SuperLega UnipolSai
First round preview
The big day has arrived. A red cross had marked our calendar for some time but this Saturday 18 is here. The 70th Serie A Championships kicks off with the Italian Champs of Treia – recent Super Cup winners – who start their defence of the title against Verona, a team many described as dangerous for the big guns. Modena versus Perugia is another superb fixture to start with.
This weekend, the Italian Volleyball League will support the “VIVA” campaign, who aims to raise awareness on cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
SuperLega irst round
Saturday October 18 at 5.30pm
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia – Calzedonia Verona Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Rapisarda-Vagni)
Sunday October 19 at 5.30pm
Modena Volley – Sir Safety Perugia Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(La Micela-Pol)
Sunday October 19 at 6pm
Copra Ardelia Piacenza – CMC Ravenna Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Gnani-Sobrero)
Revivre Milano – Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Cipolla-Cappello)
Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino – Tonazzo Padova Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Goitre-Braico)
Top Volley Latina – Vero Volley Monza Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Sampaolo-Zucca)
Rested: Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia – Calzedonia Verona
Macerata dives into this new campaign having just put their fourth Super Cup in their trophy cabinet. They begin their defence of the league title at home on the Mondo tricolor court against Verona on Saturday. A star with the US national team this summer, Taylor Sander is one of the top players that compose the roster of the very ambitious Verona team. Verona has not won against their opponent of the day since January 2009, it will try to interrupt a 13 game losing streak.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 23 (20-3 Treia)
Simone Parodi (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia): “We start off in good spirit having just won the Super Cup. We’ll play home for the first time with the league title stamped on our chests. We want to get off to an excellent start in the SuperLega too, we’ll need to be ready and extremely focused against a team that has put together a very strong team”.
Andrea Giani (Coach Calzedonia Verona): “Treia has already proved how strong it was by winning the Super Cup. We’re up against one of the best teams of the league, we’re therefore extremely motivated because we want to test ourselves against the best. We both have a new group, and we’ll need to find consistency during the season. We’ll have to take advantage of the weaknesses of our opponent and have no mercy, just like in any other game. We have an excellent potential, we want to go there and fight for every point”.
Modena Volley – Sir Safety Perugia
Impossible to miss the clash between Modena and Perugia. Lorenzetti has a squad painted with the colors of the Italian flag as they brought in Vettori, Piano and Rossini. Petric and Ishikawa completed the roster. Perugia did not make as many changes as they prepare to play in the Champions League this season. They will be led by coach Nikola Grbic, who inherits a new line of spikers with Maruotti, Fromm and Sunder to play alongside captain Vujevic. The ice on the cake of their summer moves was the addition of Luciano De Cecco, ready to set Atanasijevic on another great scoring run.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 4 (4 Perugia)
Angelo Lorenzetti (coach Modena Volley): “Like in all the first times, there is a lot of excitement. But there’s little preparation too, we don’t know the opponent and not even ourselves that well either. I think in those situations, the coach has to take a step back and rely on the individual quality of his players. Hopefully, the players will be able to play at their best against a very competitive team who will try to prove to be as competitive as last year”.
Bino Rizzuto (Sport director Sir Safety Perugia): “A tough one to start with. Modena has made a lot of changes, and I think this is one of the teams people expect to finish high up the table. There will be a heated atmosphere. We often manage to win it in recent years but we know it will be very difficult in a phase of the year in which all the teams are looking to acquire consistency. We know we have potential and ability, and we’ll try to prove it by coming back to Perugia with a win. It will be strange to see Petric on the other side of the net after three important years spent with us”.
Copra Ardelia Piacenza – CMC Ravenna
Bitterly beaten at the tie-break of the Super Cup by Treia, Piacenza puts it all behind to focus on its first home game of the season. Despite the loss in Brindisi, Radici’s men played some excellent volleyball, coming back from 2-0 down. Led by captain Zlatanov, Piacenza is a tough-minded team who will take on Ravenna, team that will take part in the CEV Challenge Cup this season. New coach, Waldo Kantor, and new players like Brazilian Renan (the tallest in the league with 217cm), Zappoli and Koumentakis.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 6 (5-1 Piacenza)
Jacopo Massari (Copra Ardelia Piacenza): “We’ll have to make the most of the home court advantage to have a good start to the season. We have to erase Tuesday’s Super Cup game from our memory and focus exclusively on the league. We got back to work on Friday and immediately focused on preparing Sunday’s game. A good start is what we need”.
