SERIE A1 TIM
The league resumes
The A1 league resumes after a week dedicated to the Champion Volley Land and the Italian Cup, which was won by Macerata in Forli. Int he 7th return game, the remake of the Cup final between Cuneo e Macerata is one not be missed. Prandi’s men will try to defend their first place.
Second in the league, Trento plays host Modena, who is eager to get back on track and chase the 8th spot after three consecutive losses. Davide Bellini will be back after a month out to help Forli against Martina Franca.
In the PalaValentia gym, Vibo faces a tough one against Treviso. The hosts will be led by Giovanni Torchio given that coach Flavio Gulinelli resigned this week. Treviso will be without Stefan Hubner, Alessandri Fei and Cosimo Gallotta.
Pineto will try to avoid a third consecutive defeat when they meet Montichiari on Sunday. As for Berruto’s boys, a win could take them above Perugia. The latter play host to Piacenza, who will have to make do without Joao Paolo Bravo and with Zlatanov and Marshall not hundred percent fit.
Finally, on Monday night in the PalaNet, Padova entertains Verona.
SERIE A1 TIM – 20th round
Sunday 8 February at 6pm
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Lube Banca Marche Macerata
(Cesare – Cipolla)
Itas Diatec Trentino – Trenkwalder Modena
(Barbero – Caldarola)
Yoga Forlì – Stamplast Martina Franca
(Padoan – Sobrero)
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Sisley Treviso
(Lavorenti – Mastrodonato)
Framasil Pineto – Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari
(Locatelli – Pol)
Sunday 8 February at 6.30pm
RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia – Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza LIVE ON SKY SPORT 2
(Castagna – Cinti)
Monday 9 February at 8.30pm
Antonveneta Padova – Marmi Lanza Verona LIVE ON SKY SPORT 2
(Bartolini – Ippoliti)
TABLE
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo, Itas Diatec Trentino 43; Lube Banca Marche Macerata 41; Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza 39; RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia 35; Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari 33; Sisley Treviso 30; Marmi Lanza Verona 28; Trenkwalder Modena 22; Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia, Stamplast Martina Franca 20; Framasil Pineto 19; Yoga Forlì 16; Antonveneta Padova 10.
BRE BANCA LANNUTTI CUNEO – LUBE BANCA MARCHE MACERATA
Past encounters: 50 (25 wins each).
first leg: Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-20).
Record chaser: Igor Omrcen could reach 400 blocks with two more. Sebastian Swiderski only needs one ace to make it a hundred in the league.Valerio Vermiglio is 2 spikes away from the 500 in career.
Javier Gonzalez (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “we’ll be facing a very strong team, galvanised by its cp victory. Hopefully, we’ll be able to take revenge and keep our league winning streak going. On the other side of the net, one of the most dangerous players has to be Valerio Vermiglio, one of the bets in my position”.
Natale Monopoli (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “Sunday’s game against Cuneo will be very important for the league top spot, especially for us given that we’re behind. We can’t afford not to get any points. The Italian Cup will surely still be in our minds. Besides, this is a team with a lot of strength and they will have a great thirst for revenge right after the defeat in Forli”.
ITAS DIATEC TRENTINO – TRENKWALDER MODENA
Precedenti: 27 (15-12 Trento successi Trento).
All’andata: Trenkwalder Modena – Itas Diatec Trentino 2-3 (25-23, 13-25, 25-20, 24-26, 11-15)
A caccia di Record: Cosimo Marco Piscopo is 3 blocks away from the 200 blocks in the Serie A. Andrea Sartoretti is still chasing his 800th ace in the league. Luca Tencati needs spikes to reach the 1500 in career.
Michal Winiarski (Itas Diatec Trentino): “We have to bounce back straight away after the Cup defeat. It was tough to take to be knocked out for the second year running by Treviso, but we have to move on and focus on the league. It’s always a difficult one against Modena and an important one too. We really want to win it because there is the first place at stake, which is always important. Modena is on the way up, playing well as a unit. It won’t be easy by any means to get to three points but we’ll give it all, trying to build on our good home run”.
