Saturday 8 November at 6.30pm
Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza – RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia LIVE SKY SPORT 2
(Barbero – Boris)
Sunday 9 November at 6pm
Trenkwalder Modena – Itas Diatec Trentino
(Cinti – Perri)
Stamplast Martina Franca – Yoga Forli
(Pessolano – Mastrodonato)
Sisley Treviso – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia
(Ippoliti – Caldarola)
Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari – Framasil Pineto
(Lavorenti – Giani)
Sunday 9 November at 6.30pm
Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo LIVE ON SKY SPORT 2
(Gnani – Pol)
Monday 10 November at 8.30pm
Marmi Lanza Verona – Antonveneta Padova LIVE ON SKY SPORT 2
(Cipolla – Castagna)
SERIE A1 TIM TABLE
Itas Diatec Trentino 16; Lube Banca Marche Macerata 14; Sisley Treviso 13; Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo, Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari, Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza, RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia 12; Stamplast Martina Franca 9; Marmi Lanza Verona, Framasil Pineto 8; Trenkwalder Modena 6; Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia, Yoga Forli 2; Antonveneta Padova 0
TRENKWALDER MODENA – ITAS DIATEC TRENTINO
Past encounters: 26 (14-12 Trento)
Last meeting: Cimone Modena – Itas Diatec Trentino 1-3. 2007/08, Playoffs quarter final game 2.
Record chaser: Endres Murilo is 7 attacks away from 1000, while Michal Winiarski needs 12 attacks to reach the 500.
Dragan Travica (Trenkwalder Modena): “It’s a complicated moment for us, but we really want to bounce back and find our game and confidence back. The result will follow. Trento is technically and mentally strong, they don’t give anything away and have two exceptional spikers in Vissotto and Kaziynski, who can come up with the great play at any time. As I said, we are motivated to bounce back and on Sunday, we want to play without fear and with fighting spirit”.
Lukasz Zygadlo (Itas Diatec Trentino): “We’re expecting a tough game, as usual. Modena might not be where it expected to be but it is a strong team, which should not be underestimated in its home gym. I’ve heard a lot of the fans of the PalaPanini gym and against the Italian champions, they will definitely be up for it. We had little time to prepare this game, first of all because we did not train much with the Molten ball in the last few days. To play again with the league ball will surely make it trickier because, as it showed in the Champions League, the difference between the two balls is clear. For this reason, and for the quality of the opponents we’ll face, we’re expecting two difficult weeks even though I obviously hope the team will be able to find the resources to win on each occasion”.
STAMPLAST MARTINA FRANCA – YOGA FORLI
Past encounters: 6 (3 wins each)
Last meeting: Cascina Taranto – Conad Volley Forli 3-0. 2000/01, 11th round
Record chaser: Maikel Cardona could reach the 2500 points in regular season, he’s 10 away. Massimiliano di Franco is 9 points from the 1500 and 5 attacks from 1000 in regular season.
Danilo Paglialunga (Vice allenatore Stamplast Martina Franca): “This game against Forli should not be underestimated. They will come here psychologically fine because they’ll have nothing to lose. We have to keep high our level of play and above all, start the game with the right attitude. The important thing is to get off to a good start, putting pressure on the serve, something that really helped us against Montichiari. We have to give our best on this game because from now until the end of the season, we have to fight for a place in the Tim Cup A1 Final Eight”.
Piero Molducci (allenatore Yoga Forli): “It won’t be easy against Martina Franca, their fan will create a special atmosphere. We’ll just play our game, for two sets we proved we could play against Piacenza”.
SISLEY TREVISO – TONNO CALLIPO VIBO VALENTIA
Past encounter: 9-o Treviso
Last meeting: Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Sisley Treviso 0-3. 2006/07, 2nd round return games.
Record chaser: Samuele Papi is 5 attacks away from 6.000. If he manages to do it, he’d become the ninth player of all time in this category. Number 8 is Dimitry Fomin with 6.090, while the leader is Lorenzo Bernardi with 7.179. Alberto Cisolla is 4 blocks away from the 400 and Stefan Hubner needs only 2 aces to reach 100. Finally, Paolo Cozzi is 12 points away from the 1500 in regular season.
