SuperLega UnipolSai
Round 2
The first ever round of the brand new SuperLega UnipolSai is behind us. The elite Italian league enters an intense week with a weekend packed of action as well as a third round coming on Wednesday. In the debut round, there were no tie-breaks but there could be some tight ones this time, like Ravenna versus Latina which will open the weekend. Perugia versus Trentino is the highlight game.
SuperLega UnipolSai round 2
Saturday October 25 at 5.30pm
In Forlì: CMC Ravenna – Top Volley Latina Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Santi-Saltalippi)
Sunday October 26 at 6pm
Calzedonia Verona – Revivre Milano Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Pozzato-La Micela)
Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta – Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Cesare-Zavater)
Tonazzo Padova – Modena Volley Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Bartolini-Sampaolo)
Vero Volley Monza – Copra Ardelia Piacenza Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Puecher-Simbari)
Sunday October 26 at 7.30pm
Sir Safety Perugia – Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Pasquali-Gnani)
Rested: Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia
League table
Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino, Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta, Modena Volley, Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia, CMC Ravenna, Top Volley Latina 3, Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro*, Vero Volley Monza, Copra Ardelia Piacenza, Calzedonia Verona, Sir Safety Perugia, Revivre Milano, Tonazzo Padova 0
* 1 game in hand: Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro
CMC Ravenna – Top Volley Latina
Ravenna and Latina took maximum points in the first round respectively against Piacenza and Monza. Renan and Cebulj combined for 38 points to stun Piacenza in its own house, while Latina’s MVP was the Belgian Simon Van De Voorde with an incredible 9 blocks for a total of 14 blocks.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 6 (4-2 Ravenna)
Waldo Kantor (coach CMC Ravenna): “We’re coming off a very positive game and a victory we obtained by fighting for every point with determination. Latina has a lot of quality players, so to get another positive result we’ll need to play at the same level and with the same focus during the whole game”.
Todor Skrimov (Top Volley Latina): “It’s still too early to understand what will be the level of the various teams. In my opinion, Ravenna is better than last year, and they proved it by winning in Piacenza. It won’t be an easy road game for us, we’ll definitely have to play better than against Monza, but if we can do so we have our chance to win it”.
Calzedonia Verona – Revivre Milano
Verona was bitter having been so close from pushing Treia to the tie-break. A little something was missing but Verona certainly proved they could give a game to the Italian champions. The Verona supporters can’t wait to see Sander, who had 19 in his debut game, and the rest of the players. As for Milan, they failed to make the most of their home court advantage, falling short against Molfetta last week.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: None
Manuel Coscione (Calzedonia Verona): “In this first phase, we are focusing mainly on our game. On Sunday, we’ll take on a new team which will come to Verona determined to get a result and bounce back from its defeat against Molfetta. But we’re keen to get a win too for our fans. It will be tight, but we have worked hard on our game to be ready for this”.
Marco Maranesi (coach Revivre Milano): “It’s important for us to bounce back from our negative debut. Doing less than last Sunday is impossible. Verona is a tough opponent, they have various alternatives in attack, they are fast too. Besides, they take a lot of risks on the serve. As far as we’re concerned, we have to serve better, and find a balance between the reception and attack, which we did not have against Molfetta”.
Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta – Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro
Led by young setter Luca Spirito, named MVP in his SuperLega debut, Molfetta started off brightly with a win in Milan. Tehir coach had his main men in Kooistra (14 points), Sket (11) and Blanco (10). Now they will host Castello having Cuban setter Raydel Hierrezuelo available. Città di Castello was the rested team in the first round.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 11 (7-4 Città di Castello)
Marco Cosimo Piscopo (Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta): “We had a great game in Milan, we imposed our will from the first rallies and we forced them to make mistakes. We have to try to do even less errors, and impose our game against a good team like Città di Castello. Just like us, they will play for the three points. We’ll play in our PalaPoli arena and with the motivation that a first home game brings. There should be a great atmosphere which we have built up, but let’s keep our feet on the ground”.
