Serie A1
Round 9
In the A1 ninth round, the top two teams, Trento and Cuneo, will play on Saturday. Stoychev’s men will stop in Verona before flying to Doha for the Club World Championships (15-21 December). Thirty minutes later, at 8.30, Lattari’s Castellana Grotte team will try to clinch its first home win against Cuneo, which will fly out to Belgium right after the game for its Champions League commitment with Maaseik. On Sunday at 6pm, Latina takes on Treviso, while Macerata hosts Piacenza. This will be Macerata’s 500th game in the Serie A1. San Giustino and Vibo will fight it out as they both aim to take important points to stay up. Only one point separate the two teams in the league table. Former Modena coach and player, Giani will lead Roma against the team with which he won the Challenge Cup as coach, and many titles in his 11-year spell as player there: 2 league titles, 2 Italian cups, 1 Super Cup, 1 Cev Cup and 2 Champions League. Forli is still looking for its first victory as it hosts Monza, which has won its last three encounters.
Fixtures
Round 9
Saturday 11 December at 8pm
Marmi Lanza Verona – Itas Diatec Trentino Live on Rai Sport 2
Live streaming on http://www.raisport.rai.it/dl/raisport/multimedia/diretta.html
(Zucca-Padoan)
Saturday 11 December at 8.30pm
BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo
(Tanasi-Pessolano)
Domenica 12 dicembre 2010, ore 18.00
Andreoli Latina – Sisley Treviso Live on Rai Sport 1
Live streaming on http://www.raisport.rai.it/dl/raisport/multimedia/diretta.html
(Ravallese-Cesare)
Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Copra Morpho Piacenza
(Cipolla-Gnani)
RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia
(Castagna-Boris)
M. Roma Volley – Casa Modena
(Vagni-Ippoliti)
Yoga Forlì – Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza
(Balboni-Caltabiano)
League table
Itas Diatec Trentino 26, Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 22, Lube Banca Marche Macerata 19, Copra Morpho Piacenza 14, M. Roma Volley 13, Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza 13, Casa Modena 11, Sisley Treviso 11, Andreoli Latina 11, Marmi Lanza Verona 10, Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 9, RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino 8, BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte 4, Yoga Forlì 0.
*1 game more: Itas Diatec Trentino, Copra Morpho Piacenza
Marmi Lanza Verona – Itas Diatec Trentino
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 15 (12-3 Trento)
Michal Lasko (Marmi Lanza Verona): “I think Verona has a high potential and that the team is improving day after day. We had a good performance against Treviso but Trento proved it has already found its identity, it will be a tough one for us. We will meet two great former Verona players in Massimo Colaci and Dore Della Lunga, who we still consider as friends of the club, hopefully they will be kind with us. To get a result against Trento, we need more than our 100%, hopefully the fans will come in numbers, because they always manage to give us a hand, like for example in last season’s playoffs against Trento again”.
Massimo Colaci (Itas Diatec Trentino): “The game against Verona will be a very special one for me because this will be the first time that I face as opponent the club that took me to the next level when I signed from Corigliano, which had disappeared. I had a fantastic time there, I became a starter there and I kept many friends given that the two cities are not far away. It will be a special feeling to be back in the PalaOlimpia, but that will surely not make me forget how difficult is this game. I know how Bruno Bagnoli prepares the games and I know they will hit the serve hard from the start to make it difficult for us. Besides, Verona has already beaten top teams at home such as Piacenza and Treviso. We’ll need another top performance to win it, despite the fact we really did not have much time since the away game in Romania”.
BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo
PAST ENCOUNTERS: None
Paolo Cozzi (BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte): “I am really sorry to miss this game because on the other side of the net there is my dear friend Grbic, and it would have been nice to face him. It’s clear that Cuneo is a team built to perform at the top both in Italy and Europe but I think we must try our best to make it difficult for them. We’ll fight for each set and try to stay composed during the whole game, and then we’ll just see what happens”.
Alberto Giuliani (coach Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “It will be an incredibly intense week for us. After the game in Cuneo against Maaseik, we are now on the road for a long journey. We’ll be out of town for five days, and we’ll fly directly from Castellana to Maaseik for the return leg of the Champions League. We will almost never be able to train. We’ll have to handle this situation as well as we can, this can be stressful, we must avoid to relax and underestimate Castellana Grotte, which can be a dangerous team”.
Andreoli Latina – Sisley Treviso
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 22 (19-3 Treviso)
Matteo De Cecco (ass.coach Andreoli Latina): “We have played the last two games against teams that have different targets compared to ours. Teams that don’t have many weaknesses, ready to fight for the league title, the Italian cup and the Champions League. This game is not a crossroad for us, this is a game like any other. But we have lost twice and want therefore to play as well as we can in our home gym. This will be an emotional game for me because I have always been a Treviso supporter, since the time of Gustafson”.
Roberto Piazza (coach Sisley Treviso): “We should not consider the game against Tours as a step back after what we had done last Sunday at the PalaVerde. Let’s just say that we want to make a step forward against Latina, in terms of quality of play, we want to improve our understanding with this new situation, Boninfante having substituted Pujol, who is not 100% fit yet. We know Latina is not an easy opponent to manoeuvre, especially at home where it has given a game to everyone. We’re expecting a tough game against a good team”.
Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Copra Morpho Piacenza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 23 (12-11 Piacenza)
Dragan Stankovic (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “Piacenza is one of the strongest teams of the league despite the fact they have changed a lot of players and struggled at the beginning of the season. I believe that, together with the most well-known ones, Piacenza is a team that can aim high. Sunday’s game will therefore be very tough, with big points at stake. Following our loss in Modena, it will be crucial to win, otherwise we could find ourselves with a lot of ground to make up in the table”.
