Serie A1 Sustenium
Round 22 preview
Another round of action in the Serie A1 this Wednesday with Monza versus Macerata as the highlight of the day. Macerata regained second place last weekend and will try to hold onto it as the third placed Cuneo is playing home against Padova.
Serie A1 Sustenium: Round 22
Wednesday March 7 at 8.30pm
CMC Ravenna – Copra Elior Piacenza
(Frapiccini-Santi)
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Andreoli Latina Diretta Sportube.tv
(Braico-Balboni)
Marmi Lanza Verona – Energy Resources San Giustino
(Sobrero-Pessolano)
Casa Modena – Sisley Belluno
(Saltalippi-Gnani)
Itas Diatec Trentino – M. Roma Volley
(Puecher-Boris)
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Fidia Padova
(Tanasi-Astengo)
Wednesday March 7 at 9pm
Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza – Lube Banca Marche Macerata Live on RAI Sport 1
(Zucca-Padoan)
League table
Itas Diatec Trentino 56, Lube Banca Marche Macerata 46, Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 45, Sisley Belluno 38, Casa Modena 35, Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza 34, Copra Elior Piacenza 32, Marmi Lanza Verona 28, Andreoli Latina 26, Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 25, M. Roma Volley 24, Energy Resources San Giustino 22, Fidia Padova 21, CMC Ravenna 9
Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza – Lube Banca Marche Macerata
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 37 (23-14 Macerata)
Marco Molteni (Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza): “No easy game but we should not make a drama out of this situation: It’s true we haven’t played at our best in the last two games, but tomorrow we’ll get on court as if nothing had happened, because nothing happened really. We have clear in our minds what remain our targets in the league and Cev Cup and we know we have the capacity to reach them. There’s no need to think negative. Besides, we always play very well at home so I am confident we can do fine against Macerata. This is an all-around team, but with an impressive potential in attack, very strong in attack and serve, but extremely well covered in reception too. Despite all this, we managed to make it difficult for them in their arena, where we had forced a tie-break. It’s true there wasn’t Savani, but this time we’ll be at home”.
Igor Omrcen (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “The league is the only competition we have left this season, we have won our last two games and we’ll try to extend this positive streak until the end of the regular season to keep the second place we took last Sunday. Monza is a tough team to play against, a top quality team that gave us some headaches earlier this season. The first thing we’ll need to beat them is some good serving, and avoid the kind of lapses in concentration we had last Sunday against Latina”.
CMC Ravenna – Copra Elior Piacenza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (Ravenna)
Antonio Babini (coach CMC Ravenna): “We have to regain some energy mentally because the defeat against Padova was really hard to take in. Hopefully, there won’t be any consequences and we’ll be able to play a good game against a team that is in great form”.
Luca Monti (coach Copra Elior Piacenza): “We went straight back into the gym without any day rest after the Monza game. We are used to prepare one game at a time and on Monday we started to work on the Ravenna match. We can’t afford to relax. Despite its low position in the league table, Ravenna cannot be underestimated. We’ll try to do our best again on Wednesday”.
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Andreoli Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 11 (6-5 Latina)
Luis Diaz (Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “In Trento we played two excellent sets in which our serve made the difference. We served very well and made it hard for them. That’s what we’ll need to do against Latina, a good team with experienced players that are coming off a defeat like us against one of the strongest teams of the league. We’ll be ready, positive and focused tomorrow because we know it will be a difficult game. But if we can do as well as against Trento, we could get a good result”.
Josè Manuel Rivera (Andreoli Latina): “Vibo was my team last season, it’s always important for me to beat my former teams. I’ll be happy to see the faces of the people I spent one year with, hopefully there will be a good battle and the crowd will enjoy a good game. This is a crucial moment of the season, gathering points becomes fundamental for both teams. We have to be aware of this and be ready to give everything, Vibo Valentia is a tough place to go to”.
Marmi Lanza Verona – Energy Resources San Giustino
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 21 (12-9 San Giustino)
Lorenzo Smerilli (Marmi Lanza Verona): “We earned three crucial points against Roma, which took some pressure off our shoulders before the game against San Giustino, against which we’ll try to take points in front of our supporters. Every game will be a final for them, we know they’ll be ready for the fight to try to take revenge on the first leg, when we had taken all three points. We’ll have to do well to contain their spikers”-
Danilo Finazzi (Energy Resources San Giustino): “This is a key week for us. There are only five games left, we have to take as many points as possible in order to stay up. Verona plays good volleyball, but we have improved a lot since the first time we met. Now we are aware of our ability and we’ll give it our best shot”.
Casa Modena – Sisley Belluno
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 101 (53-48 Belluno)
Daniele Bagnoli (Casa Modena): “We’re not going through a good period, results are not coming our way e we’re not playing at the best of our ability for various reasons. We don’t even have a minimum of luck. Having said that, we have to stay composed, we can’t afford to make the mistake of overdoing it. The boys are working extremely hard and they’re focused. It’s obvious that we’d need a win to get us going. I am personally suffering as well for this situation. Modena is my city and I know how much the city, fans and club deserve victories. We can’t wait to bounce back and I think it’s the moment for everyone to be close to the team. Belluno? Probably the worse opponent we could have hoped for right now, they are in great form and they’re playing very well”.
Frantisek Ogurcak (Sisley Belluno): “We’re doing well right now, let’s not relax, though. We’ll have to fight in Modena to maintain this fourth place, which they are also chasing. A win could be a first step before finishing the regular season as well as possible. It won’t be easy to maintain our league position because we’ll be up against some of the most in-form teams of this league like Piacenza, Macerata and Trento. I think our recent improvement is due ton one factor: I managed to settle in the system of the team. I learned how things worked and now the hard work is paying off. But I’d like to keep getting better. Physically I feel fine and that obviously helps. The atmosphere will be electric there, and they’ll want to get back on track following their recent poor form. They have the quality to do so, they have excellent players, but we’re still hungry for more. Everybody is contributing to the results, one of Belluno’s secrete is the group, whoever is called upon comes on court and gives a hand”.
Itas Diatec Trentino – M. Roma Volley
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 9 (Trento won them all)
Emanuele Birarelli (Itas Diatec Trentino): “Every league game is important, Wednesday’s game against Roma is another opportunity to get a good result and maybe try to different line up to the one seen on Wednesday night against Vibo Valentia. We have a top quality squad, and I am sure they’ll prove it again in this next encounter. No matter the consequences in the league table, what we want above all is to play a good game”.
Ivan Zaytsev (M. Roma Volley): “We’ll play this game without expecting anything, we know how strong is Trento and how impressive is their game. Still, I’d like to get back to Roma with a positive impression following the step back made against Verona. For example, I’d like to see maximum effort, the good volleyball and solidity of the past months in our game. This would be the best way to prepare ourselves for the big game against Ravenna, without having any particular worry”.
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Fidia Padova
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 45 (33-12 Cuneo)
Camillo Placì (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “This will be a very tough game, because Padova is playing well right now and they’re desperate for points to stay up. We have to find our game and the fighting spirit for this encounter which will be anything but easy. We have to put Sunday’s poor performance against Belluno behind us. We should not make the mistake to read too much into the league table and underestimate them, because Padova is doing really well and on Wednesday they’ll be determined to take the points”.
Luka Suljagic (Fidia Padova): “Last weekend’s victory gave us a boost and got us up the table. Now we have five “finals” ahead. The fact we’ll face two of the best in Cuneo and Macerata does not make any difference. We have nothing to lose, we’ll just play our game without fear. A performance like the one we had home against Ravenna would be great, we will fight on every ball”.
