Comunicato Stampa della Lega Pallavolo Serie A

TONNO CALLIPO VIBO VALENTIA – COPRA NORDMECCANICA PIACENZA

Past encounters: 10 (8-2 Piacenza).

First leg: Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 2-3 (23-25; 29-27; 23-25; 25-19; 13-5)

Record chassers: Marco Meoni celebrates his 400^th game in regular season. Teammate Christian Pampel, is 10 spikes away from the 1000 in regular season. Hristo Zlatanov is 4 aces from the 300 in regular season and 11 spikes from the 5500 in the league. As for the hosts, Tuomas Sammelvuo, could reach the 500 points between league and cup, he needs 16. Ventceslav Simeonov is just one block from the 300 in the league.

Fosco Cicola (Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “We’re facing another series of tough games, against top teams. We’ll face these games with a different approach compared to the first legs. Now we’re more aware of what we can do. We’ll play at home and hopefully we’ll win again like in the first leg. Our fans are our strength, so hopefully the gym will be packed to celebrate the new year with a victory”.

Joao Paolo Bravo (Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza): “Tomorrow’s game against Vibo will without doubt be difficult. They are playing well right now, despite last week’s defeat against Cuneo. We’ll have to be accurate and focused if we want to get some points. It will be important to serve well and make them play as far away from the net as possible”.

ANTONVENETA PADOVA – TRENKWALDER MODENA

Past encounters: 63 (51-12 Modena).

First leg: Trenkwalder Modena – Antonveneta Padova 3-0 (34-32; 25-22; 25-17)

Record chaser: Robert Kromm needs 11 points to reach 100 in the league and 2 blocks to make it a hundred between league and cup. Andrea Sartoretti is one ace from the 800 in the league. Luca Tencati will reach 1500 spikes between league and cup if he makes 8 more.

Bruno Bagnoli (Antonveneta Padova): “We’re facing a team with a few problems. On the other hand, Padova has everyone fit, given that Perazzolo is back from injury. We have to take advantage of this situation to start 2009 in the best possible way. We have our fans with us, always ready to support us in the clutch moments”. 

Andrea Sartoretti (Trenkwalder Modena): “It’s a very important game for us, for our league position and other. We’re working well and we know we have to find consistency. We have no excuses: we have to make do and fight with what we have right now, day after day to get some points”.

SISLEY TREVISO – YOGA FORLI

Past encounters: 7 (All wins for Treviso).

First leg: Yoga Forli – Sisley Treviso 0-3 (23-25; 19-25; 20-25)

Record chasers: Cisolaa and Gustavo will try to reach the 200 aces in Serie A. They need one. Stefan Hubner is two aces from the hundred aces in the regular season and 15 points away from the 2000 in the league.

Alberto Cisolla (Sisley Treviso): “We should not be looking at the league table, or be thinking of the qualities and flaws of our opponent. Our mission is the put in practice the good things done in training and find consistency during the game, avoiding dangerous ups and downs. Forli will play without pressure, and we know nothing gives anything away in this league, especially at home. We have to be aggressive in the serve and block right from the start, this is how we can obtain important points”.

Tuba (Yoga Forli): “It was great to be back in the last game against Trento. I was really happy and that motivated me a lot. I hope to be a starter tomorrow against Treviso, although the most important thing is the team and how it performs. We have to move it, I can see in training that we have the potential so we have to do well and repeat it in games to get points in whatever gym we go. This is a very tight and difficult league, the amount of point to stay up will surely be higher compared to last season”.

STAMPLAST MARTINA FRANCA – LUBE BANCA MARCHE MACERATA

Past encounters: 11 (9-2 Macerata)

First leg: Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Stamplast Martina Franca 3-0 (27-25, 25-21, 25-22)

Record chasers: Matej Cernic only needs 2 spikes to reach the 1500 in regular season. Martin Lebl could make get two records: he’s four aces away from a hundred in regular seaon and 6 blocks from the 500 in career. Matteo Martino is 11 points away from the 1000 between league and cups. With 6 more spikes, Valerio Vermiglio would make it 500 between league and cup.

Francesco Corsini (Stamplast Martina Franca): “We’ll have to work hard against Macerata and we’ll try to snatch a points to make progress in the league. We could be favourite given that they played 5 long sets on Monday against Pineto. We have to take advantage of the fact that Macerata had less time to prepare this game”.

Jan Willem Snippe (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “We’re going to face a team that had a few problems with injuries and changes of coaches, but we’re talking about a team with great technique and great players. They have therefore everything it takes to move up the table. We’ll have to be at our best to win”.

FRAMASIL PINETO – BRE BANCA LANNUTTI CUNEO

Past encounters: 1 (1 vittoria Cuneo)

First leg: Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Framasil Pineto 3-0 (25-22; 28-26; 25-16)

Record chasers: Just one block needed for Francesco Biribanti to reach the 300 between league and cup. Francesco Fortunato could reach the 400 blocks, he needs 4 more. Peter Platenik is 2 spikes away from the 500 between league and cup. Manuele Ravellino is close from the 300 blocks, he�€�s 3 away.

Marco Vicini (Framasil Pineto): “It will be a difficult game against Pineto. They’re going through a positive moment and they’re playing great volleyball. Following the point gained in Macerata, we have regained our spirit to face the return games with the right determination. And Saturday, we’ll try to get some points in front of our fans in the Palamagetti gym. Wijsmans and Nikolov are the main threats of their team, but the whole team is top level. We’ll have to be focused from start to finish to get a result”.

Wout Wijsmans (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “We’re physically fine, we managed to train with consistency. Pineto is a good team, and it proved it again last week with a good performance against Macerata. We’ll have to be careful and stay focused. We’ll try to play good volleyball, given that we eventually started to play as we can in recent games. The start of the season was difficult and we should not forget how hard it’s been to overcome the initial struggle”.

ACQUA PARADISO GABECA MONTICHIARI – RPA-LUIGIBACCHI.IT PERUGIA

Past encounters: 13 (9-4 Perugia).

First leg: RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia – Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari 3-1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-21, 32-30)

Record chasers: Massimo Botti will celebrate his 400^th game in the Serie A. His teammate, Xristian Savani is 5 aces away from the 200 between league and cup. Montichiari’s middleblocker, Daniel Allan Howard, is 5 aces away from the 100 in regular season. Andrea Sala is 3 blocks from the 400 in career.

Mauro Gavotto (Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari): “The game against Perugia has to be one like any other, to be faced with the right approach, with the will to do well as ever. Game after game the aim is always to give it our best shot. The biggest mistake would be to underestimate the opponent and that is exactly what we have to avoid. A wish? Play on every ball like in Modena, maybe even improving further”.

Jan Stokr (RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia): “We’re expecting a very tough game in Montichiari because there are important points at stake. Right now, Gavotto is outstanding but we have to play like against Martina Franca: together and with the right nastiness. It will be a tight one but we want to take some points”. 

ITAS DIATEC TRENTINO – MARMI LANZA VERONA

Past encounters: 9 (6-3 Trento).

First leg: Marmi Lanza Verona – Itas Diatec Trentino 3-2 (27-25; 27-25; 20-25; 22-25; 15-11)

Record chasers: Verona’s setter, Frank Dehne, will celebrate his 100^th appearance. Marcus Popp needs 11 points to reach the 1000 in the league. Andrea Semenzato will make his 200^th appearance in the Serie A. On the other side of the net, Nikola Grbic only needs one block to reach the 700 between league and cup. In the league, Leandro Vissotto needs 11 points to make it one thousand.

Cosimo Marco Piscopo (Itas Diatec Trentino): “Verona is a good club in this league and, even more importantly, this is a team that has always done extremely well against the big teams, testimony is last week’s game against Treviso. Remembering the defeat of the first leg, we have to expect a hard time so we’ll need to fight and play as well as we can, even though we have a few injuries and a few problems too many right now. We can’t afford to wine about these things. The new starting six with Dalla Lunga and Riad proved it was competitive against Forli. We want to forget quickly about the last game played in our gym, lost at the tie-break against Martina Franca. The serve and block will surely make the difference, and these are two vey effective teams in these fundamentals”. 

Andrea Semenzato (Marmi Lanza Verona): “We’re facing Trento who is having a few team problems. We’ll try to do well, we obviously don’t want to stop now that we have had a good first half of championship. We all want to keep adding points, looking for a good league position. We’ll try to do so not only at Trento, we’ll try to aim for a little more than just stay up, it will be an added motivation for the team”.

SERIE A2 TIM

Return games start

The serie A2 is having no rest either during the Christmas period. The return games kick off on this Saturday 3^rd of January, leading to the final sprint of the season.

Gian Andrea Marchesi will have to wait to make its debut as head coach after Pietro Scarduzio was sacked, as his team is rested. The leaders will start home but it will certainly not be easy against Gioia del Colle, one of the most in-form teams right now. The current runners up, Santa Croce, will face a reborn Castellana Grotte team, who signed libero Alessandro Trimarchi is the last few hours. Cavriago will play its second consecutive road game, this time at Latina. The guest have also added to their squad with outside hitter William Kirchhein, who will substitute the injured Sandro Fabbiani. Isernia travels to Loreto.

Crema versus Bologna is one not to be missed, while Catania will play in the house of the last from bottom Città del Castello, who is desperate for points as it fights to stay up. It did manage to get some points in their last four encounters, going all the way to the tie-break on each occasion.

Castelfidardo has no choice anymore. Stuck with 8 points and without a win since the 23^rd of November, it will have to get a result as it plays host to Roma, whose spirit his high after qualifying for the Italian Cup A2.

Return games first round

Saturday 3 January at 6pm

Andreoli Latina – Edilesse Cavriago

(Perdisci – Orpianesi)

M. Roma Volley – La Nef Castelfidardo

(Tanasi – Cappello)

Esse-ti Carilo Loreto – Olio Pignatelli Isernia

(Oranelli – Pecetti)

Samgas Crema – Wayel Bologna

(Contini – Zanussi)

Bassano Volley – Nava Gioia del Colle

(Andreoni – Simbari)

Codyeco S.Croce – Materdomini Volley.It Castellana Grotte

(Genna – Braico)

Saturday 3 January at 8.30pm

Gherardi Cartoedit Tratos C.di Castello – Sp Catania
(Montanari – Piana)

Rested: Canadiens Mantova