Paolo Montagnani (Coach Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro): “Here we are! The pre-season has been long, one week longer than the others for us given that we were rested in the first round. I feel like we’re on the right track, the team has gotten better in recent weeks, we made progress in our game and in the intensity. The boys are up for it and curious, even if they know, as well as we do, that Molfetta took all three points away and will want to do well at home. We’ll try to do our very best until the end”.
Tonazzo Padova – Modena Volley
It’s not been the best of start for Padova, who could not disturb the least Trento in the first round as they were without Rosso and Quiroga who had been with the team for only few days. Modena will travel to Padova for the 80th meeting between the two clubs and will do so in good spirit following their win over Perugia. Modena was led by an outstanding Kovacevic, a superb Vettori and the magical hands of Bruninho.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 80 (66-14 Modena)
Valerio Baldovin (coach Tonazzo Padova): “Modena proved to be a top team right from the get-go. After a tough start against Trento, here is another very complicated encounter but if we play with more consistency now that we’ll be home I’m sure we’ll be able to have our say in the matter. We’ll obviously have to avoid the mistakes made last week, because teams of this level have no mercy. We’ll have to stay focused and play all along at a good level because our opponent will not make many mistakes”.
Andrea Sartoretti (General Manager Modena Volley): “Winning the debut game was huge, but the team and staff have begun to prepare the coming game already from the next day. We know Padova is worth much more than what Sunday’s result might suggest. Emotions have surely played a part too. They will want to bounce back and get a result at home. We have been training fine all week, we know we have a deep roster and some alternatives. We’re going to the PalaFabris arena with confidence, convinced we can play some good volleyball”.
Vero Volley Monza – Copra Ardelia Piacenza
First points and first win at stake for Monza and Piacenza, both defeated in the opening act. The hosts were beaten in Latina, where they went close to the tie-break. Piacenza lost home against Ravenna, which adds up to the Super Cup defeat. But they definitely are an experienced team that has its chance to win this road game.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: None
Oreste Vacondio (coach Vero Volley Monza): “The loss against Latina helped us understand where we had to improve, but it underlined the things we can do well too. The rebuilding, attack and dig went very well. Missing four or five consecutive serves certainly didn’t help. The fact Piacenza lost in Ravenna is certainly not reassuring. They had played the Super Cup in mid-week, which had ended in the fifth set. To recover in just a few days from such an effort is not easy especially when you play against Macerata. Piacenza is a very dangerous team and with great experience. I think we could analyze every single detail, but at the end of the day it’s the court that will determine who is the strongest, and the points will be divided according to the game played”.
Hristo Zlatanov (Copra Ardelia Piacenza): “The game against Monza will be very important, especially for us. Unfortunately we’re not going through a positive spell, we are forced to focus exclusively on ourselves and our game for now. We have to learn to play in games as well as we do in training”.
Sir Safety Perugia – Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino
The memory of the PalaEvangelisti arena packed in the League final series is still vivid in the minds of everyone. The arena will be electric again with its brand new Stefan Vujevic kop. Coach Grbic will want his men to bounce back from the loss in Modena but Trento is a tough opposition against which Perugia has won only once in the last five meetings. Trento took three points against Padova with Nemec top scorer (15 points) last week.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 5 (4-1 Trento)
Christian Fromm (Sir Safety Perugia): “This is our home debut, we have only one goal: win and play better than last Sunday. We have been training a lot this week. We understood from the Modena game what we had to work on and where we have to step up a level. We are extremely motivated to get a result. We know we’re facing a tough game. Trento is a great team, very strong, with extremely experienced players. But we’re at home, we have to get a result. We have what it takes to do it”.
Martin Nemec (Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino): “I will meet up with a lot of friends, this will surely be a great emotion and a special game for me. But there will be a lot of new faces too given that Perugia is not the same club in which I had played (the RPA-LuigiBacchi.it). We both want the victory. This is the first game in a calendar that will become very intense from Sunday onwards although I can’t look any further that this encounter. Let’s think one game at a time”.
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