SuperLega UnipolSai
Round 3 on Wednesday
First mid-week round coming up this Wednesday in the SuperLega UnipolSai. All the games of Round 3 are scheduled at 8.30pm.
Round 3
Wednesday October 29 at 8.30pm
Copra Ardelia Piacenza – Calzedonia Verona Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Cesare-Cipolla)
Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro – CMC Ravenna Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Pol-Florian)
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia – Tonazzo Padova Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Satanassi-Pasquali)
Top Volley Latina – Sir Safety Perugia Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Tanasi-Ravallese)
Modena Volley – Vero Volley Monza Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Braico-Rapisarda)
Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino – Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Puecher-Zanussi)
Rested: Revivre Milano
League table
Modena Volley 6, Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta 6, CMC Ravenna 6, Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino 5, Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia 3, Calzedonia Verona 3, Copra Ardelia Piacenza 3, Top Volley Latina 3, Sir Safety Perugia 1, Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro 0, Vero Volley Monza 0, Revivre Milano 0, Tonazzo Padova 0
* 1 game in hand: Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro, Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia
Copra Ardelia Piacenza – Calzedonia Verona
Piacenza and Verona gathered their first three points of the season last weekend, respectively in Monza (3-1) with Le Roux MVP, and home against Milan. Deroo and Sander shined for Verona on a day they had to make do without Gasparini.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 22 (17-5 Piacenza)
Samuele Papi (Copra Ardelia Piacenza): “On Sunday with our first road win and first three points, we made an important step forward. The players on court managed to hang on through the tough spells and pull together. We needed the three points for our confidence, now we have to look forward. We have been focusing on Wednesday’s game since yesterday. In my opinion a very strong team is coming over to our PalaBanca arena: Verona. We will try our best to get our fans a good result, but we know it will be tough”.
Aidan Zingel (Calzedonia Verona): “We are extremely satisfied with our performance against Milan. Piacenza is coming up next and we know we can do even better. We want to keep progressing, maintain the control of the game like we did in the first set. The team is working well, we have carried out the needed preparation to be able to play at a high level”.
Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro – CMC Ravenna
Castello ended up without a point in its first outing of the season in Molfetta. Despite the excellent performance of Della Lunga and Baroti (17 and 18 points), they did not manage to build on their bright start. Corvetta and co will now host a team that took maximum points so far: Ravenna. The latter collected wins in Piacenza and home against Latina.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 8 (6-2 Ravenna)
Valdemaro Gustinelli (Sport director Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro):
“Ravenna is coming off two consecutive wins against good teams, so it won’t be easy at all for us, but it could well be a great game to play and watch. I expect to see some progress from the group: I think Randazzo could be the secret weapon we need”.
Waldo Kantor (coach CMC Ravenna): “I expect it to be a difficult game. Città di Castello is a good team, they fought till the very end in their first game against Molfetta. As for us, we will need to maintain the level of focus and determination seen against Piacenza and Latina in order to win this encounter”.
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia – Tonazzo Padova
Rested last weekend, the Italian champions are back in action at home against Padova before playing twice away in Forlì versus Ravenna and in Istanbul for its Champions League debut. Padova is still without a point after meeting Trento and Modena. Still, Baldovin’s boys have shown progress in their latest encounter as the fixture list has not been kind to them in this start of season.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 35 (29-6 Treia)
Dragan Stankovic (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia): “This game against Padova will mark the start of an intense period for us. It is therefore crucial to stay on the right track following the three points taken against Verona and the Super Cup triumph. We’ll be back home, which could help us keep our concentration against a newly promoted side that will surely give everything it has”.
Andrea Mattei (Tonazzo Padova): “Another very tough game ahead. They are clear favorites but we will fight without fear. In our last home game, we have really improved our level of play. There is a great atmosphere in the group and I am sure we have a good margin for improvement. We have to play one game at a time without looking at the calendar, which has handed us teams that will all fight for the league title”.
Top Volley Latina – Sir Safety Perugia
Latina gave a hard time to Ravenna but could not add to the three points gained against Monza in the first round. Perugia stands two points behind latina in the table without a win after consecutive losses against Modena away (3-1) and Trento at home (3-2 despite a 2-0 lead)
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 4 (3-1 Perugia)
Marco Franchi (Ass.coach Top Volley Latina): “There hasn’t been much time to analyze Saturday’s defeat. Perugia will want to bounce back from their two first game: the first was negative, while the second was a hard fought game that went to the tie-break against Trento. They will come to Latina to take all three points, they have some extremely talented players. But we’re convinced that we haven’t seen the best of us yet. We expect more and we are optimist. If we can resolve certain situations that have not gone too well, we could have a good game”.
Andrea Giovi (Sir Safety Perugia): “It’s a difficult moment. Two defeats for us even if we have seen in spells that we could play good volleyball. We lacked consistency which is normal in this period of the year. We are a work in progress, we need to be patient, try to hang on right now and move forward, we must keep working in the gym and be aware that with all the work we can reach important goals. Latina will be another important test, we’ll need to be more solid, consistent and make the most of the opportunities that will come our way. A win would give a boost to all of us so hopefully we’ll get a good result and start building on this before going to Padova and making our Champions League debut”.
Modena Volley – Vero Volley Monza
Modena is on top of the league together with Molfetta, Ravenna after back to back wins over Perugia and Padova. Ngapeth was the main man last Sunday but coach Lorenzetti found valuable contributions from the bench with Casadei being clutch. Modena will go for a triple of victories as it face the newly promoted side of Monza, who proved it could fight with top teams like Latina and Piacenza, even if they just couldn’t go over the hump to get their first points. Great performance though from the young pair Galliani-Botto who combined for 38 points.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: None
Angelo Lorenzetti (Coach Modena Volley): “two important games for us this week, we have to get as many points as possible. This is our goal, but we know that our opponents will have other ideas. We won’t have much time to train in the gym so the talent of individual players will have to do the trick with a high motor. Then, we’ll have about ten days in the gym with those first four games as indication of what to work on”.
Alessandra Marzari (President Vero Volley Monza): “We’re full of confidence because despite the defeat the boys played very well against Piacenza. It was great to make such an experienced team sweat like that. I really hope to be with the team in the PalaPanini arena because the Modena President Catia Pedrini is a great friend of mine”.
Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino – Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta
Big game coming up in the PalaTrento arena. Unbeaten so far, Stoytchev’s men will take another undefeated team, Molfetta, who is one point above. Trentino came back from its clash in Perugia with two points despite trailing 2-0. Matey Maziyski had 25 points with 56% in attack. As for Molfetta, Milan and Città di Castello were their first victim. Kooistra has been superb and named MVP of the last encounter as he is finding his marks with the latest addition, the Cuban setter Raydel Hierrezuelo.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 2 (Both Trento)
Sebastian Solé (Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino): “This is an intense period, we must be able to put the superb win over Perugia behind us and focus immediately on another match at the top level against Molfetta. It should be a great game, which will give us more indications. We’re on the right track, but it’s up to us to stay on it and find a good result against a surprising Molfetta team”.
Vincenzo Di Pinto (coach Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta): “I am satisfied with the level shown against Città di Castello, but we haven’t got time to celebrate. We have a complicated encounter against Trento on Wednesday and I want my team to do their best to play their game. This is a useful game to keep improving. After the game against Trento and the one against Latina on Sunday, we’ll really understand where we stand. This is not an excuse but this week we’ll have two games and no training because we’ll be on the road. We’re young and humble and now we’re top of the league, but we have to keep our attitude and keep our feet on the ground. Our goal must be for Molfetta to represent the volleyball of the Apulia region and the south of Italy”.
