SuperLega UnipolSai
SuperLega round 4
Two teams on top of the pile with maximum points: Modena and Ravenna. Trentino follows a point behind, while Treia is unbeaten too but with a game in hand. Big game on Saturday between Verona and Trentino.
SuperLega UnipolSai round 4
Saturday November 1 at 5.30pm
Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro – Copra Ardelia Piacenza Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Bartolini-Longo)
Saturday November 1 at 8.30pm
Calzedonia Verona – Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino Diretta Lega Volley Channel
(Sobrero-Simbari)
Sunday November 2 at 6pm
Al Forum di Assago (MI): Revivre Milano – Modena Volley Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Vagni-Santi)
Tonazzo Padova – Sir Safety Perugia Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Rapisarda-Lot)
CMC Ravenna – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia Live on Lega Volley Channel
(La Micela-Goitre)
Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta – Top Volley Latina Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Gnani-Satanassi)
Rested: Vero Volley Monza
League table
Modena Volley 9, CMC Ravenna 9, Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino 8, Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia 6, Copra Ardelia Piacenza 6, Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta 6, Sir Safety Perugia 4, Calzedonia Verona 3, Top Volley Latina 3, 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, Revivre Milano
Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro – Copra Ardelia Piacenza
Second consecutive home game for Città di Castello, who’s still looking for its first win of the season. On Wednesday, Montagnani’s men gave it a good fight on their home debut but surrendered to the super power of Ravenna. They will have another chance against Piacenza who bounced back from their negative debut with back to back wins, the latest against Verona with captain Zlatanov MVP.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 4 (3-1 Piacenza)
Paolo Montagnani (coach Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro): “Piacenza has a lot of quality, they have invested a lot to build a winning team. This game comes at the end of a very difficult week, so it will be a tough one, but I’ll just ask the boys to keep making progress and build on the improvement seen against Ravenna”.
Jacopo Massari (Copra Ardelia Piacenza): “This will be a great feeling to come back to Città di Castello, meet my former teammates and some very important friends who made my two years there fantastic. It will be a very tricky encounter, they are coming off a defeat and playing home. They will be motivated and I know the atmosphere is special there. Our understanding and togetherness is building up, like we had said, we just needed time. We still have a lot to work on but we’re on the right track”.
Calzedonia Verona – Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino
Verona came out of Piacenza’s PalaBanca arena head down and extremely disappointed. They will want to forget it and focus on Saturday’s clash with Trento. The latter, on the the other hand, will play this 24th derby full of confidence as it remains unbeaten, Molfetta being the latest victim.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 23 (18-5 Trento)
Sam Deroo (Calzedonia Verona): “We’ll play eager to make up for our recent loss. We have to be able to have our say at home. Trento is doing extremely well this season, this is a very accurate team both in attack and reception. We will play home, our fans will motivate us and give us energy”.
Filippo Lanza (Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino): “It’s true that I have lived near Verona, but I want to make this clear, I feel much more from Trentino than Veneto. I have been living here for years and this is my home. This will be a special game for me but I will certainly not lose sight of what is our goal. This will be a tough contest, Verona greatly strengthened its roster once again and they showed how competitive they were in the first games of the season. We will not have much time to prepare this important game”.
Revivre Milano – Modena Volley
Rested in the last round and stronger of the latest addition, Hungarian spiker Peter Veres, back in Italy after seven years, Milan will try to turn things around and get its first points in the SuperLega after two poor games against Molfetta and Verona. Milan will take on the joint league leader Modena, who had the perfect start with wins over Perugia, Padova and Monza. The serve has been their main weapon with 26 aces registered in 3 games.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: None
Marco Maranesi (coach Revivre Milano): “Veres represents the alternative we were missing in position four, given that we have not had Bruno Temponi so far because of physical problems. This is a top level alternative, this is an athlete who can really do his job of spiker-receiver fine. As for the game against Modena, it will be tough: they have quality all around, in the starting line-up as well as on the bench. Their pair of setter-outside hitter is just top class. Bruninho plays particularly fast, he’s difficult to read, but we’ll try to play a good game”.
