Samuele Papi, “O’ Fenomeno”, recordman in the league playoffs
When he will get on court against Perugia on Thursday, Samuele Papi will gather another prestigious record in his incredible carrier. The spiker from Falconara will indeed take part in its 22nd playoffs, beating the previous record of Fabio Vullo, Luca Cantagalli, Lorenzo Bernardi, Paolo Tofoli and Marco Meoni with 21.
Linkem Cup A1 playoffs quarter-finals
The Linkem Cup quarter-finals are about to go under way in the A1. The top six of the regular season and the two winners of the 8th of finals, Vibo and Latina, will fight it out for a place in the last four. In the previous round, Vibo had the better in the deciding game 3 in Castellana Grotte and will meet Trento, while Latina also needed to go the distance to dispose of San Giustino and earn the right to face the Italian champs in the quarters.
Formula
Quarters and semis: In each series, the best classified team at the end of the regular season will be given a one-game advantage. The first to 3 wins goes through. The best classified team will host game 3 and the possible decider.
Final. On the best of five games, Game 1, Game 3 and the possible deciding Game 5 will be hosted by the best classified team.
Linkem Cup playoffs Serie A1 – QUARTER-FINAL GAME 2
Wednesday March 27 at 8.30
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia (9) – Itas Diatec Trentino (1) Live on Rai Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Padoan-Zucca)
Andreoli Latina (7) – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata (2) Live on Sportube.tv
(Tanasi-Puecher)
Thursday March 28 at 8.30pm
Casa Modena (5) – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo (4) Live on Sportube.tv
(Rapisarda-Cesare)
Sir Safety Perugia (6) – Copra Elior Piacenza (3) Live on Rai Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Sampaolo-Pasquali)
Linkem Cup Playoffs Serie A1– QUARTER-FINALS GAME 3
Sunday March 31 at 5.30pm
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata (2) – Andreoli Latina (7) Live on Rai Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Gnani-Rapisarda)
Sunday March 31 at 6pm
Itas Diatec Trentino (1) – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia (9) Live on Sportube.tv
(Bartolini-Piana)
Monday April 1 at 5.30pm
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo (4) – Casa Modena (5) Live on Rai Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Boris-La Micela)
Monday April 1 at 6pm
Copra Elior Piacenza (3) – Sir Safety Perugia (6) Live on Sportube.tv
(Sobrero-Braico)
Game 2 – Linkem Cup Playoffs quarter-finals
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Itas Diatec Trentino
(0-1)
Past encounters: 22 (19-3 Trento)
Regular season + cup: 3 (Trento won 3-0 in the cup semis. In the league, Vibo won 3-1 in Trento and Trento won away 3-0).
Playoffs: 3 times in the quarters: Trento won them all.
Niels Klapwijk (Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “Trento is definitely the big favourite. But at the same time they will have all the pressure. We’ll try to use this factor to our advantage. Hopefully, the fans will pack the gym and give us that extra boost”.
Andrea Bari (Itas Diatec Trentino): “Vibo is one of the three teams that managed to beat us in the league and this is the only one that did it in our arena. This is therefore obvious they have players capable of playing at a very high level. Besides, winning there in that heated atmosphere is never easy. We’ll need to be immediately at our best to clinch it. The last quarter-finals between us was extremely tight, especially game 1 which would have been lost if it was not for an incredible run of serves from Matey Kaziyski (4 consecutive aces from 11-14 to 15-14 in the tie-break) which saved us. Hopefully, we’ll have to get to that point this time. We’ll definitely need to be sharper and more composed, we cannot hide, there’s a lot at stake and we’ll need to take risks. After two weeks without any official games, we can’t wait to play and we’ll try to go all the way because we have what it takes to do so”.
Andreoli Latina – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata
(0-1)
Past encounters: 27 (23-4 Macerata)
Regular season + cup: 3 (Macerata won in the cup quarters and at home in the league 3-1. Vibo won home 3-2).