Waldo Kantor (Coach CMC Ravenna): “The first round of the league is always a mystery because everyone is making adjustments. We face a difficult start away from home against an excellent team, but we had a good pre-season and we’ll try to do everything we can to get a result”.
Revivre Milano – Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta
The waiting is almost over. Milan is finally back in the elite of Italian volleyball thanks to an exchange of sport rights with Vibo Valentia. Last year’s survivors are coach Maranesi, setter Mattera, outside hitter Bencz, and middle blocker Valsecchi. The rest of the team is new, Patriarca, De Togni, Horstink, Dos Santos, Preti, Temponi, and libero Rizzo. Molfetta is the first opponent, they have made many changes but added a lot of quality. New coach Di Pinto will guide the returnee Kooistra, Sket, Noda Blanco, Candellaro, and setter Zhukouski.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: None
Mirko Gatti (Sport director Revivre Milano): “There’s a positive feeling before our debut. The team is ready, even if it’s normal that there’s a bit of tension. The team is composed of many players having Serie A experience but who will face this new season with a new shirt. The recent outings went well with excellent progress. On the other side of the net, there is Molfetta, a team that cannot be underestimated. They have experienced players who obtained good result in this division. It won’t be easy”.
Sergio Noda Blanco (Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta): “We have worked towards this debut for two months, and I can’t wait to play on Sunday. I missed the atmosphere there is during the week before the games. Our roster is composed of youngsters eager to prove their worth and a few others I like to define as “warriors” who have to emerge in the difficult moments. I am sure that with all the hard work done during the summer, we can be the classic trouble maker. We have what it takes to have a good season, time to let the court do the speaking now”.
Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino – Tonazzo Padova
New sponsor and the return of big names. President Mosna had promised the come-back of coach Stoytchev and captain Kaziyski after their Turkish experience and he maintained it. The Bulgarian couple is ready to face a long and intense season in the League and CEV Cup. Nemec and Zygadlo are the pair of outside hitter-setter. The rest of the team is unchanged. Trento entertains Padova, who’s back at the top after dominating the second division. Many from last year’s triumph stayed: Rosso, Orduna, Giannotti, Balaso, Volpato, Mattei, Gozzo and Garghella as well as coach Baldovin. Only two foreigners in a roster of an average of 24 years old, the youngest of the SuperLega.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 20 (16-4 Trento)
Matey Kaziyski (Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino): “Our SuperLega debut is filled with difficulties. Padova is not among the favourites but neither are we, and the first round is always particular for various reasons. We’ll need to be hundred percent focused to get off to a good start. We need a victory, a nice prelude to a quality season. In this last week, we played three excellent friendly games against quality teams like Piacenza, Treia and Verona but it would be a mistake to read too much into those results and performances. It’s better to forget about the excitement coming from those wins: they were only pre-season tests, and as such they could be misleading. But it’s always nice to play good volleyball and see some progress”.
Valerio Baldovin (Coach Tonazzo Padova): “Trento is an excellent team, and in their last pre-season games, they played top quality volleyball. We know it won’t be easy to play in their gym, but we will face this game in good spirit, fighting on every play with energy. Our squad is complete with Quiroga’s arrival, we’ll be able to line him up on Sunday. We have a very tough fixture list in those first rounds, we know that, but we just have to focus on working hard to improve what needs to be refined”.
Top Volley Latina – Vero Volley Monza
Summer revolution in Latina, who is looking to bounce back from a difficult 2013-14 season. The new coach is Blengini, and 8 players of the 12 are brand new. First opponent of the new campaign is the promoted side of Monza, who deservedly earned a place in the elite at the end of a superb season and the playoffs triumph. Vacondio coaches a young team, in which there is the first ever Chinese player in the history of the Italian championship: outside hitter Wang Cheng. More quality arrived with French spiker Quesque, middle blocker Gotsev, spiker Galliani and Serbian setter Jovovic.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: None
Daniele Sottile (Top Volley Latina): “We’re up against Monza, a promoted team who will be full of energy ready to prove they can play at this level. Debuts are always complicated, we know it will be a tough game and that we’ll have to overcome some difficult spells. But we’re ready, we have been training for long on this aspect too and we can’t wait to get started”.
Oreste Vacondio (Coach Vero Volley Monza): “I think all the work carried out in recent months can be useful. We’re coming off a good game against Modena, useful to understand what we were capable of. If we can realize how good we can be, we could do great things. Our goal is to get points, starting this Sunday even if Latina is a quality team that knows this league very well”.
Serie A2 UnipolSai
First round
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