An exciting week of volleyball is coming up with the Italian Cup final four and two days of SuperLega. It starts on Wednesday night with Round 16 as Modena increased its lead to two points on Civitanova at the top last weekend.
Second consecutive home game for Civitanova following the two points earned with difficulty against Padova at the tie-break. Civitanova is still second but is now two points behind Modena and just three ahead of Trento, its next opponent in the Cup semi-final. With their new signing, US spiker William Priddy, who played a big part in getting back on track in the last game, they will play another tough match against Perugia. The latter will also be in the cup semis against the league leader Modena. The Block Devils are coming off a miraculous come-back win over CMC Romagna is a game that seemed doomed.
Dominant in Piacenza during the weekend, Trento is back home with a game against CMC Romagna. The latter was enjoying a superb performance in Perugia before crashing and losing in five sets. Romagna is tenth in the league but just one point from the playoffs zone, while Trento’s goal is to catch up Civitanova who stands three points in front.
Latina will try to make the most of playing home to make the upset against the league leaders. A difficult task even if they have only lost once in the second half of season. They’re coming off a five-set victory in Verona. Romiti and Krumins will celebrate their 200th appearance. On Sunday, Modena swept Monza. The team finished first of its Champions League group, is also qualified for the Italian Cup semi-finals and stands on top of the best league in the world. Lorenzetti’s men are having a great time. Their last league defeat goes back to November 22 in Trento.
Beaten severely 3-0 by Trento, Piacenza will try one more time to get points and move up the table. Giuliani’s men have not played up to their potential this season and stand last from bottom with 6 points, just one point above Milan. They will take on Verona, which is coming off three tie-break losses, the last one conceded at home against Latina. They’ll be eager to get back on track in Piacenza. Zlatanov is chasing his 800th block and 600th ace.
The Belly Dancers will take care of entertaining the crowd at the Kioene arena as Padova hopes to be dancing too at the end of its game against Molfetta. They will try to repeat the excellent performance done against Civitanova on Sunday, which got them a prestigious and valuable point to catch up Monza in the table. Santiago Orduna will celebrate his 200th game in regular season. Sixth in the table, Molfetta is in the hunt for a third straight victory after the breakthrough at the tie-break against Verona and the home win in three sets over Milan.
On Thursday night at 8.30pm, Monza will play host to Milan in the derby from the Lombardy region. Vacondio’s men were beaten by the leader Modena but are still in the playoffs zone, tied with Padova. They don’t want to get it wrong against the bottom team of the table. But Milan believes in its ability even if it lost its last three games on a 3-0 score. Milan only gathered 5 points so far, out of a tie-break win and three tie-break defeats. The last loss was in Molfetta.
SuperLega UnipolSai Round 16 preview
Wednesday 3 February at 8.30pm
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova – Sir Safety Conad Perugia Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
Diatec Trentino – CMC Romagna Live on Lega Volley Channel
Ninfa Latina – DHL Modena Live on Lega Volley Channel
LPR Piacenza – Calzedonia Verona Live on Lega Volley Channel
Tonazzo Padova – Exprivia Molfetta Live on Lega Volley Channel
Thursday 4 February at 8.30pm
Gi Group Monza – Revivre Milano Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
League table
DHL Modena 40, Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova 38, Diatec Trentino 35, Sir Safety Conad Perugia 30, Calzedonia Verona 29, Exprivia Molfetta 23, Ninfa Latina 20, Gi Group Monza 15, Tonazzo Padova 15, CMC Romagna 14, LPR Piacenza 6, Revivre Milano 5
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova – Sir Safety Conad Perugia
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 12 (9-3 Civitanova)
Enrico Cester (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova): “This week of big games continues. Perugia is next at home. It will be important to be focused and ready to go in spite of the Italian Cup final four coming on Saturday and Sunday. We’ll definitely have to play better than against Padova. It will be a very exciting game between two great teams”.
