Serie A1 Sustenium
Second half of season begins
On Thursday, the Cup quarter-final match ups have been define but there’s more action to come this weekend with the beginning of the return games. The opening game will be Verona versus Cuneo, two teams coming off epic encounters. Verona pushed Macerata to a tie-break, lost, while Cuneo did snatch it in the fifth after a superb come back against Modena. The big game of the day will be Monza, winner in Corigliano on Thursday, against Trentino, which lost the first position to Macerata following a surprise defeat at the hands of Latina.
Round 14 Serie A1 Sustenium
Sunday January 8 at 4pm
Marmi Lanza Verona – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo
(Sampaolo-Puecher)
Sunday January 8 at 5.30pm
Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza – Itas Diatec Trentino Live on Rai Sport 2
Live streaming on http://www.raisport.rai.it/dl/raisport/multimedia/diretta.html
(Padoan-Ippoliti)
M. Roma Volley – Casa Modena
(Castagna-Boris)
Sunday January 8 at 6pm
Andreoli Latina – Sisley Belluno Live on Sportube.tv
(Prandi-Sobrero)
Copra Elior Piacenza – Fidia Padova
(Gnani-Braico)
CMC Ravenna – Lube Banca Marche Macerata
(Astengo-Cesare)
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Energy Resources San Giustino
(Rapisarda-Pol)
League table
Lube Banca Marche Macerata 32, Itas Diatec Trentino 32, Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 31, Casa Modena 27, Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza 21, Sisley Belluno 19, Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 17, M. Roma Volley 17, Andreoli Latina 17, Fidia Padova 14, Marmi Lanza Verona 14, Energy Resources San Giustino 12, Copra Elior Piacenza 12, CMC Ravenna 8
Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza – Itas Diatec Trentino
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 25 (18-7 Trento)
Luciano De Cecco (Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza): “We have nothing to lose, they are a very strong team. We have no pressure, and we’ll try to stay close. I think we should try to risk hitting the serve a little harder and see what happens”.
Matey Kaziyski (Itas Diatec Trentino): “The defeat against Latina was very poor, we have to react straight away against Monza, although this will not be easy because they have ended the first half of season on a high”.
Andreoli Latina – Sisley Belluno
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 25 (20-5 Belluno)
Michel Guemart (Andreoli Latina): “We are perfectly aware that Belluno will not be the same team we have played at the beginning of the season. We’ll have to play calm, and with the fighting spirit seen against Trento. In this league, anyone can beat anyone, if we play like in the last game we have our chance against anyone”.
Roberto Piazza (coach Sisley Belluno) : “After the win over Ravenna our team can only improve on Sunday against Latina. I think this is a very dangerous team, Thursday’s win over Trento is a testimony. I’ll ask my players to stay focused, and obviously to play a good game, you only get better with special performances. We’ll see the fitness level of Kohut in the next few days, he had to leave the last game because of a problem on his knee. Hopefully nothing serious, we hope to see him against Latina”.
Copra Elior Piacenza – Fidia Padova
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 19 (14-Piacenza)
Samuele Papi (Copra Elior Piacenza): “We have to start taking points. We have wasted a lot of opportunities, we have to find a good level of play. We can’t afford to get it wrong against Padova”.
Andrea Semenzato (Fidia Padova): “After the victory over Roma, we’re hoping to find a little bit of consistency. We’ll be able to play with a little less pressure in Piacenza. Then, we’ll try to give it a good fight as we always do, but with more confidence now”.
CMC Ravenna – Lube Banca Marche Macerata
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (Macerata won it)
Antonio Babini (coach CMC Ravenna): “We only played one good set against Belluno and now we’re facing one of the toughest games of the season, because Macerata will fight for the title until the end. They are obviously clear favourite but we’ll do everything possible to play a good game in a gym that I expect to be packed again”.
Jiri Kovar (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “We have to win on Sunday in Ravenna. They are bottom of the league table but we should never lower our guards in those games, otherwise you run the risk of having a bad surprise, while we want to keep improving”.
Marmi Lanza Verona – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 19 (14-5 Cuneo)
Aidan Zingel (Marmi Lanza Verona): “This will be a pretty similar game to the one we’ve just played against Macerata. Cuneo is a top level team against which we’ll do our best to offer special emotions to our fans like the ones we had on Thursday night. We’ll have to give 100% and be sharp on the serve”.
Flavio Gulinelli (Coach Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “Verona had an excellent game against Macerata, on Sunday they’ll be galvanised by that performance. We are forced to win all the time: winning do you good and that’s what we have to keep doing, starting this Sunday against Verona. We have to keep playing with our philosophy, one game at a time. Verona will be an important stop ahead of our Champions League game in the Czech Republic, where we’ll aim to go top of our group”.
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Energy Resources San Giustino
PRECEDENTI: 15 (9-6 San Giustino)
Gianlorenzo Blengini (coach Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “San Giustino has turned things around after a difficult start to the season. In recent games they added outside hitter Patak, who immediately showed all his worth. This will definitely be a difficult game, as always, even more so for us as we’re trying to find our understanding on court without Coscione”.
Tine Urnaut (Energy Resources San Giustino): “We’re playing well now. The game against Vibo will undoubtedly be tough but we’re working hard and we’ll go there to give it our best”.
M. Roma Volley – Casa Modena
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 7 (4-3 Modena)
Andrea Giani (M. Roma Volley): “We’re facing a top team, there won’t be any problem of motivation there. Hopefully, the boys will have put behind the loss against Padova and will be ready to play”.
Andrea Sala (Casa Modena): “We have had an excellent first half of season, we won some important games against direct opponents, and we gave a game to Macerata and Cuneo. Now we have to keep getting better, starting from the game in Roma, which is a strange court where it is very difficult to win. We’ll need a top quality performance to make it”.
Serie A2 Sustenium
Round 18
Beaten on Thursay in Perugia, Genova faces Cantù, which is coming off a three-point victory over Sora. In the first meeting Genova had won 3-1. Segrate, which just lost its position of leader after the defeat in Atripalda, meets up with Molfetta which won this match up 3-0 earlier this season but lost against Club Italia on Thursday. Unbeaten in five outings, Milan fell in Corigliano and now will look to bounce back against the new leaders Castellana Grotte, easy winners over Loreto in the last round. Fourth in the table, Città di Castello plays host to Santa Croce. The two teams met 17 times with the club from Tuscany boasting ten wins. Isernia will challenge at home Perugia, third in the table, while Sora will face the ever improving Corigliano team. Ninth in the table, Loreto will entertain Atripalda, last from bottom but with a superb victory in the last round over Segrate. Besides, they will be able to line up new middle blocker Carlo Mor, on loan from Monza. Finally, at 8.30pm, Club Italia takes on Reggio Emilia. The team from the capital took two points against Molfetta at home on Thursday, and had won the first meeting against Reggio Emilia. The latter only won twice so far, against Atripalda and Cantù.
Round 18 Serie A2 Sustenium
Sunday January 8 at 4pm
Carige Genova – Cassa Rurale Cantù Live on Sportitalia 2
(Gasparro-Morgillo)
Sunday January 8 at 6pm
Volley Segrate 1978 – Pallavolo Molfetta
(Pozzato-Genna)
Gherardi SVI Città Di Castello – NGM Mobile Santa Croce
(Gelati-Montanari)
Cicchetti Isernia – Sir Safety Perugia
(Orpianesi-Bertoletti)
CheBanca! Milano – BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte
(Goitre-Cardaci)
Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora – Caffè Aiello Corigliano
(Andreoni-Longo)
Energy Resources Carilo Loreto -Sidigas Atripalda
(Puletti-Guerzoni)
Sunday January 8 at 8.30pm
Club Italia Roma – Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia
(Prati-Perdisci)
League table
BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte 40, Volley Segrate 1978 39, Sir Safety Perugia 37, Gherardi SVI Città Di Castello 33, CheBanca! Milano 32, Pallavolo Molfetta 32, Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora 28, Caffè Aiello Corigliano 27, Energy Resources Carilo Loreto 27, Carige Genova 27, NGM Mobile S.Croce 26, Cicchetti Isernia 20, Club Italia Roma 19, Cassa Rurale Cantù 10, Sidigas Atripalda 6, Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia 5
