Serie A1
Round 21
The spectacular weekend of the Italian Cup in Bologna is over, we’re back in the league with Città di Castello taking on Latina on Saturday night. The third place will be at stake on Sunday between Trentino and Perugia.
Serie A1 round 21
Saturday March 15 at 6pm
Altotevere Città di Castello – Andreoli Latina Live on RAI Sport 1
(Frapiccini-Pol)
Sunday March 16 at 5.30pm
Diatec Trentino – Sir Safety Perugia Live on RAI Sport 1
(Braico-Bartolini)
Sunday March 16 at 6pm
CMC Ravenna – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata Live on Sportube.tv
(Padoan-Rapisarda)
Copra Elior Piacenza – Calzedonia Verona
(Balboni-Cipolla)
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia– Bre Lannutti Cuneo
(Satanassi-Cesare)
Casa Modena – Exprivia Molfetta
(Pasquali-Goitre)
League table
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata 52, Copra Elior Piacenza 51, Sir Safety Perugia 42, Diatec Trentino 36, Bre Lannutti Cuneo 29, Casa Modena 28, Altotevere Città di Castello 25, Calzedonia Verona 25, CMC Ravenna 21, Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia 19, Exprivia Molfetta 17, Andreoli Latina 15.
Altotevere Città di Castello – Andreoli Latina
Thrilling final rush for Città di Castello, which rested last week and is ready to fight for its place in the playoffs. There’s two tickets left for three teams (tied with Ravenna, and four ahead of Ravenna). Radici’s team was strengthened by the arrival of libero Marco Lo Bianco. Latina’s goals are to get off the bottom and prepare their Challenge Cup final.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 3 (All Latina)
Christian Fromm (Altotevere Città di Castello): “We could not be more motivated, a win would guarantee our place in the playoffs. We must maintain the same intensity and quality during the whole game, we need one of our very best games”.
Salvatore Rossini (Andreoli Latina): “This is a special game for me, not only because I’ll meet many friends, but because I will face Città di Castello, the club that gave me my first chance at the highest level, going there is like going back home. Besides, we need points to get off the bottom of the table. We know they play well at home, it will be tough. It will be a different game than the first meeting, when they were missing their main spikers. We have been preparing this game well in order to get points”.
Diatec Trentino – Sir Safety Perugia
Both teams gave it a good fight in Bologna’s Italian Cup final four but had to make way for Piacenza, the eventual winner. At stake, there is the third place. There’s two games to go and a six-point gap , Serniotti’s men must win this one. Perugia has never beaten Trento.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 4 (All Trento)
Tsvetan Sokolov (Diatec Trentino): “An important home game for us, we’ll take on a great team that aims at reducing the gap to the third place. What matters the most is to play at a good level again and take advantage of the fact we are all fit to play. Despite the fact we had only had three days of training all together, we proved we had stepped up a level in Bologna. Hopefully, we will keep improving all the time until the end of the regular season. We have two games to play before the playoffs, we have to make the most of them”.
Adriano Paolucci (Setter Sir Safety Perugia): “It’s not been easy to forget about the cup and focus again in training. But we know there are two games left to play and one point missing to lock up third place. All this makes us look forward. Sunday’s game against Trento could be key, I’m sure it will be extremely tough, they’ll play home. They proved in the cup how strong and solid they were but we already knew this, and now they have all their players back. We’ll try to give more joy to our fans, who will make the long trip to Trento. This is something we are particularly proud of”.
CMC Ravenna – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata
Ravenna needs points to stay in the race for the playoffs but the opponent is an angry league leaders following the knock-out punch received in the Italian Cup semi-final. Besides, Macerata has only got a one point advantage on Piacenza, second. Ravenna has not won against Macerata since March 16, 2000 (3-2). In the last five meetings, Ravenna could only take one set.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 16 (10-6 Macerata)
Marco Bonitta (coach CMC Ravenna): “We have a very tough task because we have just a slim chance of playoff left and we face the league leaders. And against a team that will be extremely up for it after the cup elimination and the controversies that followed. We have trained well this week for this game, we’ll need to play as well as in the games against Cuneo and Piacenza to stay in the race for the playoffs”.
