Serie A1
Round 11
Everybody will play on Sunday in the round that will seal the first half of season and define the Italian cup final eight draw. The only team that knows its position is Trento, who became winter champ last week. The rest remains to be decided in what promises to an exciting day of volleyball. Highlight games are Modena versus Latina and Macerata versus Vibo Valentia.
Serie A1 round 11
Sunday December 16 at 5pm
BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte – Altotevere San Giustino Live on RAI Sport 2
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(La Micela-Cipolla)
Sunday December 16 at 6pm
Casa Modena – Andreoli Latina
(Zucca-Puecher)
Itas Diatec Trentino – CMC Ravenna
(Simbari-Castagna)
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia Live on Sportube.tv
(Satanassi-Pasquali)
Copra Elior Piacenza – Marmi Lanza Verona
(Sobrero-Piana)
Sir Safety Perugia – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo
(Padoan-Tanasi)
League table
Itas Diatec Trentino 26, Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata 22, Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 20, Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 20, Copra Elior Piacenza 19, Andreoli Latina 17, Casa Modena 15, Sir Safety Perugia 13, BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte 8, Altotevere San Giustino 8, Marmi Lanza Verona 8, CMC Ravenna 4
BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte – Altotevere San Giustino
PAST ENCOUNTERS: None
Cristian Casoli (BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte): “Another important and difficult game on Sunday against an opponent that never gives up. But we want to win it to extend our winning streak and gain more confidence ahead of the second half of regular season. It’s important for us to think one game at a time. We’ve been working this week to be ready for San Giustino, we’ll think about what comes after later on, one week after another. We have to improve because we still make too many mistakes, but we’re on the right track”.
Andrea Sartoretti (Sport director Altotevere San Giustino): “Very tough game for us on Sunday. Castellana is a team more or less of our level, but the atmosphere there is particular. They have excellent players, with experience, they play an aggressive volleyball. We’ll have to watch out for Casoli, who brings balance and composure, for Cester, a young player I know that has improved a lot in recent years, and for Sabbi and Yosifov who are athletes that can cause us some problems. We’ll try our best, without fear, if we do a good job on the mental side, then any result is possible”.
Casa Modena – Andreoli Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 21 (13-8 Modena)
Angelo Lorenzetti (coach Casa Modena): “It’s been a difficult week in training, we’re missing a few players. Our philosophy and attitude have to remain the same, do our best and play on our strength. We have found the light at the end of the tunnel, but a team like ours must be careful not to get back in the dark. Latina is ahead of us in the table, strong team with an organized and powerful game. It’s going to be very tough, the boys know they’ll need to find a good rhythm and be very careful. We reached an important target by making it into the cup, now we’ll keep thinking one set at a time, every point we’ll get will help us in the race for a playoff spot”.
Alberto Cisolla (Andreoli Latina): “It will be an important game which will also determine where we stand and who we play in the cup. We’re coming off two league losses, which we want to forget quickly. We had a poor game in Castellana, while we did Ok against Piacenza but they played better than us. We need a good performance to get our confidence back. Modena got off to a bad start then they put together a run of victories and they’ve now reached their best”.
Itas Diatec Trentino – CMC Ravenna
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 2 (Trento won both)
Giacomo Sintini (Itas Diatec Trentino): “A game with two teams that have totally opposite targets, but that doesn’t mean we can take the result for granted or that this will not be a good game. The fact we became winter champ with a game in hand will not make us lose sight of the result we want. We need to keep a good mentality in order not to ruin, mentally too, the good period we’re going through and to keep the others at a safe distance. Another game a bit special for me, because I began my career in Ravenna so I really like this club and region. I was glad to see them come back in A1 and notice that they still have a big crowd following them despite the difficulties they had. This proves that the passion for volley has always been there and that the fans couldn’t wait to enjoy top volleyball again. It will be special to meet them but I think it will be even more so in the return game when we’ll go there”.
Mauro Fresa (coach CMC Ravenna): “This is obviously one of those mission impossible, Trento is considered the best team in the world. But we equally prepared the game very well, just like the ones we can win, because we really don’t want to be thrashed and we want to show that we always believe and that we’ll be ready to play a better second half of season”.
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 19 (13-6 Macerata)
Alberto Giuliani (coach Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “Three important points at stake like in every game but they are even more important this time because this is the last one in this first half of season and that we have to defend our second position for the cup. Vibo is a strong team, I had already put them among the top teams at the start of the season. I am therefore not surprised at all by their current position in the league table. They are very tough, we’ll need a good performance, and character”.
