Round 8
We’re just four rounds away from the halfway point of the regular season, when the 8 teams to make it into the Italian cup will be known. And the battle is tight. San Giustino and Ravenna will fight it out on Saturday while the big game on Sunday will be Modena versus Cuneo. Tough times for Modena, on a three-game losing streak and with Dick Kooy gone to Macerata this week. They’re still in with a chance to get in the cup but they’ll need a magical run against Cuneo, Trento and Macerata. On the contrary, Cuneo is having a great time right now, coming off two wins in the league and being still undefeated in the Champions League.
Serie A1 round 8
Saturday November 24 at 5.30pm
Altotevere San Giustino – CMC Ravenna Live on RAI Sport 2
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Cardaci-Genna)
Sunday November 25 at 5.30pm
Casa Modena – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo Live on RAI Sport 2
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Pol-Sampaolo)
Sunday November 25 at 6pm
BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte – Itas Diatec Trentino
(Piana-Satanassi)
Copra Elior Piacenza – Sir Safety Perugia
(Balboni-Gnani)
Marmi Lanza Verona – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata Live on Sportube.tv
(Santi-Castagna)
Andreoli Latina – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia
(Padoan-Sobrero)
League table
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata 19, Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 15, Itas Diatec Trentino 14, Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 14, Andreoli Latina 13, Copra Elior Piacenza 13, Sir Safety Perugia 10, Marmi Lanza Verona 7, Casa Modena 6, Altotevere San Giustino 5, BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte 4, CMC Ravenna 3
1 game in hand: Itas Diatec Trentino, Casa Modena
Altotevere San Giustino – CMC Ravenna
PAST ENCOUNTERS: None
Goran Maric (Altotevere San Giustino): “I’m happy to wear this shirt: San Giustino is the city where I decided to live, that’s one of the reason why I accepted the offer of the club and the sport director, Andrea Sartoretti. Last week’s game against Vibo was my come-back in the game after many months out. It’s been tough. Vibo is a top quality team, they made it hard for us, you can’t deny that. I am personally not hundred percent, I still have to get to know my teammates, but I’m sure the results will soon come along. We’ll face Ravenna on Sunday, a big opportunity for us. A win could give us the boost we need to end on a high this first half of season. If we look at the fixture list, after the Cuneo game, we’ll have two games in which we can do well, Modena at home and Castellana Grotte away”.
Mauro Fresa (coach CMC Ravenna): “We’re coming off another good week of training, we’re positive, in spite of the fact this will basically be our fourth consecutive game away from home given that we hosted Latina in Forlì. We’re playing Sunday against a team that has just strengthened its roster with the signing of Maric, but if we play at our best we have our chance. We’ll try to get a result and do as well as against Modena”.
Casa Modena – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 65 (33-32 Modena)
Angelo Lorenzetti (coach Casa Modena): “Kooy’s departure? In any work place you will find similar situations. At times, there is no synchrony between the expectations and the needs of an organization and its employees. This can cause frustration and consequently tensions. All the decisions that we have taken, and will take, will be taken with the good of the club in mind, and therefore the good of the team and mine. The atmosphere might have changed after the Castellana Grotte game, now we have to get back to that initial positive attitude, we have to set individual targets, without expressing negative feelings, we need confidence. We should not worry about the kind of game there could be against Cuneo, Trento and Macerata, but focus on the way we have to play ourselves”.
Oleg Antonov (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “I am extremely satisfied with last Tuesday’s Champions League game, we played well, and I did OK too. We did a good job of not putting our heads down after the second set, we managed to turn things around and get a positive result. Now we’re focused on the league, we’re going to Modena, we’re preparing the game, after two difficult road games in Rzeszow and Verona, we had more time to train and get to this game in good conditions”.
BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte – Itas Diatec Trentino
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 2 (Trento won both)
Bruno De Mori (Direttore Sportivo BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte): “The team has been working well this week, with will and determination. It will be a honour for us to face Trento, but it’s also another game to play at the best of our possibilities to work and improve, both as individuals and as a team. We still got some positive indications from our defeat in Piacenza, we got Dolfo back and Alex Ferreira did well, that’s the way to go. The game against the World Champion will be fascinating for all of us, we don’t want to be thrashed in front of our fans. I think the boys can find the motivation to give their best in such games”.
Raphael Vieira De Oliveira (Itas Diatec Trentino): “I think we’ll face a heated atmosphere on Sunday in Castellana Grotte. I remember well the game played two years ago there. Taking the win had been anything but easy but we can’t lose our rhythm and determination now. We need another victory to stay in the race in the league. In a team like Trento where the group is united, you don’t feel as tired because we are all ready to help each other out”.