Angelo Lorenzetti (coach Modena Volley): “This is our second game of the week, we have not worked much in the gym, but games have their values. I hope the boys can face this game with the same motivation, playing as hard and maybe handle more difficult situations than the ones met against Monza. My personal experience tells me that Veres’ arrival is dangerous for the opponents. They are very physical, very tall, they can touch a lot of balls at the net and do well on the break. They had a week to work, they will surely have improved, we’ll have to be very careful.
Tonazzo Padova – Sir Safety Perugia
Padova had to endure a run of games against Trento, Modena and Treia but it continues to work hard to conquer a first positive result in this SuperLega. But the fixture list is merciless: another tough one ahead for them with Perugia. Padova hopes to have captain Mattia Rosso back. This will be Perugia’s second consecutive road game following their 3-0 victory in Latina, which put behind them a difficult start to the season.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 2 (Padova won both)
Marco Volpato (Tonazzo Padova): “This will be our fourth game in a row against the very best teams of this league. Perugia proved to be a top class team, we know it won’t be easy. We’ll have to play fearless like the young players can. We have been working our socks off in training and our game is evolving. Our hearts will reach where our technique doesn’t, and on Sunday we will give it all, as always”.
Simone Buti (Sir Safety Perugia): “We’re getting better, even if we had some black outs in Latina too, just like in the other games, and that penalizes us. We managed to overcome them against Latina, but we have to work on that because I think we should make it a lot harder for our opponents. On Sunday we face Padova, which we have to respect like any other opponent. They have different targets than ours and they did not have the best of starts, but neither did we. We have to prepare well, go there, build on the good things seen on Wednesday, and try to play our best volleyball to take the three points”.
CMC Ravenna – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia
A big crowd is expected in Forlì for this superb encounter against Treia. Ravenna is top with maximum points with Modena, full of confidence thanks to 3 comfortable wins and playing excellent volleyball too. As for Treia, they gathered their second win in as many games against Padova at home, which means they’re one of the only four unbeaten teams left. Podrascanin is doubtful, he missed the Padova game because of an injury in his right thumb.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 17 (10-7 Treia)
Waldo Kantor (coach CMC Ravenna): “We will face Treia just like we played our previous games, trying to maintain maximum focus and concentrating on ourselves more than on the opponent. But it’s obvious we’re facing a very tough encounter given that we’ll be up against the strongest team in the league”.
Simone Parodi (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia): “We’re facing a top level game against a team who was on song and in good shape in the first three rounds. We have maximum points too, though we played a game less, so we want to go there to take the points and add to our winning streak which began with the Super Cup. We will need maximum focus and some excellent volleyball”.
Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta – Top Volley Latina
Molfetta suffered its first defeat in mid-week against Trento, Kooistra being the only one finishing in double digit (12 points). The team of coach Di Pinto, who had lined-up the Cuban setter Hierrezuelo from the start, will try to get back on track at home against Latina. Defeat as well for Latina in the third round against Perugia, but they gave it a good fight in the second and third set. Outside hitter Starovic (15 points) and spiker Urnaut (14) had good games.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 2 (Latina won both)
Luca Spirito (Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta): “Molfetta is a great place to play volleyball, I immediately got along with my teammates, people at the club and the fans. It was great to feel the faith they all had in me, that helped me to have an excellent start to the season. It’s important to feel people trust you, that allowed me to play loose. We lost against Trento but we’re already focused on Latina. It will be crucial to be focused and impose our game like in the first two encounters of the season. We have to avoid the mistakes made against Trento because in this league every little mistake you make becomes a great opportunity for the opponent”.
Andrea Semenzato (Top Volley Latina): “We still need time but I can see we’re improving game after game. We’re waiting for the coming games to get some results. I am recovering from the problem I had at the start of the season. Hopefully, I’ll be hundred percent soon. Anyway, against Molfetta we have to show what we’re capable of”.
Serie A2 UnipolSai
Round 3
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