Giancarlo D’Amico (scout Copra Morpho Piacenza): “It will not be an easy game for us, away from home against one of the most in-form teams of the league. We’ll play against a team that, despite being without Martino injured, managed to find balance thanks to Facundo Conte, who managed to settle in well in the group and made up for the absence of his teammate despite his young age. But we believe in our ability and are motivated following our result against Castellana Grotte, although it proved very tough”.
RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 12 (8-4 San Giustino)
Andrea Sartoretti (sport director RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino): “Sunday’s game against Vibo will be extremely difficult. They are playing very well, it’s a very balanced team. They have two excellent spikers, Simeonov and Anderson, and the experienced Coscione as setter. We have to adopt the right approach to the game and try to get points which could be fundamental for our future”.
Vincenzo Mastrangelo (ass. coach Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “Even if we have past a very tough series of fixtures, in which we have met very strong teams, sometimes without having our best starting six, our league campaign really starts now. This is now that we have to show what we can do. It will be important to stay composed and keep maximum focus, without ever underestimating the opponent, starting this Sunday with San Giustino, which possesses excellent players. Besides, they have registered very good results at home. We’ll play our game, hoping to go home with a good result”.
M. Roma Volley – Casa Modena
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 4 (3-1 Roma)
Andrea Giani (coach M. Roma Volley): “Everybody plays to win, no matter what happened in the past. Modena represents a piece of my life. This is where I decided to go when I left Parma, first of all because I considered it the city of volleyball, which is absolutely not in decline. Modena gave me the opportunity to become a volleyball player, with its past, ambitions, its clearly defined targets, it gave me the possibility to stay in the great world of volleyball. I don’t agree with the ones saying they don’t receive the attention there once was. Despite the fact that he club is still effective, the club has failed to obtain great results because, most of the time, the financial effort put in was not met with the right situations. It’s a question of time, it’s a cycle that becomes natural in sport. Now at the top, there is Trento, Cuneo and Macerata, but Modena, which I consider one step below, remains a great team”.
Creus Larry (Casa Modena): “Sunday’s game is very important for many reasons. The points at stake will be crucial for our position at the halfway point of the regular season and for the Italian Cup qualification. I know Roma, I played with them in the A2 last season. They have kept the main players and added quality and experienced ones like Lebl and Cisolla. This is a strong team, on the serve and in attack. It’s very difficult to play there. We have summed up a couple of nice wins and are finding our rhythm. The victory over Macerata gave us more confidence and on Sunday we’ll have to play with the same determination. We know it will be difficult, as I said before, this game is as important for them”.
Yoga Forlì – Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 2 (1 each)
Piero Molducci (coach Yoga Forlì): “Right now there isn’t a player scoring a lot for us, and that influenced our performance in Vibo again. Our percentage in attack was low. We’ll try our best against Monza to improve, especially in attack. If we take our first points, we could kick start our season”.
Luca Monti (coach Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza): “We’ve been saying it since the start of the week: this will not be an easy game and we’ll have to make sure we put them under pressure from the start and take the result. It won’t be easy because the game situations are less individual. Forli is a work in progress, and they will probably have Kovacevic back on the wing against us, together with Diachkov and Falasca. He will be back in position 2 with Bacci as setter, and Forli has never played in this situation. As for us, we don’t know yet which middle blockers will start”.
Serie A2
Round 12
In the 12th round of the A2, on Sunday at 11.30, Gela challenges Sora, which counts a ten-point advantage on the hosts. The rest of the games will be played at 6pm, while the seventh meeting between Padova and Città di Castello has been postponed at 7pm. Ravenna wants the points against Mantova to stay close to the leaders, Padova, which stands two points ahead. Roma takes on Reggio Emilia, which lost its last two games. Towards the top of the league table, Genova plays host to Isernia, sitting safely in mid-table. Following its great home victory against Gela, Volley Segrate will try to add a second win away in Pineto, last from bottom. Perugia entertains Loreto, which stands 5 points ahead of its opponent. Milan severely defeated Reggio Emilia in the last round and is now taking on Santa Croce, which hopes to stay at the top.
Round 12
Sunday 12 December at 11.30am
Eurogroup Gela – Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora Live on Sportitalia 2
(Zanussi-Cappello)
Sunday 12 December at 6pm
Marcegaglia CMC Ravenna – Canadiens Mantova
(Falivene-Florian)
Club Italia A.M. Roma – Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia
(Cappelletti-Canessa)
Carige Genova – Geotec Isernia
(Bertoletti-Simbari)
Pallavolo Pineto – Volley Segrate 1978
(Bellini-Goitre)
Sir Safety Perugia – Energy Resources Carilo Loreto
(Marchello-Zavater)
CheBanca! Milano – NGM Mobile S.Croce
(Falzoni-Pignataro)
Sunday 12 December at 7pm
Pallavolo Padova- Gherardi SVI Città Di Castello
(Piluso-Prati)
League table
Pallavolo Padova 30, Marcegaglia CMC Ravenna 28, NGM Mobile S.Croce 24, Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora 24, Carige Genova 21, CheBanca! Milano 19, Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia 18, Gherardi SVI Città Di Castello 16, Geotec Isernia 15, Eurogroup Gela 14, Energy Resources Carilo Loreto 13, Volley Segrate 1978 13, Canadiens Mantova 9, Sir Safety Perugia 8, Pallavolo Pineto 8, Club Italia A.M. Roma 4
