Serie A1
Round 12 preview
The first half of season is behind us and off we go with the return games. Some good games on the menu with Verona opening it up against Vibo, while the round will end on Thursday 16 with Ravenna vs Modena.
From this round, the video check will not only check the in or out calls and the serves but also the net invasions.
Serie A1 round 12 (first return games)
Saturday January 11 at 5.30pm
Calzedonia Verona – Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Bartolini-Cipolla)
Saturday January 11 at 8.30pm
Andreoli Latina – Diatec Trentino
(Simbari-Pasquali)
Sunday January 12 at 6pm
Sir Safety Perugia – Bre Lannutti Cuneo
(Sampaolo-Pol)
Copra Elior Piacenza – Altotevere Città di Castello Live on Sportube.tv
(Goitre-Padoan)
Exprivia Molfetta – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata
(Rapisarda-Cesare)
Postponed to:
Thursday January 16 at 8.30pm
CMC Ravenna – Casa Modena
League table
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata 30, Copra Elior Piacenza 25, Diatec Trentino 22, Sir Safety Perugia 19, Calzedonia Verona 18, Casa Modena 16, Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia 14, Bre Lannutti Cuneo 13, Exprivia Molfetta 12, Altotevere Città di Castello 11, CMC Ravenna 10, Andreoli Latina 8
Calzedonia Verona – Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia
Verona is coming off a splendid win in Trentino, while Vibo celebrated the qualification into the Italian Cup by beating Molfetta at the tie-break and finishing 7th. Verona has not beaten Vibo since February 2010 and has lost seven in a row after that.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 26 (15-11 Vibo)
Andrea Giani (Coach Calzedonia Verona): “We’re starting this second part of season satisfied with the target reached in the first part. We have made all the steps we wanted to make: we got our fans back after a negative season in terms of results; we have built an identity in the team by working in the gym. Our next target is to get to the next level in attack, and maintain a good level in the other fundamentals. Our opponent Vibo had a good first half of season, they played at a fairly good level, they have quality everywhere and they don’t make many mistakes. They have the characteristics the make it hard for us, it will be up to us to stay extremely focused and play at our best”.
Mauro Gavotto (Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia): “We’ve been doing well so far. Given how the summer went and the last-minute signings we made, we could not take anything for granted. We’re doing well at home, but we want to start taking points on the road too. Verona is a different team from the one we met the first time around, they’re coming off a great victory in Trento against the Italian Champions, they’re playing good volleyball. Playing in their gym, packed with numerous fans, is never easy. It won’t be a stroll in the park, but we know we have what it takes to get a result”.
Andreoli Latina – Diatec Trentino
Latina took a point out of a roller-coaster game against Ravenna in the last round and will hope to have Gitto and Noda back for this game against Trento, which was defeated at home by Verona on Wednesday.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 25 (18-7 Trento)
Gianrio Falivene (President Andreoli Latina): “I have to excuse to make to justify the disappointing first half of season we had. We expect the team to redeem itself from Saturday. The only positive note was our run in the European Cup, we’re in the 8th of finals, and as we’ve said several times before, we really want to go all the way. The game against Trento should be a good one, there will be a lot of stars on court. I was in Brazil to see them in the World Club Championships and could admire how good they are”.
Emanuele Birarelli (Diatec Trentino): “We lost 3-1 at home against Verona at home, but we have to move forward without having to pile up the critics. We’ll try to bounce back in Latina, it’s important to immediately take points so we need to get there in good spirit, for the Champions League playoffs 12 too, which come right after this in Belgium. We think one game at a time, but it’s important to have an overall picture of what’s coming, and it’s logical to think of the Maaseik double header as a crucial meeting as we’ve reached the knock-out stage”.
Sir Safety Perugia – Bre Lannutti Cuneo
Both teams were defeated in the last round respectively in Città di Castello and Modena.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 3 (2-1 Perugia)
Boban Kovac (Coach Sir Safety Perugia): “We’re facing a wounded lions, just like us. They are coming off a road loss and will want to bounce back. They have a lot of quality and they’re capable of playing at a very high level. We’ll have to prepare carefully, both technically and tactically, we need to find our game again and play motivated and with a good attitude to have a good game and get back to victory. We’ll obviously have to avoid the mistakes we made in San Giustino”.
Oleg Antonov (Bre Lannutti Cuneo): “Sunday’s road game will be tough, we’ll be up against a team that has done well thus far, this is a well-organized team. As for us, we have to forget about our game in Modena last Wednesday and keep the positive things we did. We must play with determination and concentration”.
Copra Elior Piacenza – Altotevere Città di Castello
Piacenza brilliantly stopped the league leaders in the last round and will play again at home before meeting Macerata again in the Champions League. Monti’s boys will try this Sunday to take revenge on Città di Castello, which had beaten them in the opening round of the season. Città di Castello got a boost by their derby win over Perugia on Wednesday.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (Città di Castello)
Davide Delmati (coach Copra Elior Piacenza): “After our win over Macerata, we start over with a game against Città di Castello, which had taken all three points in the first round. They had an excellent performance on Wednesday against Perugia, we’ll have to watch out for Van Walle and Fromm, but also our three former players: Corvetta, who knows us very well and distributes the game brilliantly, Piano who greatly improved after a summer with the national team, and Massari who’s always solid when he comes on, giving balance to the team. This time, we’ll have to be the ones looking for maximum points to maintain our second place, which is very important for the future of the regular season”.
Andrea Radici (coach Altotevere Città di Castello): “Piacenza is doing extremely well right now, they beat Macerata, they have a roster full of tars and they gained a lot of confidence as they kept winning one game after another in recent weeks. We’ll try to use the momentum from our Wednesday win to go to Piacenza ready and motivated. We’re convinced we can enjoy ourselves if we play our game but we’re aware that, if Piacenza plays like in the last round, there will be a gap technically and physically. But we’re on a positive run too, we’re feeling good mentally”.
Exprivia Molfetta – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata
Molfetta was close to make history and get in its first Italian Cup final eight in the A1. They lost the last round at the tie-break against Vibo, and were left one point short. Macerata was defeated for the first time in the last round by Piacenza. Zaytsev and co will have to be careful as Molfetta had the better of some big guns in their PalaPoli arena.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (Macerata)
Cristian Casoli (Exprivia Molfetta): “Despite the defeat in Vibo, the team is in good spirit. We had beaten Modena in December, and we realized with the point taken on the road that we could do it away from our PalaPoli arena too. We’re facing Macerata, they have a lot of great players, they’ll surely not be demoralized by their loss against Piacenza. In Vibo, we never gave up, I think that’s the mentality we need to have on Sunday against the leaders”.
Natale Monopoli (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “The game against Molfetta will be a tough one, like all the games we’ll have in January, it will really be an intense month. There will be a heated atmosphere in Molfetta, it’s been sold out for days. We’re coming off a mentally and physically tough match against Piacenza. We’ll need to stay focused because we want to take three points again right away”.
CMC Ravenna – Casa Modena
Game postponed to Thursday 16 as the arena will not be available this weekend. Interesting derby between the headstrong Ravenna who had the better of Latina in the last game, and Modena which beat Cuneo and qualified for the cup just a few days after the arrival of Bruninho.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 62 (50-12 Modena)
Marco Bonitta (Coach CMC Ravenna): “We’re facing a very tough encounter because the addition of Bruninho technically transformed Modena, psychologically too. They are clearly on the up now. We’ll need to step up a gear compared to the level of play seen against Latina”.
Angelo Lorenzetti (Coach Casa Modena): “The game against Ravenna represents a new beginning for us. We made it into the cup in the last round, now we’ll focus on reaching the playoffs, we’ll resume training with the will to get better. We must have the mentality of a team eager to get points in every game it takes part in. The qualification in the playoffs can come from any set, any point, any rally that we play. Ravenna is different from the team we met at the start of the season. We could see that ourselves when we met in a friendly recently. The French setter took charge of proceedings and they have improved a lot, becoming a lot more aggressive in dig”.
