Many stars of the SuperLega took part in a qualifying tournament for the Olympic Games 2016 (Russia qualified, France and Poland will have one last chance in Japan) and now they’re back ready to fight it out for a place in the Italian Cup final four to take place on February 6-7 in Assago inside the Volley Land event, back seven years on. The weekend is indeed dedicated to the Italian Cup quarter-finals as the top four (Modena, Trento, Civitanova and Perugia) won the first leg.
Starting with the league leaders, Modena plays host to Monza and nothing can be taken for granted. Indeed, 2-0 up in the first leg, Lorenzetti’s men could not hold off the come-back from Monza, who went very close to an upset in the tie-break (13-15). The 22 points from Renan, the 8 blocks from Pieter Verhees and the 18 total from the team were not enough to have the edge though. A tie-break win from Monza would bring the tie to a Golden Set to 15.
In its first home game of 2016, Civitanova entertains Latina. The hosts obtained a 3-0 advantage away from home led by Juantorena (22 points, 75% in attack, 4 aces), who however still feel some pain in his shoulder. Careful to Latina who’s not new to big breakthroughs and indeed they had knocked out Civitanova of last year’s playoffs. Latina needs a 3-0 or 3-1 to get to the Golden Set.
Two sets will be enough for Trentino to go through to Assago in February. In spite of the 3-0 result, however, it’s not been easy by any means for the Italian champions against Molfetta. Coach Stoytchev will not be on the bench due to his two-match ban but it could be victory number 300 for him. His record says 299 wins out of 359 games played. Molfetta was hoping to repeat the feat of winning 3-0 in the league in its first ever presence in the Italian Cup but the push of the PalaPoli arena was not enough this time.
This was predicted to be the most uncertain match-up and so it was. Perugia clinched it at the tie-break thanks to an outstanding Atanasijevic (32 points). Verona were without Starovic and Sander and it might have been key even if Bellei and Lecat did a very good job (26 and 16 points respectively). Both Starovic and Sander will be back on Thursday night. Perugia still needs a win to qualify, while a 3-2 score for Verona would send the tie to the dreaded Golden Set.
Del Monte® Italian Cup SuperLega – Quarter-final return legs
Thursday 14 January at 8.30pm
DHL Modena (1) – (8) Gi Group Monza Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sir Safety Conad Perugia (4) – (5) Calzedonia Verona Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova (2) – (7) Ninfa Latina Live on Lega Volley Channel
Diatec Trentino (3) – (6) Exprivia Molfetta Live on Lega Volley Channel
Del Monte® Italian Cup SuperLega – Final Four
Mediolanum Forum – Assago (MI)
Saturday 6 February at 3pm
1st semi-final
Winner (1)/(8) – Winner (4)/(5)
Saturday 6 February at 5.30pm
2nd semif-final
Winner (2)/(7) – (3)/(6)
Sunday 7 February at 2pm
Del Monte® Italian Cup final Serie A2
Sunday 7 February at 5.30pm
Del Monte® Italian Cup final SuperLega
DHL Modena – Gi Group Monza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 4 (Modena won them all)
Andrea Sartoretti (GM DHL Modena): “Useless to say that with the in-and-out games, the adrenaline goes straight up. This is an important moment of the season for us, we aim at going all the way in all the competitions we take part in. Monza is a good team, they proved it in the first leg. We’ll need a great game, with our supporters, sure they will give us a great hand. The boys have been able to train well during the break, to refine even further their understanding. They are ready for this game”.
Pieter Verhees (Gi Group Monza): “We are obviously aware of the difficulty that represents such an encounter. Modena is a quality team, they have top class players. How can we make it hard for them? I’d say by serving well, and maintaining a high rhythm with a good work on the block-dig department. Our goal will be to put pressure on them without making mistakes. We want to play this return match with the same determination of the first leg. Although some took part in a pre-Olympic tournament, the Christmas break enabled us to recharge our batteries mentally. We have gone back to training a couple of days ago, we’re in good spirit. We want to keep up the good work done in the first part of season”.
Sir Safety Conad Perugia – Calzedonia Verona
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 14 (10-4 Perugia)
Simone Buti (Sir Safety Conad Perugia): “Finally time to play! And we start off with a big one, a crucial game. We have worked real hard of late, we needed to work physically but also technically after two months filled with many games. We need to win and qualify for the Final Four on Thursday. We know Verona well, they’re strong, they won here, but we know we can have our say. We’ll do everything possible to qualify”.
Michele Baranowicz (Calzedonia Verona): “Thursday’s game against Perugia will definitely be a tough one. The two previous games against them played in Verona have been difficult. We’ll have to go all out, it will be crucial to start well because if you let them play they can really be tough to stop. We really want to go to Milan. We really wanted it before those two games but even more now that we’re trailing. We want to play a great game in Perugia”.
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova – Ninfa Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 40 (32-8 Civitanova)
Dragan Stankovic (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova): “We’re ready to go after the Christmas break, with the same opponent against which we ended 2015, Latina. Our goal is obviously to qualify for the Italian Cup final four and the Volley Land. We’ll try to build on the good 3-0 win of the first leg. We got all together again only yesterday but we’re up for it, determined to play a good game, which could send us to play for the first trophy of the season”.
Andrea Mattei (Ninfa Latina): “We’re facing a very tricky game but we’ll definitely have a go. We’ll play with fighting spirit and a winning mentality. The break allowed us to work on certain fundamentals. We’ll travel to Civitanova hoping to turn things around to our advantage”.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 8 (6-2 Trento)
Daniele Mazzone (Diatec Trentino): “We’re ready to get back on court. The first match of 2016 against 2016 could seem easy, but before winning there on December 22, we had been severely beaten in the Apulia. We’ll need to play well, especially at the beginning of the match. If we manage to be aggressive and execute well we’ll be on the right track”.
Francesco Del Vecchio (Exprivia Molfetta): “During the break we have worked in the weight room as well as on our game. We have nothing to lose, we have to play without thinking of the result. Winning in the PalaTrento arena is not easy for anyone, but we will give it our best shot as always. It’s crucial to think one game at a time and focus exclusively on the present task”.