Stefan Hubner (Sisley Treviso): “We’re back in the league after 4 consecutive wins, but we know we can’t take any game for granted, there aren’t any such thing as an easy game. They all play at their best against us, and they take chances especially on the serve, and this way they can make it difficult for us. Vibo has excellent servers such as Simeonov and other top level players. We’ll have to be extremely focused. We saw yesterday how a couple of bad plays could complicate life for us. We’re are in form, we had four wins in a row, we have to going this way, obtaining good results in order to keep going up the table”.
Paolo Cozzi (Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “We’re improving game after game, but in Treviso this won’t be easy, it’s a great team that doesn’t give anything away in their home gym. We’ll have to play at our best and hope they already think about the Cup. Anyway, I believe that, more than the result, it will be important to confirm the improvements shown against Perugia”.
ACQUA PARADISO GABECA MONTICHIARI – FRAMASIL PINETO
Never met before
Loris Mani� (Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari): “Pineto should absolutely not be underestimated. They proved they can play good volleyball, although we should not think of our opponent. We have to focus on our team, which we have to rebuild. We have to forget about the Martina Franca game and concentrate on Sunday’s game: there are important points at stake”.
Emanuele Ravellino (Framasil Pineto): “It will be a tough game in Montichiari. They built a team to reach important targets compared to ours. Just like us, they lost their last encounter and will be keen to bounce back. It’s a team with excellent players, we’ll have to be especially careful with Gavotto and Esko. Our aim is to go and play to have a good performance”.
LUBE BANCA MARCHE MACERATA – BRE BANCA LANNUTTI CUNEO
Past encounter: 48 (23 vittorie Macerata, 25 Cuneo)
Last meeting: Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Lube Banca Marche Macerata 0-3. 2007/08, TIM Cup A1 semi final
Record chaser: Gregor Jeroncic is 11 points away from the 2000 (Regular season+playoffs). Vladimir Nikolov needs only 3 attacks to reach the 500 (Regular season+ playoffs).
Mirko Corsano (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “The Cuneo is always an important game, no matter where you stand in the league, because it’s a classic of the A1 now. We’re both still looking for the best alchemy, but we’ve shown positive things in the game played, obviously mixed with others that needs improving, which is normal at this period of the season. It’s a great challenge, a big match, that will tell us where we stand and it would be nice to win it, for the spirit and the league table”.
Wout Wijsmans (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “The Macerata game will be a tough one, they are in good form, they’re playing well. The fact we lost against Cannes in the Cev Cup makes it more complicated but we’ll get on court as ever, to do well and take some points. Then we’ll travel to straight to Cannes, where we’ll play the return leg on Wednesday. These will be 5 intense days, mentally too, because if we win in Macerata, we would have to find the anger of Thursday’s defeat back to fight. On the other hand, if we lose, we’ll have to keep a positive attitude to face Cannes and win. We made it difficult for ourselves, now we have to fix it”.
MARMI LANZA VERONA – ANTONVENETA PADOVA
Past encounters: 8 (4 vittorie per parte)
Last meeting: Marmi Lanza Verona – Antonveneta Padova 3-1. 2006/07, 10th round return games.
Record chaser: Lorenzo Perazzolo is only 7 attacks away from 500 and 1 point away from 1000.
Daniele Sottile (Mamri Lanza Verona): “We had some excellent games, beating stronger teams than us. The Padova game will be one of the most important of the season, because they are one of our main opponents. That would be nice to keep going well, especially at home. They will definitely be extremely motivated, they already showed some clear improvements against Treviso and, starting with Ramo, they will all want to do even better. I hope and I’m sure there will be a lot of people coming to support us in this tricky game. As always, we ask everyone to come, it’s always nice to play at the PalaOlimpia in front of a big crowd”.
Gabriele Maruotti (Antonveneta Padova): “Monday’s game will be an important one, because we know we’ll have to play at our best and go for the win. We are aware of the fact Verona is playing great volleyball, but that won’t stop us. We’ll face them with great motivation to obtain a good result. One might not thing so, but we are confident and convinced we have what it takes to do well. We just need to find the moment to kick start our campaign. Hopefully, this will be at Verona”.
