Modena is the winter champ. While the last round has defined the Italian Cup quarter-finals match-ups, the first return games, en route to the playoffs, start this weekend.
Seventh in the table, Latina recently lost against Molfetta and Perugia but celebrated qualification into the Italian Cup. Besides, it consolidated its partnership with PharmaNutra. They will play host to Padova, looking to bounce back from a straight set loss against the leader Modena.
Molfetta, who’s coming off wins over Latina and Piacenza, will try to consolidate its sixth place against the unstoppable Modena, who has been dominant both in Italy and Europe so far.
Fifth in the league and recently qualified for the Challenge Cup 8th of finals thanks to a 3-0 home victory over the Dutch of Zwolle, Verona will take on a direct rival, Perugia. The latter made it into the CEV Cup quarter-finals with Boban Kovac registering a winning debut on his second life on the Perugia bench. Thanks to their last league win over Latina, Perugia is up there with the top teams of the league.
Trentino stumbled in France against Tours in the Champions League but that did not alter their confidence as they won four consecutive in the league, including one over Civitanova. Besides, the club was proud to receive the Golden Star, awarded and handed in to President Diego Mosna for the excellence of their sport results. Monza will travel to Trento hoping to get back up on its feet after losses against Civitanova and Verona. But they had secured their first ever participation into the cup before that.
Civitanova put behind the five-set loss against the Italian champions and bounced back in the Champions League with a sweep over Dukla Liberec. But to get back on top, they can’t afford any mistakes as they stand two points behind Modena. CMC Romagna is the opponent of the day, a team that has been struggling and amassing four consecutive defeats, the last one coming at the tie-break against Milan.
Big match between the two bottom teams. Milan is on the up following their away win over CMC Romagna. They will play host to Piacenza full of confidence, especially with Teodor Skrimov back in the line-up. Giuliani’s men however see this game as an opportunity, Milan represents the only victory they registered in the first half of season. Besides, Piacenza has never lost against Milan.
SuperLega UnipolSai
Sunday 20 December at 5pm
Ninfa Latina – Tonazzo Padova Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Tanasi-Simbari)
Sunday 20 December at 5.30pm
Exprivia Molfetta – DHL Modena Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Pol-Cesare)
Sunday 20 December at 6pm
Calzedonia Verona – Sir Safety Conad Perugia Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Gnani-Zanussi)
Diatec Trentino – Gi Group Monza Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Pasquali-Piana)
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova – CMC Romagna Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Lot-Saltalippi)
Revivre Milano – LPR Piacenza Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Pozzato-Cipolla)
League table
DHL Modena 29, Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova 27, Diatec Trentino 24, Sir Safety Conad Perugia 24, Calzedonia Verona 24, Exprivia Molfetta 18, Ninfa Latina 13, Gi Group Monza 12, CMC Romagna 10, Tonazzo Padova 9, LPR Piacenza 4, Revivre Milano 4
Ninfa Latina – Tonazzo Padova
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 19 (11-8 Latina)
Simon Hirsch (Ninfa Latina): “We’ll need to face Padova with the same intensity with which we played there in the first round of the season. That remains so far our best performance of the season. We’ll be home and we want to take the three points to start the second half of season on a positive outing”.
Valerio Baldovin (coach Tonazzo Padova): “Going to Latina is never easy. We will give it more of a fight compared to our first meeting. Our team has improved since. We should play with composure and as a unit. We can’t give anything away to a team that is in need of points as much as we are”.
Exprivia Molfetta – DHL Modena
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 5 (4.1 Modena)
Antonio Antonaci (President Exprivia Molfetta): “We are satisfied with what we did in the first half of season and we will do everything possible to end 2015 on a good note. We have two quick games at home, but we’ll think one at a time without any pressure. In the first meeting, we played without fear and took one point, we can do it again on Sunday”.
Angelo Lorenzetti (coach DHL Modena): “I had already said last summer that Molfetta was a top team. This will be a tough game. We’ll need maximum focus, they play excellent volleyball. Useless to mention again the fact we play every three days, it was better to talk about that before the start of the season. The players train between one game and another. We should not think about next Tuesday’s game against Monza. We need to be focused exclusively on the present, on Molfetta”.
Calzedonia Verona – Sir Safety Conad Perugia
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 12 (9-3 Perugia)
Michele Baranowicz (Calzedonia Verona): “The two consecutive games against Perugia will be important but also great games to play. The best moment of the season has come. It is crucial to focus on our task because Perugia so far has had a great season. Everything has changed since our debut game, Perugia is a different team. They have changed coach, their understanding on court will not have changed. Atanasijevic and co have made it hard for everyone so far, this is why we need our very best”.
Benedetto Rizzuto (GM Sir Safety Conad Perugia): “This will be Kovac’s debut in the league. It will be strange to meet Verona twice in a couple of days, first in the SuperLega and then in the Italian Cup. We haven’t forgotten about the loss against them in the first round, a loss that has influenced what we then did until now. Verona has played this first part of season at a high level, and it’s no surprise because they have top quality players. We have been playing good volleyball ourselves. We’ll try to make it hard for them with our tactics. We’ll definitely need a good serve to contain them”.
Diatec Trentino – Gi Group Monza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 3 (Trento won them all)
Georgi Bratoev (Diatec Trentino): “It’s great to see the PalaTrento always packed, hopefully this will be the case again on Sunday. We’ll try to give our fans another victory against Monza. They have a good team, they made it hard for us in the first meeting, but in our gym we really play at a different level and we’ll prove it once again”.
Claudio Bonati (Sport director Gi Group Monza): “We’re facing two very tough encounters, against Trento on Sunday and then Modena in the Italian Cup on Tuesday. And we want to play those games with maximum determination. Playing against quality teams like Trento is never easy, even if we’ve been doing well ourselves. We played good volleyball last week against Verona, we proved we could give a game to anyone when we play in that dynamic manner and with consistency. Hopefully, the boys will manage to maintain a high level of intensity during the whole game, and Trento will be a little tired after their games in the league and Champions League. That would help us make it even harder for them and start this second half of season on a positive note”.
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova – CMC Romagna
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 20 (13-7 Civitanova)
Osmany Juantorena (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova): “I am honoured to receive the MVP award for the month of November. It’s a great satisfaction because the level of this league is extremely high. I am thrilled I have won it. We’re facing an important game against CMC Romagna because we want to bounce back from the loss in Trento. We want to stay close to the leaders so our goal is to take the three points before taking on Latina in the Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday”.
Waldo Kantor (coach CMC Romagna): “We’re facing of the best rosters in the league. No matter the line-up Blengini will send on court, it will be very tough for us. We have to stay focused and remain positive. We should not give anything easy point at the start of sets like we’ve done several times because we were not mentally ready. We are well aware there is a big difference between the two squads but this makes this game exciting. I want the boys to play at their best, especially in attack, to force Civitanova to play at their best as well to be able to beat us”.
Revivre Milano – LPR Piacenza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 3 (Piacenza won all 3)
Aimone Alletti (Revivre Milano): “Our target is to use our momentum and enthusiasm after the victory over Ravenna. We have worked well this week, we always do, even when the results were not coming our way. We have finally had a whole week together and we’ve been able to work on our understanding with Dante. We are ready and up for it”.
Alberto Giuliani (coach LPR Piacenza): “Milan will have all its players available on Sunday. It will definitely not be the same team we played in the first game of the season. They have Skrimov back to full fitness, and he’s playing well. He showed the great things he had shown last year at Latina. Our goal is to turn things around and get back on track. We’ve been working hard and with great concentration to achieve this goal”.
The Serie A2 remains very tight while the competitive level has greatly increased. This makes for great games, and the fans will be able to spend a Christmas period packed with volleyball thanks to the live games on the Lega Volley Channel. Vibo is still first but after its tie-break victory over Mondovì, Sora is back within three points and with a game in hand.
After two road games, Siena is back home hoping to get back on track after the losses in Civita Castellana and in Montefiascone against Tuscania. The club from Tuscany will welcome the young guns of Club Italia Roma, hungrier than ever after the disappointing home defeats against Tuscania and Ortona.
Third in the table, Civita Castellana took points in its last seven encounters. After their four-set win in Castellana Grotte, they will take on Reggio Emilia, bottom of the table but with a game in hand, to be played on December 22 against Sora. Reggio will need all the help it can get, which is why they hope to have Davide Benaglia fit on time for the game.
Sora was forced to spend Wednesday night as a spectator as its game was postponed. They will be back in action at noon on Sunday at home against Castellana Grotte, who lost its last game at home against Civita Castellana. However, this season they have alternated poor performances with top level outings.
Dutch outside hitter Sjoerd Hoogendorn has had a sprain and is fighting against time to be fit for the league leaders of Vibo Valentia, who managed to come out winners at the end of a very tough encounters against Mondovì. Learning to win in difficult conditions might be useful against Cantù too, a club with big potential coming off a four set win over Brescia, which consolidated its sixth place. De Paola is 2 points away from a thousand.
Potenza Picena will try to make it five wins in a row after its come-back victory in Tricase, which brought them back up to fourth place. The next obstacle is the newly promoted side of VBC Mondovì, who has already managed to trouble some of the top guns of this league.
Ortona will try to make the most of its home game against Alessano to make it three straight wins after the ones over Mondovì and Club Italia. But Alessano is desperate to put an end to a four-game losing streak. They started well against Potenza in the last round but only had regrets left at the end of the encounter with the eviction of middle blocker Cosimo Piscopo.
Stuck with 9 points since round 8, and coming off a poor game without glory in the derby from Lombardy in Cantù. Brescia wants to end this bad run against an uncomfortable opponent to play like Tuscania. Beaten home against the Champions 2015, Tuscania was immediately back to its usual best against Club Italia and then Siena (tie-break).
Serie A2 UnipolSai Round 11
Saturday 19 December at 6pm
Emma Villas Siena – Club Italia Roma Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Jacobacci-Sessolo)
Saturday 19 December at 8.30pm
Globo Scarabeo Civita Castellana – Conad Reggio Emilia Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Stancati-Puletti)
Sunday 20 December at noon
Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora – Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Spinnicchia-Oranelli)
Sunday 20 December at 4pm
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia – Cassa Rurale Cantù Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Carcione-Vecchione)
Potenza Picena – VBC Mondovì Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Merli-Luciani)
Sunday 20 December at 6pm
Sieco Service Ortona – Aurispa Alessano Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Brancati-Rolla)
Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia – Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Piubelli-Traversa N.)
League table
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia 26, Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora 23, Globo Scarabeo Civita Castellana 22, Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania 18, Potenza Picena 18, Cassa Rurale Cantù 16, Sieco Service Ortona 13, VBC Mondovì 13, Emma Villas Siena 12, Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte 12, Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia 9, Aurispa Alessano 9, Club Italia Roma 9, Conad Reggio Emilia 7
1 game in hand: Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora, Conad Reggio Emilia
