Serie A1
Round 12
There is only a couple of rounds left to the halfway point of the season in the A1 and we are therefore close to know the 8 participating team in the Italian Cup. Three teams have mathematically secured their ticket: Trento, Cuneo and Macerata. Two teams are out of the race: Forli and Castellana Grotte. That means there are still a lot of teams that will give it a good fight as there is a lot to play for.
Round 12
Sunday 2 january at 6pm
Sisley Treviso – Lube Banca Marche Macerata
(Sobrero-Puecher)
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Copra Morpho Piacenza
(Satanassi-Braico)
M. Roma Volley – Andreoli Latina
(Pessolano-Saltalippi)
Yoga Forlì – Itas Diatec Trentino
(Vagni-Rapisarda)
Casa Modena – Marmi Lanza Verona
(Santi-Astengo)
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza
(Cesare-Tanasi)
Sunday 2 January at 6.30pm
RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino – BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte Live on Rai Sport 1
Live streaming on http://www.raisport.rai.it/dl/raisport/multimedia/diretta.html
(Perri-Pol)
League table
Itas Diatec Trentino 32, Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 28, Lube Banca Marche Macerata 27, Casa Modena 19, Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza 19, Sisley Treviso 17, M. Roma Volley 15, Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 15, RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino 14, Copra Morpho Piacenza 14, Marmi Lanza Verona 13, Andreoli Latina 11, BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte 4, Yoga Forlì 3
RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino – BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte
PAST ENCOUNTERS: None
Andrea Giovi (RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino): “We are aware of how important is this game for us, to stay in the division. It will be very difficult to win because Castellana Grotte has nothing to lose and will do everything to get the points. But we’ll do likewise. It’s really crucial to put points on the board”.
Vito Primavera (Sport director BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte): “It would be really good to get points in San Giustino, especially for our confidence. It’s an excellent team and it’s always tough to win there. We must do our best in every game until the end of the season and try to find consistency, which has been lacking so far. It won’t be easy but I repeat, we have to try for our fans and for the club, which supports us in every moment of our, unlucky, season so far”.
Sisley Treviso – Lube Banca Marche Macerata
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 52 (27-25 Treviso)
Roberto Piazza (Sisley Treviso): “We know we played under our real level against Trento, and that Macerata is an excellent team. It will be a very important game, with crucial points at stake, especially with the cup in mind. Even more important to us because we want to show that the step back against Trento was just an accident and that we are on the right track. We should not be misled by Macerata’s last result against Roma. The fact they won it at the tie-break after trailing 2-0, shows how strong they are”.
Igor Omrcen (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “All the games against Treviso are thrilling, this will be even more the case given that there are important points at stake for the both of us. Our aim is to approach the game with the right mentality and determination, avoiding to repeat what happened last Sunday against Roma. We have always played well away so far, hopefully this will be the case again on Sunday. We want to start well the new year, hoping this will be a great one”.
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Copra Morpho Piacenza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 33 (22-11 Cuneo)
Hubert Henno (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “Following our fantastic victory in the Super Cup in Turin, we have to immediately find our concentration for the league. It’s important to maintain our rhythm and accumulate as many points as possible, because the season gets tougher and tougher, there are more and more games and it will always become more intense. Piacenza will surely be extremely motivated and determined to immediately bounce back. We must not lower our guards and be as focused as possible in order not to let them space to manoeuvre”.
Javier Gonzalez (Copra Morpho Piacenza): “I used to play for Cuneo. I know the players and I can tell you this is a strong team, experienced and determined. Still, we can’t just stand there thinking about how good they are, we should not be intimidated and be afraid, we have to stay composed and stay strong to gather the essential points to keep us alive in the league”.
M. Roma Volley – Andreoli Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 7 (6-1 Roma)
Andrea Giani (coach M. Roma Volley): “A few stumbles had to be expected, some lack experience, some are too generous, but overall my team did pretty fine in this first part of championship. The mix of young and older players has obviously been a slight handicap in some way. The five wins out of the first six allowed us to get points and convey a very positive image of Roma. The defeats against Trento, Cuneo and Treviso were logical but, although defeated against Modena and Macerata, the boys proved they could do well at that level too. In the derby against Latina, we have to give maximum effort, we have to put in practice all the good things of the recent games in order to get closer to the Italian Cup. The Macerata game was encouraging, now we have to find consistency”.
Nikola Kovacevic (Andreoli Latina): “The derby is always a difficult game. It will be tough for us, but if we prepare well we can win the game. We have not had much success of late, we have to prepare ourselves better. Roma is a good team but we can make it. It will all depend on how we’ll behave on court. We have to play again as we used to at the beginning of the season, and then we’ll see what happens”.
Yoga Forlì – Itas Diatec Trentino
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 6 (All 6 for Trento)
Giovanni Gavelli (Presidente Yoga Forlì): “We are still looking for another player, it will arrive after the Trento game. We will play against the World champions using the enthusiasm built up with the victory over Latina. We believe we can stay up, our history tells us we have what it takes to make miracles. Let’s play those games against Trento and Macerata and then I’m sure we’ll have a good second half of championship”.