Emanuele Zanini (Trenkwalder Modena): “I want the boys to play a game at the same level shown against Cuneo. We’re improving day after day: the way we move on court, our attitude and the quality of our game are real strength now. Trento? It’s a great team, they have everyone back and many tactical possibilities. It will be an extremely tough one, Trento is obviously the favourite, but we have to try to get something out of every game and that’s what we’ll try to do even in the home of the Italian champs. We believe in ourselvesm we’ve already proved we could play excellent volleyball, but it’s only with consistency that we can get good results”.
YOGA FORLI’ – STAMPLAST MARTINA FRANCA
Past encounters: 7 (4-3 Forli).
First leg: Stamplast Martina Franca – Yoga Forlì 1-3 (23-25, 25-23, 23-25, 22-25)
Record chasers: Marco Molteni could not only reach 2500 spikes in career with 3 more but also get to 300 blocks with just one more.
Giuseppe Patriarca (Yoga Forlì): “We’ve been training very well in the past two weeks, we have Bellini back and his experience is very useful. I think we could have a good run int he last 7 games. Our season will depend a lot on the next two months. We’re ready. Sunday’s game is crucial, and we’ll give it our best shot because we don’t want to lose this opportunity”.
Gianni D’Onghia (Stamplast Martina Franca): “I see my team is up for it, motivated, willing to give its best in an important game though not one that will decide it all. We’ll have two more clashes against direct opponents, against Vibo and Padova. It is undeniably a good opportuntity for Forli to reduce the gap btu we know we have to work our to change that away trend of ours”.
TONNO CALLIPO VIBO VALENTIA – SISLEY TREVISO
Precedenti: 10 (9-1 Treviso).
All’andata: Sisley Treviso – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 1-3 (23-25, 29-27, 20-25, 30-32)
A caccia di Record: The 300th block is not far away for Alberto Cisolla, he needs 2. Gustavo is 14 points away from the 2500 in the league.
Giovanni Torchio (Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “Definitely not the easiest team to play right now, Treviso is in good shape. They had an excellent performance int he Cup quarter finals against Trento. It won’t be easy but we’ll go for it and hopefully we’ll be able to make it”.
Francesco Dall’Olio (Sisley Treviso): “Vibo possesses good individual players, I think of Simeonov’s power and the stats of Diaz, who’s been playing well since last year. Still, they also have a varied game in attack thanks to the choices of the setter, who knows how to get his middleblockers as well as his wing men in rhythm, without forgetting the fact that they play extremely well at home. Despite our recent run of form, we’ll have to play excellently to get the points in Vibo”.
FRAMASIL PINETO – ACQUA PARADISO GABECA MONTICHIARI
Past encounters: 1 (Montichiari won it).
First leg: Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari – Framasil Pineto 3-1 (25-21, 24-26, 25-21, 25-16)
Record chasers: Mikko Esko will celebrate his 100th appearance in Italy. Mauro Gavotto needs 2 aces for the 200 in regular season and he could also get to the 3000 spikes in career with three more. Andrea Sala is chasing his 400th block in the league.
Enrico Marchioni (DS Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari): “Tough road game on Sunday. We’ll play a Pineto team fighting to stay up and they made clear against Macerata they would try to get points against anyone. They can’t afford to relax behind their three-point edge over Forli. As far as we’re concerned, we’re hoping to add to our three-game winning streak to consolidate our league position”.
RPA-LUIGIBACCHI.IT PERUGIA – COPRA NORDMECCANICA PIACENZA
Past encounters: 23 (13-10 Piacenza).
First leg: Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza – RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 29-27).
Record chasers: -8 for the 1000 points for Novica Bjelica in the A1. Leonel Marshall needs only 2 aces for the hundred. January’s Mvp, Jan stokr could reach the 1500 spikes in regular season with 7 more. Hristo Zlatanov could become the first of all spikers since the Rally point system has been intriduced. Indeed, he is currently second with 3.926 spikes in 319 games, behind Ivan Miljkovic with 3.938 in 253 games.
Vincenzo Di Pinto (RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia): “When a team is winning, a break is never a good thing, because there is the risk of losing its rhythm. We’ll see how it goes against Piacenza. It’s a great team, very competitive and strong even in the difficult moments. We should be ready for a long battle”.
Michele Grassano (Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza): “We still have a few niggling injuries, but some of us are getting back like Marshall and Zlatanov, But Bravo will need more time. We’ve tried out quite a few schemes during the week, btu we still have to decide which we’ll be using against Perugia. Despite the players out, our coach managed to keep a great intensity in training and that’s the first step needed to play good games”.
ANTONVENETA PADOVA – MARMI LANZA VERONA
Past encounter: 9 (5-4 Verona).
First leg: Marmi Lanza Verona – Antonveneta Padova 3-1 (25-23, 30-32, 25-19, 25-21)
Record chasers: Rob Bontje is two aces from a hundred in regular season. Same target for Robert Kromm who needs 3 (between league and cup). Teammate Jiri Kral is 2 blocks away from the hundred. Marcus Popp only needs 2 spikes to get to 500.
Stefano Santuz (DS Antonveneta Padova): “The game against Verona will be key in our chances to stay up. We’re in excellent form and it had to be so to face such a crucial game. We trained with great intensity, si hopefully we’ll have a good performance”.
Daniele Sottile (Marmi Lanza Verona): “It will be a tough game because they need points. It will be like a league final for them but t’s also a crucial game for us in order to reach the playoffs. The main weapon on Monday will be the serve. We’ll have t start off well and aggressive”.
SERIE A2 TIM
Bassano and Santa croce are chasing the cup holders
In the A2, the sixth return round will begin with the recent cup winners, Latina hosting Castellana Grotte. Ricci’s team has to win to make sure it stays top. The other one inetresting in this first place is Bassano, who travels to Catania, who only one once in the return games (the first round).
Loreto has three wins and one loss so far as it gets ready to meet Santa Croce, third in the league who has not won against Loreto since the 2004-05 season.
In Gioia del Colle, the hosts entertains Roma in a remake of the cup semi final, in which Gioia had qualified for the final in Forli. In the two previous encounters between the two teams, Gioia won at the tie-break.
There will be some crucial points at stake between teams fighting to stay up or hoping to make it to the playoffs. Mantova and Castelfidardo will respectively meet Città di Castello and Bologna. Finallym live on Snai Sat on Sunday night, Cavriago plays host to Isernia at 8.30pm.
21st round fixtures and refs
Sunday 8 february at 6pm
Canadiens Mantova – Gherardi Cartoedit Tratos C.di Castello
(Bertogna – Piana)
Codyeco S.Croce – Esse-ti Carilo Loreto
(Tanasi – Marchello)
La Nef Castelfidardo – Wayel Bologna
(Parlato – Braico)
Sp Catania – Bassano Volley
(Pignataro – Cappelletti)
Materdomini Volley.It Castellana Grotte – Andreoli Latina
(Piluso – Amati)
Nava Gioia del Colle – M. Roma Volley
(Bellini – Zingoni)
Sunday 8 February at 8.30pm
Edilesse Cavriago – Olio Pignatelli Isernia LIVE ON SNAI SAT
(Bertoletti – Andreoni)
Rested: Samgas Crema
TABLE
Andreoli Latina 42, Bassano Volley* 41, Codyeco S.Croce 40, Esse-Ti Carilo Loreto* 39, Olio Pignatelli Isernia 33, Nava Gioia del Colle 31, Samgas Crema 30, Canadiens Mantova* 29, M. Roma Volley* 28, Wayel Bologna 24, Materdomini Volley.It Castellana Grotte 23, Edilesse Cavriago 17, Sp Catania 16, Gherardi Cartoedit Tratos C.di Castello* 14, La Nef Castelfidardo 13.
* 1 Game in hand