Boban Kovac (coach Sir Safety Conad Perugia): “Another crucial game for us on Wednesday, and it comes in a difficult period. We’re still looking for our best volleyball and the physical problems have not helped us in the last few days. I think we have to be more aware of our abilities. At times we forget what we’re capable of like on Sunday against Ravenna, though luckily we managed to get back on track and win it. On Wednesday in Civitanova, it will be a very tough game against a team that aims high. They’ve been playing well, they have a lot of great players in their roster. It will be a great game, I expect the guys to be eager to step up. I’m sure we’ll play a good game, we have what it takes to do well”.
Diatec Trentino – CMC Romagna
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 9 (Trento won them all)
Sebastian Solé (Diatec Trentino): “We’re extremely motivated. This is a very important week for us and we want to reach the final four of the Italian Cup in tip top shape and with three more points in the standings. Ravenna is a quality team, but we don’t want to lose points on the way, we’ll try everything possible to clinch victory”.
Dore Della Lunga (CMC Romagna): “We all know how good is Trento. It’s a fantastic squad, it will be very tough for us, they’ll be home too and in their PalaTrento arena they have not lost a game for ages. We’ll have to play as confident as we have been against Perugia. It’s another of those games in which we have nothing to lose. We’ll try our best, hoping that Trento will have its mind already on the Italian Cup final four and won’t be hundred percent, otherwise there’s not much we can do”.
Ninfa Latina – DHL Modena
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 30 (20-10 Modena)
Camillo Placì (coach Ninfa Latina): “This will be a great game, against the league leaders. We are coming off an excellent result, we want to have another good game and maybe hang another medal around our neck. We have won three of four in this second half of season and we want to keep that trend going. Modena is packed with super stars, they have so much quality and that’s why they are above the rest. They really play some excellent volleyball”.
Andrea Sartoretti (GM DHL Modena): “We know for well this will be a tough encounter. They proved they could play top quality volleyball in the last round against Verona. The boys will have to be ready, as we should be for every SuperLega game. The final four? We have to go one step at a time. Tomorrow we face Latina, then we’ll be able to focus on the Forum”.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 25 (18-7 Piacenza)
Alberto Giuliani (coach LPR Piacenza): “Wednesday’s game will be another opportunity to take points. We know Verona is an excellent team, built to stand in the top part of the standings. We’ll have to focus on our own game, try to stay focused and play a good game to get something out of it”.
No press release from Calzedonia Verona
Tonazzo Padova – Exprivia Molfetta
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 7 (5-2 Molfetta)
Valerio Baldovin (coach Tonazzo Padova): “Molfetta plays excellent volleyball. They can give a game even to the best teams. We have done very well ourselves of late, taking points in every game. This should therefore be an intense game, played at a fast pace, we’ll need to be consistent. This is the only way we can compete with the opposition, by trying to be clinical in the key moments of the game too”.
Paolo Montagnani (coach Exprivia Molfetta): “It was not easy to maintain our focus against Milan after the victory in Verona. We played with great consistency. We’re united and there is a good atmosphere, our moto is “all together”. We have improved on the road, where we used to be hesitant. And that’s with this new mentality that we’ll travel to Padova”.
Gi Group Monza – Revivre Milano
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 5 (3-2 Monza)
Iacopo Botto (Gi Group Monza): “Everybody knows that derbys are always difficult games. There are important points at stake for both teams. We don’t want to lose ground on the top 8 teams while they want to get back up the table. We’ll need maximum focus and we have to impose our rhythm from the get-go with confidence. We are motivated for this derby, we had an excellent performance in Modena where, in spite of the outcome, we played good volleyball and gave them a game. We’re ready, we can’t wait to play”.
Riccardo Sbertoli (Revivre Milano): “The derby is always the derby. We have to get in the game with the right attitude. We’ll be up against a team that has not been doing too bad, better than us for sure, they have excellent players. We’ll play our game, we’ll not be influenced by the rivalry of the two clubs, both from Milan. In my opinion, we’ll have to do well on the serve, because they have quality middle blockers and it would be a great idea to get them out of the game to have more of a chance. We need to shake things up. Once again, we failed to play with will to win and a good attitude against Molfetta. And we came home empty handed. I think this is the perfect opportunity to change that”.
