European Cups
Champions League Final Four in Bolzano.
Cup draws.
The Champions League Final Four will be organised by Trentino Volley in Bolzano’s PalaOnda on March 26-27. The Cev officially announced the news this afternoon at the end of the playoffs 12 draw. The European Federation opted for the candidature of the two-time European Champion, ahead of the economic power of Kazan, Russia, and the new gym of Volley Bled. Trentino will therefore directly qualify for the semi-finals without playing the playoffs 12 and playoffs 6.
“I am extremely excited with the news and I can’t wait for the event to come, which will make our region become the European capital and more of volleyball – said Trentino president, Diego Mosna – It will be great to be able to defend the Champions League that we have won in the last two years and in front of our fans. The Final Four is an international event of great extent. I am particularly proud that the Cev chose our club because this is a recognition of the seriousness and quality of the organization of the club. We will take care of every single detail, and offer an unforgettable event to the Trento and Bolzano area. Trentino Alto Adige, the small region that will bring Italy in the International spotlight”.
2011 CEV Champions League
Playoffs 12
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo (ITA) – Lokomotiv Belgorod (RUS)
Tours Vb (FRA) – Dinamo Moscow (RUS)
Knack Randstad Roeselare (BEL) – PGE Skra Belchatow (POL)
ACH Volley Bled (SLO) – Zenit Kazan (RUS)
Generali Unterhaching (GER) – Jastrzbeski Wegiel (POL)
Budvanska Rivijera Budva (MNE) – Noliko Maaseik (BEL)
Cev Cup Challenge Round
Cai Teruel (SPA) – Asseco Resovia Rzeszow (POL)
Sisley TREVISO (ITA) – Arago de Sete (FRA)
Cska Sofia (BUL) -Ziraat Bankasi Ankara (TUR)
VfB Friedrichshafen (GER) – Zaksa Kedzierzyn-Kozle (POL)
2011 GM Capital Challenge Cup
Quarter finals
Selver Tallinn (EST)- EA Patron Lux (GRE)
Gazprom-Ugra Surgut (RUS) – Lube Banca Marche Macerata (ITA)
Posojilnica Aich/Dob (AUT) – Prefaxis Menen (BEL)
Fakel Novy Urengoy (RUS) – Arkas Izmir (TUR)
Serie A1 SUSTENIUM
First return games
The first round with the new title sponsor SUSTENIUM will begin on Saturday with Forli versus Treviso. The latter will boast their new signing Marcelinho. Two games stand out on Sunday: San Giustino versus Cuneo and Vibo versus Macerata, two encounters that will occur again in next week’s Italian Cup Final Eight.
Round 16
Saturday 15 January at 4.30pm
Yoga Forlì – Sisley Treviso Live on Rai Sport 1
Live streaming on http://www.raisport.rai.it/dl/raisport/multimedia/diretta.html
(Astengo-Cerquoni)
Sunday 16 January at 6pm
Casa Modena – Andreoli Latina Live on Rai Sport 1
Live streaming on http://www.raisport.rai.it/dl/raisport/multimedia/diretta.html
(Boris-La Micela)
RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo
(Gnani-Longo)
Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza – Copra Morpho Piacenza
(Saltalippi-Santi)
BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte – Itas Diatec Trentino
(Piersanti-Sobrero)
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Lube Banca Marche Macerata
(Cipolla-Pozzato)
Marmi Lanza Verona – M. Roma Volley
(Ravallese-Satanassi)
League table
Itas Diatec Trentino 38, Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 30, Lube Banca Marche Macerata 30, Casa Modena 23, Sisley Treviso 23, Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 21, RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino 20, Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza 20, M. Roma Volley 19, Copra Morpho Piacenza 17, Marmi Lanza Verona 14, Andreoli Latina 11, BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte 4, Yoga Forlì 3
Yoga Forlì – Sisley Treviso
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 11 (10-1 Treviso)
Giacomo Sintini (Yoga Forlì): “It’s hard to take in the defeat against Macerata, especially with the way it came about. We’ve talked about it this week, we’ve understood our mistakes. We have trained extremely well too, we have done our job properly. From the next game we’ll have Caldeira. Tomorrow’s game against Treviso will be a good challenge”.