Copra Elior Piacenza – Sir Safety Perugia
PAST ENCOUNTERS: None
Luca Monti (coach Copra Elior Piacenza): “Two weeks ago, we had set ourselves four goals. We brilliantly reached our first three targets, now we have to think about the fourth: Sunday’s game against Perugia. Everybody wants to keep winning. The team spirit has to stay the same, in a week’s time we’ll be up against Trento and right after that we’ll be in the Challenge Cup in Tallinn, Estonia”.
Nicola Daldello (Sir Safety Perugia): “This will be an extremely difficult game against one of the top teams of this league. Piacenza is full of stars, like Papi, Fei and Zlatanov, just to name a few. But we’re feeling good right now, we’re improving game after game. We made good progress last Sunday against Modena in certain game situations. We’ll give it our best shot again in Piacenza to try to get something out of it”.
Marmi Lanza Verona – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 17 (14 Macerata)
Bruno Bagnoli (coach Marmi Lanza Verona): “We’ll need more consistency against Macerata than what we’ve seen in the second set against Cuneo. We need to perform at a good level for longer spells. We’ll have to do well in reception and contain their servers. We have to make the most of our potential in attack and be more efficient”.
Alen Pajenk (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “We’ll try to bounce back in Verona as our winning streak was interrupted in Trento. We have to make the most of our advantage in the league table on Trento, so we have to take all three points. We’ve been playing with a good attitude and we have what it takes to get the right result, even if Verona is a dangerous team at home. We’re playing good volleyball right now, especially at the net and on the serve, that’s what we’ll try to do one more time in Verona, where I am always happy to go back”.
Andreoli Latina – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 12 (7-5 Latina)
Michel Guemart (Andreoli Latina): “An important game because we’ll face a team of our level. Vibo is playing excellent volleyball, they’ve obtained good wins like against Trento in the first round. This will be an important test to understand what we can achieve and what we’re worth”.
Simone Buti (Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “This will be a good game: Latina is definitely a strong team, we need to play them with a good attitude. This is a tough place to go to, there’s a great atmosphere there, which makes it even more difficult. But we’re determined, we’ll be focused and ready to hurt them, we’ll try to make the most of the opportunities that will come our way”.
Serie A2
Round 9
Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora – Pallavolo Loreto. Sora put an end to a three-game losing streak in the last round against Matera and are just 3 points from fourth place and the Italian cup. Loreto still suffers from injury problems (Ranghieri and Nobili were out last week, Peda has back pains).
B-Chem Golden Plast Potenza Picena – Tonazzo Padova. Potenza Picena will try to escape at a safe distance from the last place as it plays host to Padova, who’s back in the race for the first four spots after its three points taken against Corigliano.
Vero Volley Monza – Conad Reggio Emilia. In the group of followers, Monza will aim to catch up with the top four. Reggio has failed to take any points in its last two outings.
Caffè Aiello Corigliano – Pallavolo Molfetta. This will be coach Torchio’s debut on the Corigliano bench as he took over Jeliazkov this week. A tough one to start with against Molfetta, which fights for the top places and its second consecutive participation in the Italian Cup.
Sieco Service Ortona – Gherardi SVI Città di Castello. The big game of the day: the winner will become the sole leader. Both have been impressive so far: newly promoted side Ortona won 7 of 8 with one lost only at the tie-break. As for Città di Castello, they are still undefeated after 7 games. Show time guaranteed.
Elettrosud Brolo – Coserplast Matera. Important game between two teams aiming to stay up. Tofoli’s boys are looking for their second win of the season to get away from the danger zone. The team from Sicily, who just signed setter Cavanna, will also have Paoli and Benito Ruiz back. Matera is currently bottom of the table.
Serie A2 round 9
Sunday November 25 at 6pm
Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora – Pallavolo Loreto
(Lot-Perri)
B-Chem Golden Plast Potenza Picena – Tonazzo Padova
(Bellini-De Simeis)
Vero Volley Monza – Conad Reggio Emilia
(Pristerà-Marchello)
Caffè Aiello Corigliano – Pallavolo Molfetta
(Guarneri-Ravallese)
Sieco Service Ortona – Gherardi SVI Città di Castello Differed on RAI Sport 2 (Tuesday November 27 at 7pm)
(Simbari-Prati)
Elettrosud Brolo – Coserplast Matera
(Del Vecchio-Piubelli)
Rested: Sidigas Atripalda
League table
Gherardi SVI Città di Castello 20, Sieco Service Ortona 20, Sidigas Atripalda 19, Pallavolo Molfetta 15, Vero Volley Monza 13, Tonazzo Padova 13, Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora 12, Conad Reggio Emilia 8, Caffè Aiello Corigliano 7, Elettrosud Brolo 5, Pallavolo Loreto 4, B-Chem Golden Plast Potenza Picena 4, Coserplast Matera 4
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