Serie A1
The Serie A fight rare diseases
The Italian Volleyball League and its clubs will be united on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 for the sixth Rare Illnesses Day. They will support the activities of UNIAMO, the Italian federation of rare illnesses. This year’s slogan is “Rare illnesses without boundaries” because the aim is to put the emphasis on cooperation and collaboration. This underlines the importance of working together and sharing knowledge as well as resources. You can find further information on www.rarediseaseday.org and www.uniamo.org.
As for the volley, there are only three games left to play. Two games of round 20 will be played on Saturday: San Giustino versus Cuneo, and Latina against Castellana Grotte. San Giustino beat last week the only team that could prevent them from going to the playoffs while Cuneo will try to keep its fourth place. Latina is still in with a chance to grab the 5th of 6th place to go directly to the quarter-finals, while Castellana will try to cut the deficit on Latina (5 points). Sunday’s big game will put face to face Piacenza and Trentino, third versus first.
Serie A1 round 20
Saturday February 23 at 5.30pm
Altotevere San Giustino – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo slightly differed on (near live integrale) RAI Sport 1 at 6.30pm
(Satanassi-Sampaolo)
Saturday February 23 at 8.30pm
Andreoli Latina – BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte
(Cipolla–Tanasi)
Sunday February 24 at 5.30pm
Copra Elior Piacenza – Itas Diatec Trentino Live on RAI Sport 2
(Santi–Vagni)
Sunday February 24 at 6pm
Casa Modena – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata Live on Sportube.tv
(Saltalippi–Padoan)
Marmi Lanza Verona – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia
(Castagna–Goitre)
CMC Ravenna – Sir Safety Perugia
(Piana–Puecher)
League table
Itas Diatec Trentino 46, Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata 44, *Copra Elior Piacenza 43, Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 38, Casa Modena 30, Sir Safety Perugia 30, *Andreoli Latina 28, Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 26, BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte 23, Altotevere San Giustino 19, CMC Ravenna 10, Marmi Lanza Verona 8
1 game more: Copra Elior Piacenza, Andreoli Latina
Altotevere San Giustino – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (Cuneo)
Paolo Torre (Altotevere San Giustino): “The hard work paid off and led us to a deserved qualification into the playoffs. We have yet to beat a big team, it would be nice to beat Cuneo, one of the best teams in Europe. We have worked hard to prepare this tough game. Cuneo has had ups and downs but they are in the Champions League final four and are clearly one of the best in the league. We’ll try to make it hard for them with our own weapons, solid dig and our blocking. Hopefully, the Champions League will distract them a bit, that would give us a better chance, maybe to snatch a tie-break. It’s always a special game for me, I began my pro career there, I came up in that club until I made it into the national team. This was the most important moment of my career. Cuneo is a club I respect, I owe them a lot”.
Roberto Piazza (coach Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “Another test for us on Saturday. We have to keep working hard as we approach the biggest stage of the season, the playoffs. San Giustino has been playing excellent volleyball, some say they have gone beyond the expectations of beginning of season. Their main quality is their aggressiveness, and as I said they really play well. But we’re working with focus and determination”.
Andreoli Latina – BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 7 (4-3 Latina).
Massimiliano Prandi (Andreoli Latina): “This is an important game for us. This is a relatively young team with great talents. We have to bounce back after the defeat against Piacenza. We know we’ll need an excellent performance as always. We’re focused on our targets: and this game is our first goal. We’ll give everything we have”.
Flavio Gulinelli (coach BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte): “In these last three games, we’ll have a chance to get important points and reach a very good position in the table. We’ll need to face them all with the same determination, the same will and same level of play which allowed us to make it into the playoffs with so many games in hand. We should not think that Prandi’s men already have their mind on the Cev Cup final. They have a tough team and they have proved it in the first half of season. We have to focus on our game, play at our best like we’ve done in recent weeks”.
Copra Elior Piacenza – Itas Diatec Trentino
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 34 (21-13 Trento)
Luca Monti (coach Copra Elior Piacenza): “Wednesday’s victory over Latina gave us a boost to face this game against Trentino. We all want to do well at home even if we know that, ever since they were knocked out of the cup, Trento is fully concentrated on the league. We’ll try to make the game last as long as possible, to take every little opportunity that might come our way and why not try to upset the league leaders”.
Osmany Juantorena (Itas Diatec Trentino): “An important game for the league table. We really want to finish top of the regular season for various season, first of all for the advantage that gives you in the playoffs. This should be the most difficult of our last three games. Being away makes it even harder, they always play convincing volley at home. I’ll be against my friend Simon for the second time this season. We talked this week and he promised me two blocks. He’s an extremely strong middle blocker and in my opinion, he can still get better. We’ll have to do a good job of avoiding his hands in attack but that won’t be easy”.
Casa Modena – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 61 (32-29 Modena)
Angelo Lorenzetti (coach Casa Modena): “Macerata is a level above us, they have improved a lot compared to when we met them. We want to build on what we’ve done in Cuneo, we’ll try never to give up and always play with dignity. This is an intense and exciting period: we have to be extremely focused on court. Our goal is to get into the top 6. That would allow us to avoid the 8th of final and have an extra period of work which is important for a team like us. It’s always great to play in this arena”.