Osmany Juantorena (Itas Diatec Trentino): “The Super cup defeat is already behind us: we have to get back on track right away and there isn’t a best way to do so than the first game of 2011. We’ll go to Forli, which is galvanised by its recent win in Latina. It will play without any pressure and it will try to make it hard for us. It’s up to us to prove that the game in Turin was just a bad day and that we want the three points, which we need to make sure we finish top at the halfway point with a game in hand”.
Casa Modena – Marmi Lanza Verona
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 12 (10-2 Modena)
Creus Larry (Casa Modena): “We are going through a good period,, we’re improving, but we know we can’t afford to lose our focus or relax. This is exactly the moment to consolidate our place at the highest level and even try to make another step forward. Verona is an excellent volleyball team and they will try to get away with the upset. When we say that all the A1 games are tough, it’s not juts a cliché. It will be tough against Verona, but we play at home and we’ll try to start strongly, put pressure with our serve and limit our mistakes. Now that we’re fourth we want to stay there because that’d be nice to play the cup quarter final at the PalaCasaModena with our fans. I am happy with my season, I play a lot: maybe I did not expect it but I was hoping for it, I believe in myself. Piscoppo and Kooistra are great players, we are three middle blockers and we’re all contributing well. I can still improve on the serve and at the net, I’m working on it. Anyway, the whole team has margin for improvement, not only in those two areas”.
Maurizio Latelli (Marmi Lanza Verona): “Modena is very ambitious and it strengthened its squad compared to last year. It’s crucial to win for them against us to get a good position for the Italian Cup. Irrespective of the cup, we have to face this road game aiming to win it. We have to battle for the win and show that we are worth more that what we’ve done until today. We can still get better and especially learn to take the opportunities that come in our favour like in the second set against Cuneo. We have to aim for the win even when we are not at our best”.
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 2 (Monza won both)
Vincenzo Simeonov (Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “We have just beaten Piacenza with ease, and now we want to keep this positive streak going against Monza and Verona. We’re playing home on Sunday and a win would give us a good chance to get in the cup. We’ll give 101% to repeat the performance done against Piacenza, where we did very little wrong and led from start to finish. The fans will be there to push us to another positive result to celebrate 2011”.
Luca Monti (coach Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza): “We have to quickly forget about the defeat against San Giustino. I want to see a reaction from everyone on Sunday and I’d like to see fighting spirit on court. Vibo is not an easy team to deal with, especially in their gym, we have to be aggressive if we want to get the points. It’s a very balanced team, you can’t allow them to play at their rhythm. I’m convinced we can do well, the team trained well, everybody is fit and even Travica is back from the hand injury suffered last Sunday. It will be just up to me decide which middle blockers will start”.
Serie A2
Last round before halfway point.
Fierce race for last Cup spot
Ravenna, Padova and Santa Croce have already secured their tickets in the A2 Italian Cup semi-finals, to be played on January 12. Ravenna and Padova have also secured home court advantage. There is one ticket left and Genova, Sora, Milan and Reggio Emilia with a mathematical chance to make it. This last round will therefore reveal the name of this last contender. Genova, currently fourth, could seal it before the others even play if they beat Segrate at 11.30am. At 6pm, Sora plays host to Santa Croce, hoping Genova will stumble at lunch time. Milan and Reggio Emilia are on the road, the first in Padova, and the second one in Isernia for what should be an interesting game. Club Italia and Loreto meet as both aim to stay up.
Round 15
Sunday 2 January at 11.30am
Carige Genova – Volley Segrate 1978 Live on Sportitalia 2
(Zingoni-Zavater)
Sunday 2 January at 6pm
Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora – NGM Mobile S.Croce
(Marchello-Parlato)
Phyto Performance Padova – CheBanca! Milano
(Cerquoni-Luciani)
Pallavolo Pineto – Gherardi SVI Città Di Castello
(Valeriani-Gasparro)
Eurogroup Gela – Canadiens Mantova
(Stancati-Cassarino)
Sir Safety Perugia – Marcegaglia CMC Ravenna
(Costantini-Bernobich)
Club Italia Aeronautica Militare Roma – Energy Resources Carilo Loreto
(Orpianesi-Oranelli)
Geotec Isernia – Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia
(Gentile-Piersanti)
League table
Marcegaglia CMC Ravenna 37, Phyto Performance Padova 36, NGM Mobile S.Croce 30, Carige Genova 27, Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora 25, CheBanca! Milano 24, Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia 24, Volley Segrate 1978 22, Gherardi SVI Città Di Castello 21, Eurogroup Gela 20, Geotec Isernia 19, Energy Resources Carilo Loreto 15, Canadiens Mantova 12, Sir Safety Perugia 12, Pallavolo Pineto 8, Club Italia Aeronautica Militare Roma 4
