is a dangerous team, they’re playing well, especially at home. When we met earlier this season, they punished us at the tie-break, that was a defeat that really hurt. We can’t afford any loss of concentration, we need to be focused because we’re facing a tricky week, with three crucial away games: this one in Vibo, then in the Cup in Cuneo and on Saturday in San Giustino. We need to regain our level, if we play like we did in the three sets against Verona, we don’t stand a chance. On the other hand, if we find our game we can get a result and improve our league position. Vibo possesses some good players like Cernic, Diaz and Rak, they can make it tough for us”.
Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza – Casa Modena
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 64 (43-21 Modena)
Emanuele Zanini (coach Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza): “Sunday’s game will be a tough one. They are currently fourth in the league. They hit the jump serve very well, it won’t be easy to contain it. They’ll try to hit it hard to get our setter moving. But our team is starting to have a real personality, and this is an important factor. Hopefully Sean Rooney will be in the group, this would be a big plus for us”.
Daniele Bagnoli (coach Casa Modena): “Big game for two reasons, there are three points at stake that we want to stay close to the top 3, and then it’s a test against the team we’ll meet again in the Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday. This is our first real target of the season, the two teams will use Sunday’s game to ‘get to know’ each other. Monza has made a lot of changes compared to the beginning of the season. They improved a lot with Conte’s arrival and the come back of Rooney got them to a higher level. No surprise they obtained a run of victories lately. A good test for us, we’re in a rather good shape, we have various alternatives in the play and line up. I think the boys are dealing well with this variety of solutions and they’re training as well as they can. We want to feel as close to the top teams as possible, but we have to prove our worth on court week in week out”.
M. Roma Volley – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 7 (4-3 Cuneo)
Martin Lebl (M. Roma Volley): “we’ll need to face Cuneo with the right frame of mind, without thinking of Wednesday’s Italian Cup quarter final. They are two different games, let’s play one at a time. In those type of games, if you’re not focused you run the risk of looking pretty bad. Even if results have not gone our way, we are not playing that bad. Cuneo is a strong team but we’ll try to take advantage of the opportunity our opponent we’ll let us. We have to keep working on our flaws and I am sure we’ll get back on track”.
Flavio Gulinelli (coach Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “This is a crucial game. We have to focus immediately after the Champions League and get down to business. We can’t afford to lower our guards and lose points on the way, especially in this period of the season. We’re facing a very difficult road game, and it has to be prepared with maximum concentration, without forgetting any detail. This will also be a good test ahead of Wednesday’s quarter-final against Belluno”.
Serie A2 Sustenium
Round 20. Leaders, Perugia, hosts Sora led by new coach Porro
Sidigas Adtripalda – Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia. Atripalda wants to bounce back following the loss against Molfetta, which put an end to a three-game winning streak, while Reggio Emilia found its rhythm. They won their last two games and are starting to get back up the table.
Caffè Aiello Corigliano – Pallavolo Molfetta (Diretta Sportitalia 2). Southern derby. After two 3-0 losses away from home, Nacci’s team hopes to make the home court advantage count. Molfetta’s target is to stay as high up the table as possible.
Cicchetti Isernia – CheBanca! Milano. Isernia is still looking for its first win in this second half of season. Run of three consecutive tie-break defeats for Milan.
Crazy Diamond Segrate – NGM Mobile Santa Croce. Qualified for the Italian Cup Final Four and with a new title sponsor, Segrate will chase the top spot again. Tough second half of season for Santa Croce, three tie-breaks, two lost plus a 3-1 defeat.
BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte – Cassa Rurale Cantù. Castellana lost its first place last week and wants it back.
Sir Safety Perugia – Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora. New league leaders and qualified for the Cup final four, Perugia is ready for another battle against a Sora team led by new coach Vincenzo Porro as Alberto Gatto was fired. Gatto spent seven seasons at the club, winning two promotions from B2 to A2.
Carige Genova – Gherardi SVI Città di Castello. Genova is coming off two straight wins, while Radici’s team made the breakthrough of winning in Castellana Grotte in the last round and was close to knock out Perugia in the cup quarters.
Energy Resources Carilo Loreto – Club Italia Roma. Loreto wants to bounce back after the disappointing loss in the cup while Club Italia needs to improve a 1-3 record in this second half of season.
Round 20 Serie A2 Sustenium
Saturday January 21 at 6.30pm
Sidigas Atripalda – Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia
(Bartoloni-Frapiccini)
Sunday January 22 at 4pm
Caffè Aiello Corigliano – Pallavolo Molfetta Live on Sportitalia 2
(Marchello–Guarneri)
Sunday January 22 at 6pm
Cicchetti Isernia – CheBanca! Milano
(Perdisci-Piersanti)
Crazy Diamond Segrate – NGM Mobile Santa Croce
(Carrara-Gentile)
BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte – Cassa Rurale Cantù
(Oranelli-Bellini)
Sir Safety Perugia – Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora
(Gelati-Cardaci)
Carige Genova – Gherardi SVI Città di Castello
(Bassan-Pristerà)
Energy Resources Carilo Loreto – Club Italia Roma
(Bertolini-Licchelli)
League table
Sir Safety Perugia 43, BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte 42, Volley Segrate 1978 40, Gherardi SVI Città Di Castello 39, Pallavolo Molfetta 37, Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora 34, CheBanca! Milano 34, Carige Genova 32, Energy Resources Carilo Loreto 30, NGM Mobile S.Croce 28, Caffè Aiello Corigliano 27, Cicchetti Isernia 20, Club Italia Roma 20, Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia 11, Cassa Rurale Cantù 10, Sidigas Atripalda 9