Ivan Zaytsev (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “Modena and its fans in the PalaPanini arena, which will probably be packed, represents a great opportunity for us to show we’ve totally recovered from those four days in which we lost the top spot and were knocked out of the Champions League. It’s a tough game but crucial to stay high up in the table, we have no choice but get a result and focus exclusively on this game. Lorenzetti’s team is extremely dangerous, you could see that when they beat us at home in the first meeting. We can’t get it wrong this time”.
Marmi Lanza Verona – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 24 (13-11 Vibo)
Bruno Bagnoli (coach Marmi Lanza Verona): “We are preparing the game with great determination despite the fact we cannot train as we’d like to because of a lack of middle blockers. Hopefully, we’ll have Rak or Gotsev back in the next few days to have a balanced team. We had already missed Gavotto in the first meeting because of the flu, hopefully we will soon be able to focus exclusively on our game”.
Gianlorenzo Blengini (coach Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “Whoever thinks the game against Verona will be easy has got it wrong. Despite the long run of consecutive defeats and the fact they’re out of the playoffs, they will be motivated to win, they’ll try to get all their players back to put the best possible line-up on court in their home gym. We have to think likewise, to play our best and put in maximum effort to get a victory we really need”.
CMC Ravenna – Sir Safety Perugia
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 3 (2-1 Ravenna)
Mauro Fresa (coach CMC Ravenna): “This is another of those games we have to try to win, something we’ve never done at home. Perugia is definitely stronger than San Giustino but a lot will depend on Ravenna’s level of play. Hopefully, we’ll be more solid and consistent. We should eventually have our full squad”.
Andrea Giovi (Sir Safety Perugia): “In my opinion, this will be a very tricky game. Ravenna does not have any goals anymore, but that’s precisely why they’ll have nothing to lose, they’ll play without pressure, which could be a good advantage. We’ll have to contain them in order to stop this possible reaction. We’ll need a good attitude, aggressiveness from the start, we’ll have to get our points with patience and sacrifice, and try to give our best to win. Unfortunately, against Piacenza we wasted an opportunity to get some points, we’ll try to redeem ourselves on Sunday”.
Serie A2
Round 21
Pallavolo Loreto – Globo Banca Popolare Del Frusinate Sora. These are the last chances for Loreto to get off the bottom position and stay up in the A2. In the first of two consecutive home games, it faces Sora, who is back on court after last week’s cancelled game due to the earthquake.
Tonazzo Padova – B-Chem Golden Plast Potenza Picena. Padova went close to the upset in Corigliano last week but are back on home soil where they won four in as many. Potenza Picena moves up north to try to get more points to secure safety.
Exprivia Molfetta – Caffè Aiello Corigliano. Molfetta firmly stands in second place and intend on making it last as they face Corigliano, tie-break winners on Padova last week.
Gherardi SVI Città di Castello – Sieco Service Ortona. The two teams were tight at the top during a long while of the first half of season but the meeting between the two teams was the turning point for Città di Castello who now counts a 13-point lead on second place. Città di Castello is just two points away from direct promotion.
Coserplast Matera – Elettrosud Brolo. Huge game between Matera and Brolo. Whoever wins it could make a giant step towards salvation as both teams have a good advantage on the bottom team (+5 for Matera, +9 for Brolo). The Sicilian are coming off a positive tie-beak loss against Atripalda.
Conad Reggio Emilia – Vero Volley Monza. Rested last week, Reggio currently occupies the last playoffs spot (9th). They will face Monza, who are two steps and three points above. Monza will try to turn things around after four consecutive rounds without a point”.
Serie A2 round 21
Sunday February 24 at 6pm
Pallavolo Loreto – Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora
(De Simeis–Piersanti)
Tonazzo Padova – B-Chem Golden Plast Potenza Picena
(Venturi–Prati)
Exprivia Molfetta – Caffè Aiello Corigliano Differed on RAI Sport 1 (Tuesday February 26 at 8pm)
(Puletti–Bellini)
Gherardi SVI Città di Castello – Sieco Service Ortona
(Florian–Zanussi)
Coserplast Matera – Elettrosud Brolo
(Zavater–Chimento)
Sunday February 24 at 8pm
Conad Reggio Emilia – Vero Volley Monza
(Bertoletti-Pignataro)
Rested: Sidigas HS Atripalda
Serie A2 postponed game from round 20
Wednesday February 27 at 8.30pm
Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora – Coserplast Matera
League table
Gherardi SVI Città di Castello 53, Exprivia Molfetta 40, Sidigas HS Atripalda 37, Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora 37, Tonazzo Padova 32, Caffè Aiello Corigliano 31, Vero Volley Monza 29, Sieco Service Ortona 29, Conad Reggio Emilia 26, Elettrosud Brolo 19, B-Chem Golden Plast Potenza Picena 17, Coserplast Matera 15, Pallavolo Loreto 10
1 game more: Sidigas HS Atripalda, Tonazzo Padova, Sieco Service Ortona, B-Chem Golden Plast Potenza Picena
1 game in hand: Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora
