Serie A1 Sustenium
Final verdicts about to be known
Time for the final verdicts to be known. This is the last regular season round and therefore the playoff match-ups will soon be known. The name of the team to go down together with Forlì will also be revealed.
Round 28
Sunday 3 April at 6pm
Sisley Treviso – BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte Live on Rai Sport 1
Live streaming on http://www.raisport.rai.it/dl/raisport/multimedia/diretta.html
(Satanassi-La Micela)
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Itas Diatec Trentino
(Cerquoni–Balboni)
M. Roma Volley – Copra Morpho Piacenza Live WebTV on www.sportube.tv
(Saltalippi-Santi)
Yoga Forlì – Lube Banca Marche Macerata
(Perri–Vagni)
RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino – Andreoli Latina
(Cipolla–Cesare)
Casa Modena – Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza
(Pasquali–Ippoliti)
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Marmi Lanza Verona Live WebTV on www.sportube.tv
(Rapisarda-Castagna)
League table
Itas Diatec Trentino 70, Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 60, Lube Banca Marche Macerata 48, Casa Modena 43, Sisley Treviso 42, Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza 41, Marmi Lanza Verona 36, RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino 32, Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 32, Andreoli Latina 29, M. Roma Volley 29, Copra Morpho Piacenza 28, BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte 25, Yoga Forlì 10
Sisley Treviso – BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte
PAST ENCOUNTERS:1 (Treviso)
Roberto Piazza (Sisley Treviso): “I’m only thinking about Treviso. Anything can happen? My only hope is that Treviso plays as Treviso and shows the progress made a week after the Macerata game. We are getting back to our level and working very hard, for the playoffs too. We’ll play to win, we should not underestimate our opponent, Castellana Grotte, which I think is very dangerous. In the second half of season, they have only lost against Trento, Cuneo, Verona and Modena, at the tie-break, away: not bad at all. You need focus in such a game, we’ll need to play well against an opponent that is in form”.
Flavio Gulinelli (BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte): “We’ll go to Treviso and try to do our best, it’s a promise I have made to every one, club, city and fans. We’ll go all out and give everything we’ve got, just like the boys have done exceptionally well so far, without ever looking who was on the other side of the net. If what we need was to occur, we’d give a great satisfaction to ourselves and to everyone that follows the club. If our effort was to be vain, we’d know anyway that we’d have given our best. Still I remain extremely confident”.
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Itas Diatec Trentino
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 36 (20-16 Cuneo)
Nikola Grbic (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “We are an experienced team, preparing for the crucial moment of the season, but other teams are like us. The game against Trento won’t be that important in terms of points and league position, this is obvious. Besides, we will be missing some players. The important thing is to enjoy ourselves and entertain the fans, regardless of the promises, even if we will not have everyone available and that we will need to keep certain things in mind to keep our positive run going in this end of season. For sure, having such a strong team on the other side of the net is always exciting”.
Radostin Stoytchev (Itas Diatec Trentino): “The game we’ve won yesterday (Thursday) against Forlì proved to everyone that, despite the first place already secured, we are always eager to do well and win. That’s what we’ll try to do again on Sunday in Cuneo, against a definitely stronger and more motivated opponent, though. Compared to the game against Forlì, I will test another different line-up. The playoffs are coming up and I need some answers”.
M. Roma Volley – Copra Morpho Piacenza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 6 (3 each)
Andrea Cesarini (M. Roma Volley): “Piacenza will give everything it has, because they need the points to stay up. That could make their players tense and nervous, while we will surely have less pressure. Their main strengths are the serve and the dig-block combination, which shows how aggressive is Lorenzetti’s team. That’s why I expect a long and difficult game. As far as we’re concerned, we’re working to end the season well with a victory in front of our fans”.
Ivan Benito Ruiz (Copra Morpho Piacenza): “Sunday’s game will undeniably be tough, we have to go to Rome convinced we can not only take a point, but the whole three points at stake. We have been training very well, Roma has nothing to lose now but It’s obvious they’ll do anything to beat us”.
Yoga Forlì – Lube Banca Marche Macerata
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 15 (14-1 Macerata)
Joel Bacci (Yoga Forlì): “We can deny we had begun the season with different ambitions. Then, the initial difficult period soon became a long one without victories. When we found our rhythm, it was too late, even if we tried our best, playing some good games and gathering some points. In such a hard season, the fans never let us down, be that at the gym or in daily life. This is something that the team clearly appreciates, so a big thank you to the city and to our supporters”.
Gert Van Walle (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “This game is not important for the league table anymore, but it’s still important for us because it represents some kind of final test before the playoffs. That’s why I am expecting the team to be consistent and express a good level of play”.
RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino – Andreoli Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 15 (11-4 San Giustino)
Danilo Finazzi (RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino): “On Sunday, we have the opportunity to reach our second target of the season: the playoffs. At the Palakemon, where the fans are always extremely helpful, we’re hosting Latina which is already mathematically safe. We’ll be the ones with all the pressure. Sunday’s result is only down to us”.
Leondino Giombini (Andreoli Latina): “We haven’t forgotten the bad defeat suffered when we first met earlier this season. They got into the Italian cup thanks to that victory and they could be in the playoffs with this one. This is one more motivation for us to beat them and move further up the table”.
Casa Modena – Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza
PRECEDENTI: 3 (2-1 Modena)
Daniele Bagnoli (Casa Modena): “Monza is a team that deserves better than its current league position, they have always given a game to anyone away from home too. It’s an experienced and physical team. Right now, we’ll obviously focus on inserting Bruninho in the group. Today, there’s a big question mark on us. Sunday’s game will be very tough but also a good test ahead of the playoffs that are coming up”.
Luca Monti (coach Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza): “It’s great to go back to Modena, in front of this exceptional crowd, which the whole of Italy wish they had. We won’t go there to listen to the fans singing or look at their banners, we want to make history for our club. We’re extremely up for it, while in terms of tactic we don’t know which setter they will line up. We believe they will send Bruninho which really entertained us during the World Championships, but we don’t know anything about the feeling he has with the team and who will play. Definitely makes it more difficult for us, but we’ll do our best to play well and with maturity”.
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Marmi Lanza Verona
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 20 (11-9 Verona)
Francesco Prestinenzi (Sport director Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “We’re aware that the outcome of Sunday’s game cannot be taken for granted. Verona proved it deserved to be where it is, it won’t be easy. We have to try to win to end a good season on a high. A win would mean we kept our chances to be in the playoffs right until the end. Unfortunately, we depend on other results too, and to be honest, I don’t think Latina will have the necessary will to win and fighting spirit to beat San Giustino. Everything is always possible, but I doubt San Giustino can get this one wrong at home. Our team is training as usual, working hard and with enthusiasm, everybody will play to win, not only to keep our hopes of playoff participation alive but also to give another win to the President, the club and our superb fans”.
Maurizio Latelli (Marmi Lanza Verona): “We’re going to Vibo Valentia without much pressure. This game will help us prepare our first playoff encounter against Cuneo”.
Serie A2 Sustenium
Last one of the regular season
Ravenna is one win from making history. In its second season in the Serie A2, Babini’s team has the opportunity to get the club back in the elite of Italian volleyball. On its way, there is Perugia. After losing the clutch encounter against Ravenna last week, Padova travels to Milan, 10th in the league. If they win, Padova could still be directly promoted if Ravenna was to lose against Perugia. Segrate and Genova will play for fifth place, while seventh place will either to Loreto, which plays host to Club Italia, or Reggio Emilia which entertains Isernia. The latter could move up to tenth place with a victory. Important game as well between Mantova and Gela: at stake there is 13th position and the possibility to start the playout semi-final with a 1-0 advantage. A team hoping to make it into the playouts is Pineto, which faces a road game to Città di Castello. If it was to lose, Pineto would go down because of the 12 point margin from 12th place. But if it takes some points, it will have to wait for the result of the game in Mantova. Finally, Santa Croce, third, will take on Sora, ninth.
Round 30
Sunday 3 April at 6pm
NGM Mobile Santa Croce – Globo Banca Popolare Del Frusinate Sora
(Bartoloni-Frapiccini)
CheBanca! Milano – Phyto Performance Padova
(Pozzato-Venturi)
Gherardi SVI Città Di Castello – Pallavolo Pineto
(Perdisci-Orpianesi)
Canadiens Mantova – Eurogroup Gela
(Zanussi-Lot)
Marcegaglia CMC Ravenna – Sir Safety Perugia
(Cappello-Marchello)
Energy Resources Carilo Loreto – Club Italia Aeronautica Militare Roma
(Rolla-Bertolini)
Volley Segrate 1978 – Carige Genova
(Carrara-Montanari)
Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia – Geotec Isernia
(Pozzi-Genna)
League table
Marcegaglia CMC Ravenna 72, Phyto Performance Padova 71, NGM Mobile S.Croce 55, Gherardi SVI Città Di Castello 52, Carige Genova 50, Volley Segrate 1978 49, Energy Resources Carilo Loreto 46, Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia 46, Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora 45, CheBanca! Milano 43, Geotec Isernia 41, Eurogroup Gela 35, Sir Safety Perugia 30, Canadiens Mantova 29, Pallavolo Pineto 23, Club Italia A.M. Roma 9