Dragan Stankovic (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “Sunday’s game in Ravenna is our chance to bounce back. We have to prove we have regained all our confidence and game. A win is crucial in the fight for first place. It’s up to us, we have to defend our top spot. Ravenna will try to get points to make the breakthrough to qualify for the playoffs so it will be complicated, but we want to win it”.
Copra Elior Piacenza – Calzedonia Verona
Celebration time for Piacenza, who dominated and won its first Italian Cup in Bologna. The players will have to put all those emotions aside to focus on the regular season as they have a chance to top Macerata for first place. And Macerata will be the next opponent in the last game of the regular season. After a superb first half of season, Verona struggled, collecting just 2 wins and 7 losses afterwards. Giani’s men need points to stay in the top 8.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 21 (16-5 Piacenza)
Gabriele Cottarelli (GM Copra Elior Piacenza): “On Sunday, we’ll play our last regular season game at home. We should not take anything for granted given that the last two spots for the playoffs are still open. We’ll try to give our fans another victory in order to play for first place in the last round in Macerata”.
Andrea Giani (Coach Calzedonia Verona): “On Sunday we’ll face the cup winners, a very strong team that can be considered Macerata’s main rival. Piacenza played two great games in the final four against Trento and Perugia. The most experienced players showed all their worth next to the younger stars like Kaliberda. They have quality everywhere, it’s a nice team to watch play. They are very sharp on attack, thanks as well to the influence of their setter. This will be a tough but thrilling game at the same time”.
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia – Bre Lannutti Cuneo
Vibo’s chances to take part in the playoffs are hanging out by a shred. Six points to make up for on Verona, 8th, and just two games to play. Blengini’s men need two three-point wins and Verona to stay put. Cuneo will defend its fifth place from the assault of Modena, its next opponent in a week.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 20 (17-3 Cuneo)
Antonio Valentini (Ass.coach Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia): “Cuneo has done very well in the return games. They have changed their line-up with Casadei and Gonzalez playing more compared to Rouzier and Coscione. This team has excellent fundamentals, first of all the serve, they have at least five players able to hit it on the jump. We’ll have to put them under pressure ourselves with the serve, and make them play away from the net as much as possible”.
Jeroen Rauwerdink (Bre Lannutti Cuneo): “We have been working hard on those last two regular season games. We have resumed training after a rest due to the Italian Cup. We’re ready to face those very important games before the playoffs. We want to do something good for our special fans. On Sunday we’ll play on a very tough court in Vibo, but I am confident, especially after seeing the work done in the gym and what we’ve done in recent weeks. If we keep playing like this, we’ll take those crucial three points to maintain our fifth place, which is our main goal”.
Casa Modena – Exprivia Molfetta
Thanks to the three points taken in a postponed game of round 19, Modena got within one point of Cuneo and the fifth place. Before meeting precisely Cuneo in the last round, Lorenzetti’s men will host Molfetta, out of the league title race but ready to play the playoffs for fifth place with determination.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (Molfetta)
Angelo Lorenzetti (coach Casa Modena): “We must build on the good things seen against Latina, like the attitude. We must try our best to stay close. Molfetta has gotten better away from home, having recently won in Verona and Ravenna. They found stability and Sabbi has been flying in recent outings”.
Marco Cosimo Piscopo (Exprivia Molfetta): “I’m going back to Modena where I played for four years, where I left family and heart. I know the Modena fans love me and will reserve me a special welcome. Molfetta needs a good game and I am sure that if we play as well as in Ravenna we could get something good out of it, even if Modena has terrific players. We’ve been doing well and the newcomer Despaigne is really helping us, even if he is not playing at his usual position. A good group of fans will follow us too, I think anything can happen: never say never”.
Serie A2
Round 22
One game and a ticket in the A1
One game, one dream: the promotion into the Serie A. it’s Padova versus Monza.
Vero Volley Monza – Tonazzo Padova. They have been the main protagonists since the start of the season, they met in the A2 cup final in Monza (won by Padova), and now they will play for a place in the A1. Only one point separates the two teams, but a point that could mean a lot. Indeed, Padova just needs two sets to celebrate. Indeed, if Monza was to win at the tie-break, the two clubs would be tied on points and number of victories, at this point Padova would go up thanks to a better set quotient.
Elettrosud Brolo – Caffè Aiello Corigliano. <SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; COLOR: #464646; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language:
