Comunicato Stampa della Lega Pallavolo Serie A

BRE BANCA LANNUTTI CUNEO – ACQUA PARADISO GABECA MONTICHIARI 2-3 (25-16, 27-25, 22-25, 20-25, 13-15)

BRE BANCA LANNUTTI CUNEO: Wijsmans 26, Rossi, Gonzalez 5, Fortunato 5, Vergnaghi (L), Nikolov 16, Curti 4, Abbadi, Biribanti 2, Pieri (L), Platenik 11. Dnp Ariaudo, Coscione Mattia. Coach. Prandi Silvano.

ACQUA PARADISO GABECA MONTICHIARI: Sala 12, Rauwerdink 11, Pesenti, Horstink 27, Tiberti, Esko 4, Howard 5, Bellei, Gavotto 22, Manià (L). Dnp Mor, Zito. Coach. Berruto Mauro.

Montichiari obtained a rare win in Cuneo at the tie-break thanks to great determination and character in the difficult moments of the game. The hosts lost for the first time of the season at home.

Wout Wijmans’ serve in the first set did the trick for Cuneo, as Montichiari seemed lost, struggling to deal with Cuneo’s accuracy. Not much seemed to change in the second set until the guests managed to come back from a 20-16 deficit to tie it at 23. However, Nikolov and Wijmans combined to put Cuneo 2-0 up. A fired up Montichiari side went 6-1 up in the third, they found the momentum to improve their stats in attack and took the third as the hosts did too little too late. The fourth set was a carbon copy of the previous one, with Montichiari playing with great energy. Sala at the net and Horstink in attack paved the way for a tie-break. Berruto’s team had the better start in the fifth (3-1, and 10-5). Just when it seemed all over, Wijmans and co fought back to even things up at 13. However, Montichiari knew it was just one step away from the breakthrough and it made the effort to seal it through Gavotto and Howard.

Andrea Rossi (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “We suffered a blackout again at 2-0. We have to find the consistency that we lacked today when we were 2-0 up”.

Robert Horstink (Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari): “When we stay focused we are capable of coming back in the game and we can play like we did tonight. We did a better job than Cuneo of scoring the clutch point in the end of sets”.

QUARTER FINALS

GAME 1

Already played

Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari 2-3 (25-16, 27-25, 22-25, 20-25, 13-15)

Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Sisley Treviso 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-23)

Itas Diatec Trentino – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-17, 19-17)

Tuesday 31 March at 8.30pm

RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia – Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza LIVE ON SKY SPORT EXTRA

(Sobrero – Padoan)

GAME 2

Played on Sunday 29 March

Sisley Treviso – Lube Banca Marche Macerata 2-3 (23-25, 25-19, 20-25, 25-23, 13-15)

Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Itas Diatec Trentino 0-3 (22-25, 23-25, 19-25)

Sunday 5 April at 6

Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo LIVE ON SKY SPORT 2
Monday 6 April at 8.30

Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza – RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia LIVE ON SKY SPORT 2

IL TABELLONE DEI PLAY OFF SCUDETTO 2008/09