Roberto Piazza (Coach Sisley Treviso): “It will be a tricky game. Forli has definitely become more solid with the new setter and it was obvious in the last few games, so we’ll have to be careful not to be surprised. They won in Latina, then offered a good performance against Trento and Macerata, even if they lost. This Forli team definitely has confidence and can’t be underestimated at all. We have our game plan and we’ll have to follow it carefully, we need a good performance to keep our positive streak going and get ready for the Italian Cup on Wednesday in Modena. Marcelinho? He will surely be inserted in the roster, but I don’t know yet if he’ll be fit to play, I’ll evaluate his situation in training. There is no hurry, though, Boninfante has played very well so far, and he proved he could lead the team. So we have no problems whatsoever in that respect, just one more player that completes the squad. We’ll see how things go with time”.
Casa Modena – Andreoli Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 17 (11-6 Modena)
Angel Dennis (Casa Modena): “We are very sorry with the way things went in the Cev Cup game. We really wanted a good result, we could have gone all the way, that’s a wasted opportunity. Shame I was not in Ankara, but I just couldn’t have played. I had fever, I haven’t trained for a week and we decided with the staff that it was better to rest in Modena. The group is disappointed and angry, but we are in the gym again today to work hard, we want to turn this anger into something positive for the future. We have too more targets, we can still achieve good things. Next week, there is Treviso in the Italian Cup: we manage to take fourth place, it will be a great game against a great team. Let’s focus on Latina now, though: They are going through tough times, but they have excellent players, we saw that in our first meeting, it will be a very difficult game. It’s a very important game to understand where we are, and for the points at stake. We play home, we want to win and we’ll give 110%”.
Lorenzo Labardi (Andreoli Latina): “In the last game, there has been some improvement compared to previous outings. I think we are a strong team and we’ll react and roar again, showing we are back at the level of the beginning of season. I am sure of that. We can do it already against Modena”.
RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 17 (12-5 Cuneo)
Andrea Sartoretti (Sport director RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino): “Cuneo is obviously the favourite, but we are not the same team that played in Cuneo at the beginning of the season, when we did not even have Dias. Besides, on Sunday, the stands will be even more packed than usual and the crowd has always been our sixth man at home. I don’t know how it will all end up, but I am sure that we’ll play our game as we usually do”.
Wout Wijsmans (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “Sunday’s game in San Giustino will be a tough game for us. San Giustino is a good team that is doing very well lately, it seemed improved compared to the first time we met. Besides, it was only the first round of the season. This is why we have to face this encounter with maximum attention, all the more so given that we’ll face them again on Wednesday in the Italian Cup quarter-final”.
Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza – Copra Morpho Piacenza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 3 (2-1 Piacenza)
Luca Monti (coach Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza): “We start over again but we have to build on the progress made against Modena. We have seen Gavotto in good form without forgetting the excellent work in reception-dig. It will obviously not be easy against Piacenza, team that has the serve as its best weapon”.
Lorenzo Perazzolo (Copra Morpho Piacenza): “We’re facing a tough game because Monza is an all-round team with good players in every position. They have improved in every department through the years. This could be for us a kind of revenge given that we haven’t played at our best the first time we met this season”.
BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte – Itas Diatec Trentino
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (Trento)
Gaetano Carpinelli (President BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte): “Trento is obviously not the ideal game to start over with a new coach, but we have nothing to lose. We’re expecting, and coach Gulinelli too, a positive attitude from the boys and the support from our fans. We are doing everything possible to turn things around this season but we need the support of everyone, especially in the difficult moments like this one”.
Tsvetan Sokolov (Itas Diatec Trentino): “We want to start the return games on the right foot, without lowering our guards after 13 wins in the first half of championships. We have lost our last Champions League game in Friedrichshafen, this left us tired and with a bitter sensation which you usually have when you lose a game. This is why we immediately have to regain that feeling of winning”.
