SERIE A1 TIM
SERIE A1 TIM – 19th ROUND
Saturday 24 January at 6.30pm
Framasil Pineto – Itas Diatec Trentino
(Piersanti – Lavorenti)
Sunday 25 January at 6pm
Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza – Yoga Forli
(Pol – Astengo)
Marmi Lanza Verona – Lube Banca Marche Macerata
(Ravallese – Giani)
Sisley Treviso – Antonveneta Padova
(Locatelli – La Micela)
Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari – Stamplast Martina Franca
(Cinti – Puecher)
Sunday 25 January at 6.30pm
Trenkwalder Modena – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo LIVE ON SKY SPORT 2
(Mastrodonato – Perri)
Monday 26 January at 8.30pm
RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia
(Cipolla – Longo)
TABLE
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 41; Lube Banca Marche Macerata, Itas Diatec Trentino 40; Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza 36; RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia 32; Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari 30; Sisley Treviso 27; Marmi Lanza Verona 26; Trenkwalder Modena 21; Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia, Stamplast Martina Franca 20; Framasil Pineto 19; Yoga Forl� 16; Antonveneta Padova 10.
COPRA NORDMECCANICA PIACENZA – YOGA FORLI
Past encounters: 4 (3-1 Piacenza).
First leg: Yoga Forli – Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza 0-3 (21-25, 23-25, 17-25).
Record chasers: Leonel Marshall needs 2 aces to reach the hundred. On the other side of the net, Giuseppe Patriarca is 6 spikes away from a 1000 in his career.
Gianluca Durante (Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza): “Like for every league game in Italy, it will be difficult. We’re a little bit tired and we’ve only had a couple of training sessions given that we played in the Champions League. We promised ourselves to think one game at a time and we want to get some points to stay high up in the table. Forli is back to a good form lately, we’ll have to be very careful”.
Tuba (Yoga Forli): “We’re playing well right now. We’ve always expressed a good volleyball in January, with good performances. Piacenza is a strong team, in every area of the game. It will be a very tough game, almost an impossible one. But we have to be confident given that we found our rhythm. We have to go there with the will to get some points, to get a tie-break would already be a great result”.
MARMI LANZA VERONA – LUBE BANCA MARCHE MACERATA
Past encounters: 9 (2-7 Macerata).
First leg: Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Marmi Lanza Verona 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-22).
Record chaser: Rob Bontje could reach two targets: a hundred ace with one more in the league and a 1000 points with another 9 in the A1. Marcus Popp will try to get two spikes to reach the 500 in his hundredth appearance in the league. It’s a special game for Matteo Martino who needs 12 more points to get to the thousand in regular season and in its hundredth game. Finally Sebastian Swiderski is 5 points from the 2000 and one ace from the 100.
Maurizio Latelli (Marmi Lanza Verona): “Macerata plays well as a team. Technically, it has great players and that makes it a very tough team to manoeuvre. The first leg did not got too well, they had given next to nothing away. On Sunday we’ll have to focus on our strengths: we are amongst the bets in the league in some areas of the game, and that should give us some confidence. If we manage to get high percentages in these areas, we could have a good game. The result will depend on many factors, which are not only the will or the technique, many things vary but hopefully it will go positively for us”.
Matteo Martino (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “Verona is an excellent team, it’s always managed to make it difficult for the top team, especially at home where they have some great supporters. On our part, we want to keep playing at the high level of play we expressed on Sunday against Trento. We don’t want to lose ground on the others at the top of the league. It will surely be a good test before the Cup”.
SISLEY TREVISO – ANTONVENETA PADOVA
Past encounters: 60 (47-13 Treviso).
First leg: Antonveneta Padova – Sisley Treviso 1-3 (18-25, 26-28, 25-20, 21-25).
Record chasers: Alberto Cisolla has to chance to make it to the 200 aces in regular season, he needs just one. Alessandro Fei celebrates his 300Th appearance while Andrea Garghella his 200Th. Robert Kromm could celebrate his hundredth game in the league with 100 aces, he needs 5. Meanhwile, it will be Giordano Mattera’s 200th game in A1.
Alessandro Fei (Sisley Treviso): “We’re going through a good run between cup and league, so the positive signs are there and we’re looking to keep going this way against Padova in our Palaverde gym. We have to improve our home record this season as it is negative. Padova struggled to get the results but that’s precisely why they will play with heart and fighting spirit every game until the end of the season to get nearer to the safety zone. We need the points too to get closer to the top”.
ACQUA PARADISO GABECA MONTICHIARI – STAMPLAST MARTINA FRANCA
Past encounters: 11 (8-3 Montichiari).
First leg: Stamplast Martina Franca – Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari 3-1 (25-23, 21-25, 27-25, 25-18).
Record chasers: Mauro Gavotto is one ace from the 200 in the league, while teammate Robert Horstink is 3 spikes away from the 500 in regular season. Manuel Coscione will play its 200th game in regular season. However, most of the attention will go to Gigi Mastrangelo. The middleblocker is 3 blocks away from 1100 in his career and 3 points away from the 3500 in the league.
Simone Tiberti (Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari): “It’s a great opportunity to get some crucial points. We’re not playing at our best right now, but we still managed to gain some important points in recent games too. We’re not going through our best run but we’re facing this difficult period as it should be. That gives us confidence, which is crucial given the Cup ahead of us, where we really want to do well. Still, we’re focused on the Martina Franca game now. It could look like one we can easily win but in reality it’s a very tough one”.
Luigi Mastrangelo (Stamplast Martina Franca): “Playoffs? I still believe in it but we have to look behind us too. Montichiari is a team that plays excellent volleyball, they are efficient in every area of the game, especially on the serve. The first leg showed we could play face to face with them and even win it. Unfortunately, we keep having some bad luck. This week, one of my teammates had to miss out on training because of the flu and we therefore had to work with a reduced squad”.
TRENKWALDER MODENA – BRE BANCA LANNUTTI CUNEO
Past encounters: 58 (33 vittorie ;Modena, 25 Cuneo).
First leg: Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Trenkwalder Modena 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-21).
Record chasers: Cristian Casoli needs 7 points to reach the 3.000 in the league. 7 points needed too for Wytze Kooistra but to get to 1000. Andrea Sartoretti is just one ace away from the 800 in the league.
Dragan Travica (Trenkwalder Modena): “Cuneo is in great form, top of the league and therefore the strongest right now. Sunday’s game will be a great opportunity for us and it will give us great motivation. We’re working accurately, carefully and focused. Our aim is to find consistency during the game”.
RPA-LUIGIBACCHI.IT PERUGIA TONNO CALLIPO VIBO VALENTIA
Past encounters: 9 (6-3 Perugia).
First leg: RPA.LuigiBacchi.it Perugia – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 1-3 (22-25, 25-21, 21-25, 21-25).
Record chasers: Paolo Cozzi needs just two blocks for the 500 in the league. Cristian Savani is 2 aces away from the 200 in career. Two is the number again for Jan Stokr, he needs 2 spikes for the 1500 in the league. Giacomo Sintini will celebrate his 300Th game of his career.
Jan Stokr (RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia): “It will be a tough game against Vibo. I saw their last league game and they are powerful, they serve well and they vary their game a lot. Still, we want to beat them, we want to show we’re stronger than them. We’re still upset that they will play the in the Italian Cup instead of us”.
Rocco Barone (Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “The victory over Pineto gave us a lot of confidence because it stopped our negative run. We will face this game with great motivation, aware that they will do their best to make it difficult for us, especially since they are out of the cup and that we’re in. I think we played decent volleyball lately, apart from a few black outs, which can be understandable given that we faced the strongest teams of the league. We worked real hard to be ready for this game and obtain a good result in Perugia”.
