Serie A1 Sustenium
Round 24
There are three games left in the regular season as the next round will be played between the weekend and Wednesday. The opening encounter on Saturday will be Piacenza versus Roma. The first had their winning run stopped by Belluno in the last round, while the team from the capital needs the three missing points to make sure they stay up in the top division and take part in the playoffs. On Sunday there will be the duel between the Bagnoli brothers, that is to say Modena versus Verona, while the big game of the round, Cuneo versus Trentino, will be on Wednesday as Trentino will be involved in the Champions League final four this weekend.
Serie A1 Sustenium: Round 24
Saturday March 17 at 5.30pm
Copra Elior Piacenza – M. Roma Volley Live on RAI Sport 1
(Padoan-Sobrero)
Sunday March 18 at 5.30pm
CMC Ravenna – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia Live on RAI Sport 1
(Boris-Simbari)
Sunday March 18 at 6pm
Casa Modena – Marmi Lanza Verona
(Santi-Ippoliti)
Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Energy Resources San Giustino
(Gnani-Braico)
Fidia Padova – Andreoli Latina Live on Sportube.tv
(Pasquali-Sampaolo)
Wednesday March 21 at 8.30pm
Acqua Paradiso Monza – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo
Thursday March 22 at 8.30pm
Itas Diatec Trentino – Sisley Belluno
League table
Itas Diatec Trentino 61, Lube Banca Marche Macerata 51, Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 49, Sisley Belluno 44, Casa Modena 37, Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza 36, Copra Elior Piacenza 35, Andreoli Latina 30, Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 28, Marmi Lanza Verona 28, M. Roma Volley 27, Energy Resources San Giustino 27, Fidia Padova 21, CMC Ravenna 9
Copra Elior Piacenza – M. Roma Volley
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 8 (5-3 Piacenza)
Hristo Zlatanov (Copra Elior Piacenza): “This will be a tough game. We’re coming off a defeat, but we remain positive. Our target is to move up the table, to try to finish 5th or 6th, which will be very difficult. Roma needs points to stay up. Training is going fine, we’re physically in good shape, despite a few minor problems, which is totally normal. The Belluno loss will have no negative effect, in fact this is precisely from defeat that you learn to win”.
Dante Boninfante (M. Roma Volley): “No need to hide it, this is a very complicated one for us, Piacenza has been playing very well of late and they’ve moved up in the top part of the table. They’ve probably had problems at the start but I’ve always thought their real position should be the one they’re occupying now. We have to play with maximum determination, the same with which we’ll have to play the two other games after that. We can’t afford to make mistakes, we have to face each play with intelligence”.
CMC Ravenna – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (Vibo Valentia)
Antonio Babini (coach CMC Ravenna): “We have not been able to train as we’d like this week because Moro and Bendandi had physical problems. But we’ll try to be physically and mentally ready in order not to play badly for the last before last on our home court. The team is motivated to redeem itself after the disappointing outing against Roma”.
Gianlorenzo Blengini (coach Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “Every game has its difficulty, and every time you play against a team that has not a good league position, the difficulties increase. Besides, Ravenna will play home, it’s a city with great tradition, Ravenna made the story of Italian volleyball. Ravenna will want to redeem itself after the poor performance against Roma. These are all factors we must be aware of to face this game extremely focused. Ravenna has quality players, we have to keep that in mind too. We’ll try to use this game to take away any will to look over our shoulders anymore. Only after Sunday’s game, if we do well enough to win, will we be able to look at the table and focus on what playoffs position we could achieve”.
Casa Modena – Marmi Lanza Verona
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 15 (12-3 Modena)
Daniele Bagnoli (coach Casa Modena): “Modena and us, we have different targets, but both very important. They want to be mathematically safe, while we’re looking for the best possible position for the playoffs. The 3-2 win in Latina was crucial, even if, given the quality of the play, we should more be talking about a point lost. Anyway, I liked the will not to give up, we’ll need this fighting spirit. We have been showing some good things in recent games. Unfortunately, we’re really missing Yosifov and Kooy, both in training and games. We have to keep giving everything we have and take as many points as possible. Unfortunately, the fourth position is almost impossible, we’ll probably play the quarters away from home, we’ll need to get there at the best of our form. Verona? Well-organised team, with a couple of specialists on the serve, they managed to beat teams like Cuneo and Belluno. And they have Meoni, probably the best setter in Italy inside the three meters. We’ll need good serving and overall play with extreme focus and intensity”.
Lorenzo Smerilli (Marmi Lanza Verona): “Modena has been struggling a bit lately, but it’s a team that plays very well at home. They have excellent servers which we’ll have to limit. We are confident because we have carried a training week all together. We’ll try to hit the serve hard to make it difficult for them and force them to play with high balls”.
Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Energy Resources San Giustino
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 21 (19-2 Macerata)
Jean-Francois Exiga (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “We have been working well in the gym, and the game against San Giustino will be useful to see the progress we made. Besides, this will be a crucial game to defend our second position. San Giustino is in good form, they’ve obtained excellent results in recent outings. We’ll need to be focused from start to finish, to impose our rhythm from the beginning, especially on the serve, and try to keep it up until the end. We need all the 9 remaining points available in those last three games”.
Andrea Sartoretti (Sport director Energy Resources San Giustino): “We’re extremely excited following the results obtained in the last few games. We’ve done a great job but we’ve not reached our target yet. We’re facing a top team on Sunday, one of the title favourites with Trento. This will be a very tough game but we don’t want to stop our good run. We know the quality of the opponent but we’ll try to play our game. We’ll go there to try our best and we’ll have our fans with us, they’ve been organizing the trip for the away game in the last few days. More than a hundred will be in Macerata to give us strength”.
Fidia Padova – Andreoli Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 15 (8-7 Latina)
Paolo Montagnani (coach Fidia Padova): “The boys are extremely motivated so there won’t be any need for any motivational speech from my part. We all know we need a breakthrough, we’ll just go for the win against Latina. They are already safe but they won’t give anything away. We’ll have to stay composed, without putting too much pressure on ourselves otherwise we’ll lose in quality”.
Yordan Galabinov (Andreoli Latina): “Padova is playing to stay up even if this is a good team that has been giving difficult games to just about anyone. They have quality players like Simeonov and De Marchi that can give us a hard time, these are the ones to watch for. We’ll try to win it even if we are already qualified for the playoffs”.
Serie A2 Sustenium
Round 27
Only four games left but everything to play four in the A2 regular season.
Crazy Diamond Segrate – BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte. Two weeks after the Cup final, they meet again. Segrate is 11 points from the top, they will want to take revenge on the cup final and get closer to the third place. As for Di Pinto’s team, they desperately need the 3 points to cut down the 5-point deficit on the leaders, Perugia.
Pallavolo Molfetta – Sir Safety Perugia. Both beaten at the tie-break in the cup semi-finals, Molfetta and Perugia meet in a crucial clash between two top teams (leaders vs third). Molfetta can still aim for the top spot but they need the victory, while Kovac’s team wants to stay top and maintain its five-point lead on Castellana Grotte.
Caffè Aiello Corigliano – Carige Genova. Second consecutive home game for Corigliano after the three points taken against Atripalda. Genova is coming off a home win too, against Reggio Emilia.
NGM Mobile Santa Croce – Energy Resources Carilo Loreto. One of the main A2 classics is back in Santa Croce, which has finally obtained a three-point win after seven consecutive tie-breaks. As for Fracascia’s team, Janusek is gone but Koresaar was the star man of the recent win in Isernia.
Club Italia Roma – Cassa Rurale Cantù. Not much possibilities left for Cantù to get away from this last position in the table and have a chance to stay up by playing in the playouts. Della Rosa’s team will need three points in the capital against Club Italia, which is still in the chase for the 11th position.
Sidigas Atripalda – CheBanca! Milano. Atripalda is looking over its shoulders but also ahead as it hopes to make it into the playouts. Atripalda has a four point advantage on Cantù but if things stand as it is the team will go down because of the 12-point gap with the 12th in the table, Isernia. Still without Nemeth, they face Milan, which has already secured a playoff spot but which will want to bounce back after the home defeat against Sora.
Gherardi SVI Città di Castello – Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora. Beaten in the derby against Perugia, Città di Castello entertains Sora with the aim to keep their opponent at safe distance in the table. The hosts are fourth while Sora is sixth, just three points behind and coming off two straight wins, the last being away from home in Milan.
Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia – Cicchetti Isernia. Romano Giannini was fired this week and substituted on Isernia’s bench by Roberto Fant. The latter will make his debut in Reggio Emilia, which want to consolidate its 14th position to stay in the playouts and have a chance to play to stay up in the post-season.
Serie A2 Sustenium: Round 27
Sunday March 18 at 4pm
Crazy Diamond Segrate – BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte Live on Sportitalia 2
(Venturi-Zanussi)
Sunday March 18 at 6pm
Pallavolo Molfetta – Sir Safety Perugia
(Goitre-Astengo)
Caffè Aiello Corigliano – Carige Genova
(Gentile-Bertoletti)
NGM Mobile S.Croce – Energy Resources Carilo Loreto
(Rolla-Oranelli)
Club Italia Roma – Cassa Rurale Cantù
(Piubelli-Trevisan)
Sidigas Atripalda – CheBanca! Milano
(Canessa-Zingaro)
Gherardi SVI Città Di Castello – Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora
(Pozzato-Gasparro)
Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia – Cicchetti Isernia
(Florian-Bassan)
League table
Sir Safety Perugia 61, BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte 56, Pallavolo Molfetta 52, