Serie A1
Round 16
A new weekend of action and emotion is upon us with the Serie A. Vibo Valentia versus Modena is the opening game of round 16 in the A1, while Trentino against Cuneo should be a cracker.
Serie A1 round 16
Saturday Februaryu 8 at 5pm
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia – Casa Modena Live on RAI Sport 2
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Saltalippi-Vagni)
Sunday February at 6pm
Diatec Trentino – Bre Lannutti Cuneo Live on Sportube.tv
(Gnani-Satanassi)
Altotevere Città di Castello – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata
(Cappello-Cipolla)
Copra Elior Piacenza – Sir Safety Perugia
(La Micela-Braico)
Exprivia Molfetta – Andreoli Latina
(Bartolini-Boris)
Sunday February 9 at 8.30pm
Calzedonia Verona – CMC Ravenna Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Tanasi-Pol)
League table
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata 40, Copra Elior Piacenza 34, Diatec Trentino 31, Sir Safety Perugia 30, Bre Lannutti Cuneo 21, Calzedonia Verona 21, Altotevere Città di Castello 20, Casa Modena 19, Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia 15, CMC Ravenna 12, Exprivia Molfetta 12, Andreoli Latina 12
1 game in hand: Copra Elior Piacenza, CMC Ravenna
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia – Casa Modena
Two teams looking to turn things around with a win. Vibo has yet to win in this second half of season, while Modena has not done much better with three consecutive losses.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 17 (13-4 Modena)
Marcello Forni (Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia): “We’re dealing with many injuries but we must give everything we have and look ahead. As it happens in a good family we’re pulling together ready to give it a good fight. Right now we’re like a car with a flat tire, but we have to travel at constant speed and do the best we can in this game against Modena”.
Andrea Sartoretti (GM Casa Modena): “This is a very important game for us. Except for the Città di Castello game, we had some good matches in which we however did not take points. We want to quickly turn things around, focusing on our game and the final result. The atmosphere is good and the team is determined”.
Calzedonia Verona – CMC Ravenna
Verona is back home after two negative away games in Perugia in the cup quarters and in the league (third loss running). Ravenna’s last game in Piacenza was postponed to February 26 while they had done well in Vibo in their last outing. In order not to lose its rhythm, Bonitta’s team played two friendly games against Milan (A2) and the Germans of Unterhaching, which Verona met this week too.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 5 (4-1 Verona)
Dante Boninfante (Calzedonia Verona): “We’re eager to bounce back. What prevented us from taking good results in recent games was not a technical problem but a loss in confidence. We have to start over against Ravenna, and believe in our ability. Our target is to stay composed although we know we’ll face a tough team, and excellent squad that always fought hard till the end even when the result did not come its way. We’ll have the fantastic Verona fans on our side”.
Marco Bonitta (Coach CMC Ravenna): “This is an important game, we’re convinced we have what it takes to give them a game. The match against Unterhaching was important to see what works out and the things we need to sort out. Cebulj seemed to be on the up, others must get back to full fitness, but overall we’re going there with confidence and the aim to get a result”.
Diatec Trentino – Bre Lannutti Cuneo
Disappointed from its trip to Russia, Trentino is getting ready to face a big one in the league against Cuneo. Without Sokolov again, Trentino will do its best to defend its third place as Perugia is just one point behind. Cuneo is on a good run, they collected three consecutive wins and moved from 8th to 5th in the table since the beginning of the second half of season. Cuneo’s last win in Trento goes back to 2007 in the league playoffs quarters game 2.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 45 (24-21 Trento)
Donald Suxho (Diatec Trentino): “A home game that will give us a chance to get back on the winning track after the victory over Modena in the cup quarters a week ago. A win would be crucial to defend our third place from Perugia’s assault. We have a strong group, let’s be focused because Cuneo has been in great shape of late”.
Javier Gonzalez (Bre Lannutti Cuneo): “We know it will be a tough test, even if Trentino will be without Sokolov, a very important player for them. We have finally started to get going with three consecutive wins, and we’re playing some good volleyball. But if we want to take anything from this game, we’ll need to give 110%”.
Altotevere Città di Castello – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata
A big crowd is expected as the leaders are coming over and Cttà di Castello is doing very well. They are indeed well into the fight for a place in the top 8 after two superb away wins over Verona and Modena. Macerata remains the dominant figure following its win over Trentino but it won’t be easy in Città di Castello, where teams like Piacenza, Modena and Perugia have all lost.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 3 (All Macerata)
Andrea Radici (Coach Altotevere Città di Castello): “This has been an important week for us, the attitude was good and we’re ready for this big game. We have gained a lot of confidence in recent weeks with important wins but we know Macerata fully deserves to be on top of the league”.
Ivan Zaytsev (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “This will be a good test for us, we need to get back to winning on the road. We’ll need great concentration, they have been playing well, especially in the last one in Modena. This will be a special game for me because my father played in Città di Castello, I have so many memories from this club from when I was a kid”.
Copra Elior Piacenza – Sir Safety Perugia
Big match between second and fourth. Second consecutive home game for Piacenza after their 3-0 loss against Kazan in the Champions League. Perugia has made four out of four so far in the return games, and they made it five wins running with the qualification into the cup final four. They have already managed to beat the leaders and now they’ll have a go to get in the top 3.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 5 (Piacenza won all five)
Luca Monti (Coach Copra Elior Piacenza): “We’ll have to recharge our batteries quickly after the Kazan game and take what we can see as positive from that encounter. Perugia is an excellent team that gave a hard time to many teams. It will be important for us to play with a good attitude, good mentality”.
Benedetto Rizzuto (Sport director Sir Safety Perugia): “This will be a fascinating game. In the first meeting, we’d have deserved a little something more for the way we played and the way it went. We’d like to make the same kind of performance and keep playing like we have in recent weeks. We know for well it will be very tough because we face a top quality opponent that will play home, they have some stars such as Simon, De Cecco, Fei and Papo just to name a few. But we’re feeling good right now, we believe in our ability and we’ll play without fear”.
Exprivia Molfetta – Andreoli Latina
Despite being at the bottom, both teams can still aim to finish in the top eight. However, Molfetta will first have to stop the negative run it stumbled into at the start of 2014. They only took one point this year. Latina, on the contrary, seems to be on the up as they defeated Vibo in the league and beat Calcit Kamnit in the Challenge Cup.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (Latina)
Giulio Sabbi (Exprivia Molfetta): “After five losses, too many to be honest, we want to turn things around. We’re gaining confidence and we’ll try to get out of the tunnel. Sunday’s game will be an opportunity to do so and take revenge on the defeat conceded in the first meeting against Latina, when we had not played at our best. It will surely be easier to play in the atmosphere we have at home and everything in our favour”.
Matteo Paris (Andreoli Latina): “This is a fundamental encounter for the rest of our season. We’re coming off two consecutive wins, we have regained confidence in ourselves. This will be an important step to get back up the table and get off the bottom of the table where we don’t deserve to be. It won’t be easy to play in their gym, we know it, but we’re convinced we have the potential to do well”.
Serie A2
Round 17
It’s tight at the top of the table as Padova’s lead on its followers was reduced following its loss against Sora last week.
Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte – Caffè Aiello Corigliano. Tied with 12 points, both with 3 wins and 11 losses. Setter Marco Fabroni needs one point to celebrate the 1000 points in career, a feat which is extremely tough to reach for a setter.
Itely Milano – Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora. Rested in the last round, Milan played a friendly against Ravenna not to lose its rhythm. It is ready to put its ambition to the test against Sora, which defeated the leaders, Padova in the last round. Sora has halved the gap with the leaders and can dream of direct promotion. But Milan has taken points in the last seven rounds (5 wins and 2 tie-break losses). Spiker Giacomo Rigoni could celebrate its 300th appearance in the league.
Tonazzo Padova – B-Chem Potenza Picena. Despite the loss in Sora, Padova remained top of the table. But it will have to stop Potenza to keep the threat at safe distance. Potenza has won its last three games over Castellana , Brolo and Matera.
Vero Volley Monza – Elettrosud Brolo. Monza has no intention to stop after the three points taken in Corigliano as they travel to Sicily to meet the bottom team of the table, Brolo. This would be a fifth consecutive win for Vacondio’s boys. Brolo still has to win its first game of the season.
Sieco Service Ortona – Cassa Rurale Cantù. Ortona is chasing the fourth place, currently occupied by Matera, which will be rested this week. Not easy against Cantù, which has collected 3 wins out of 4 games in the second half of season. The only defeat came in Sora despite a hard-fought encounter.
<P class=MsoNormal sty