Playoffs: 4 quarter-finals (3-1 Macerata)
Stefano Patriarca (Andreoli Latina): “I feel a lot better physically. As for the game, Macerata is a much better team than San Giustino. They’re the champs, a top class team. We’ll play like a team with nothing to lose, like we did in the league. We have to play without any pressure, they’re the one who have to win, only with this spirit will we be able to make it hard for them”.
Alberto Giuliani (coach Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “Latina is a good team, they have already made it hard for us when we met in recent seasons, especially when we played in their PalaBianchini arena. Still, we remain extremely confident given that we nearly had 20 days to train with consistency, we worked both physically and tactically on very important details. Starting 1-0 up in the series is one more important thing. The playoffs is a new championship, the most important one, it’s up to us to show our worth”.
Sir Safety Perugia – Copra Elior Piacenza
(0-1)
Past encounters: 2 (both Piacenza)
Regular season: 2 (Both Piacenza on 3-1 scores).
Playoffs: None
Andrea Giovi (Sir Safety Perugia): “Piacenza is coming off its triumph in the Challenge Cup and will therefore be emotionally up for it. We can play without pressure though, because Piacenza is definitely the favourite. I think we earned and deserved to be in these quarter-finals and we have to enjoy playing in such games. Piacenza is extremely dangerous on the serve and attack, and thanks to De Cecco they are often unpredictable. We know how strong are our opponents, but we’re here and we’ll have a go. We prepared ourselves carefully, we had time, and we’re ready to play this Game 2. Our goals are to try to extend the series and overall finish the games with the feeling that we gave all we had”.
Antonio Corvetta (Copra Elior Piacenza): “We got back to work full speed after our victory in the Challenge Cup. The playoffs begin in Perugia, we’ll try to get a win there. A victory in game 2 would be a great start, that would give us an opportunity to seal the series at home, with our fans who always give us a great motivation, and go through to the semis”.
Casa Modena – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo (0-1)
Past encounters: 67 (34-33 Modena)
Regular season: 2 (Modena won 3-0 home and Cuneo replied with a 3-1).
Playoffs: 12 meetings, 3 in the 8th of finals (2-1 Cuneo), 9 times in the semis (6-3 Modena).
Sam Deroo (Casa Modena): “This is my first playoffs in Italy, I am extremely up for it. I have just resumed training after an injury, but I feel rather fine both physically and mentally. These playoffs game against such strong oppositions must be an opportunity to get experience for me and improve but to do so you need to live those moments intensely and be focused in every moment. The more games like that we play, the more we’ll get better. We know how good is Cuneo, they proved how strong they were both in the league and in Europe. They serve very well, we’ll need to limit the damage in that area. And we’ll need to be at our best in every area of the game. Quality and focus will be key”.
Wout Wijsmans (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “This will be a tough series. They slowed down a little bit a few weeks ago but they are now back at their best. I think they deserved to finish where they are in the league. This will be a great series, there’s always a little something more against Modena, besides the competitive aspect, they are part of Italian volleyball history. There’s always a special atmosphere in their gym as well as in ours. The playoffs formula has changed but it’s not up to the players to judge if it’s better or worse. Our task is to play good volleyball in every game”.
Linkem Cup Playoffs A2
Quarter-finals game 2
Sunday March 31 at 6pm
Conad Reggio Emilia (9) – Exprivia Molfetta (2)
Caffè Aiello Corigliano (6) – Vero Volley Monza (5)
Sieco Service Ortona (8) – Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora (3)
Tonazzo Padova (7) – Sidigas HS Atripalda (4)
Game 3
Wednesday April 3 at 8.30pm
Exprivia Molfetta (2) – Conad Reggio Emilia (9)
Vero Volley Monza (5) – Caffè Aiello Corigliano (6)
Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora (3) – Sieco Service Ortona (8)
Sidigas HS Atripalda (4) – Tonazzo Padova (7)