Gianlorenzo Blengini (coach Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “We’ll have to adopt a much better attitude, not that kind of “make-or-break” attitude because that could be even more threatening than the actual quality of the opponent. We’ll have to stay composed and calm as we try to play our game”.
Copra Elior Piacenza – Marmi Lanza Verona
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 18 (13-5 Piacenza)
Luca Monti (coach Copra Elior Piacenza): “Another game we can’t afford to lose. We have to take all three points at all cost and wait for the other results. This won’t be an easy game, even if Verona is not going through a positive run. But regardless of this we have to be wary of any team”.
Bruno Bagnoli (coach Marmi Lanza Verona): “The boys are really giving their best but we’re still penalized by the absence of Rak, by the gradual recovery of Peacok and a series of other problems to deal with. This will definitely be a tough game, but we have to fight on every ball from start to finish because you never know, sometimes things go your way and problems become opportunities. We’ll go without fear to try to get something out of it”.
Sir Safety Perugia – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo
PAST ENCOUNTERS: none
Carmine Fontana (ass.coach Sir Safety Perugia): “We’ll be up against a top quality team, even if it’s true that in the Serie A every Sunday on the other side of the net there are top level players. Cuneo’s main strengths are the serve and block, they have extremely strong spikers in Sokolov, Ngapeth and Wijsmans. We have had a good week in training, the boys have worked hard. Hopefully, we’ll have Goran Vujevic back, his experience and quality are fundamental for us. I’m sure we’ll give hundred percent. We’ll be home with our fans, we’ll play with determination even in the moments we’ll be under pressure. It will be important to deal well with their blocking, and do well on the break, working fine with the block and dig and especially our serve because, except for the last game against Vibo, the serve has been our main asset”.
Daniele Vergnaghi (Team Manager Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “Sunday’s game will be crucial to get the best position possible for the Italian Cup. We’ll need maximum focus and take the points”.
Serie A2
Round 12
Città di Castello has already secured its spot into the Italian Cup A2 but there are three tickets more up for grabs.
Vero Volley Monza – Caffè Aiello Corigliano. Del Federico celebrated his first home game with a 3-0 win over Ortona as he took over Marco Fumagalli on the Monza bench. Corigliano is still unbeaten since coach Torchio took over. They have obtained great results against Atripalda and Molfetta. Both clubs are in the race for the Cup.
Sieco Service Ortona – Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora. Opposite run of forms for the two clubs as they fight for a place in the top four and the Italian Cup. Ortona is on a three game losing streak, all 3-0, and slid to fourth place, a point behind Sora. The latter has won four on the bounce and can still catch up Atripalda in second place.
Elettrosud Brolo – Pallavolo Loreto. Both aim at getting away from the danger zone. Tofoli’s team is coming off a poor loss against Sora, while Loreto, who’s currently bottom, will try to get confidence back now that they have their injured players back.
Gherardi SVI Città di Castello – Sidigas Atripalda. The big game of the day. The undefeated leaders of Città di Castello against the second, Atripalda. The latter will be without Antonio De Paola, injured, as they defend their second place and try to book their qualification for the cup.
B-Chem Golden Plast Potenza Picena – Exprivia Molfetta. Beaten in Reggio Emilia last week, Potenza continues to fight to stay up. Molfetta is determined to get three points to assault the top four and sneak into the Italian cup. Molfetta is now fifth, one point behind the fourth and four points behind the second.
Coserplast Matera – Conad Reggio Emilia. Tough situation for Reggio Emilia, who will be without Valerio Curti and probably also without Ukrainian spiker Andrii Diachkov (Michele Grassano should be fit following last week’s knee worry). Special day in Matera with the fund raiser for Telethon, which will receive all the takings of the game as well as the donations.
Serie A2 round 12
Sunday December 16 at 6pm
Vero Volley Monza – Caffè Aiello Corigliano
(Sessolo-Montanari)
Sieco Service Ortona – Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora
(Astengo-Bellini)
Elettrosud Brolo – Pallavolo Loreto
(Chimento-Cappello)
Gherardi SVI Città di Castello – Sidigas Atripalda Differed on RAI Sport 1 (Tuesday December 18 at 8pm)
(Zanussi-Florian)
B-Chem Golden Plast Potenza Picena – Exprivia Molfetta
(Piubelli-Andreoni)
Coserplast Matera – Conad Reggio Emilia
(Bartoloni-Oranelli)
Rested: Tonazzo Padova
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