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Lube Banca Marche Macerata
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 15 (11-4 Macerata)
Manuel Coscione (Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “When you think that we were given amongst the teams to fight to stay up at the beginning, today we are extremely satisfied with our league position. I think that in the first half of championships, despite ups and downs, we have improved a lot. Now our most difficult task is to maintain the consistency and continue to bring positive results. There is a good basis, we are mentally stronger, and technically too. Hopefully, we’ll start well from Sunday and make it difficult for Macerata, a candidate to win the league and cup”.
Marko Podrascanin (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “Funnily enough we will meet Vibo this weekend and again in the Cup. I think the most important thing for both teams will be to mentally divide the two games. This league game, like all the others, is crucial for the points there is at stake, and we want to end the regular season as high as possible. Vibo is in great form, but Macerata is back on track after the Treviso loss. Coming back from the Calabria region with a victory would be good for our confidence ahead of one of the most important events of the season. We’ll do everything we can to win it”.
Marmi Lanza Verona – M. Roma Volley
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 3 (Roma won them all)
Marco Meoni (Marmi Lanza Verona): “We have to keep working with determination in training and get more points every time we have a chance to do so. Following Bolla’s injury, the team managed to show its character in the game against Vibo. We have been training with different line up options for the game against Roma. We’ll try to clinch points in front of our fans”.
Andrea Giani (Coach M. Roma Volley): “Given how things went in the first half of championship, Roma could have qualified for the Italian Cup a lot before the Piacenza game because, it might sound like a paradox but, we might have done well to get important points in the first six rounds, but it’s against Macerata, Modena and Piacenza that we proved to have reached an excellent level of play. This makes me think that we can be fairly optimist for the second part of the season. Still, the league has never been tighter. There are only four points between us and the fourth in the table, there are no weak teams, it’s very tight. In Verona, we’ll try to play with great personality. We know it will be tough but, if we want to bounce back, we have to get the three points”.
Serie A2 SUSTENIUM
Round 18
In the Serie A2 SUSTENIUM round 18, there are two important games on Saturday: Perugia, which might be without Hietanen, hosts Milan, while just a few kilometres away, Città di Castello takes on Roma. At 11.30am on Sunday, Santa Croce, qualified for the A2 Cup, faces Genova, currently sixth. Ravenna plays host to Segrate, keen to bounce back following the loss against Santa Croce. Padova wants to forget the disappointment of missing out on the cup final when it faces Pineto, which will have new coach Hugo Conte on the bench. Mantova is fighting to stay out of the relegation zone as it entertains Isernia, 12th in the table. Sora versus Loreto promises to be a thrilling one, like the game between Gela, which after the arrival of Damien Scott will present Gregor Jeroncic, and Reggio Emilia.
Round 18
Saturday 15 January at 8.30pm
Sir Safety Perugia – CheBanca! Milano
(Frapiccini-Feriozzi)
Gherardi SVI Città di Castello – Club Italia Aeronautica Militare Roma
(Bertoletti-Morgillo)
Sunday 16 January at 11.30am
NGM Mobile Santa Croce – Carige Genova Live on Sportitalia 2
(Piana-Prati)
Sunday 16 January at 6pm
Phyto Performance Padova – Pallavolo Pineto
(Cassarino-Pozzi)
Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora – Energy Resources Carilo Loreto
(Zanussi-Florian)
Canadiens Mantova – Geotec Isernia
(Carrara-Montanari)
Marcegaglia CMC Ravenna – Volley Segrate 1978
(Perdisci-Orpianesi)
Eurogroup Gela – Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia
(Piluso-Tanasi)
League table
Phyto Performance Padova 44, Marcegaglia CMC Ravenna 43, NGM Mobile S.Croce 35, Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora 34, CheBanca! Milano 29, Carige Genova 29, Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia 28, Gherardi SVI Città Di Castello 28, Eurogroup Gela 26, Volley Segrate 1978 25, Energy Resources Carilo Loreto 22, Geotec Isernia 19, Canadiens Mantova 17, Sir Safety Perugia 16, Pallavolo Pineto 9, Club Italia A.M. Roma 4
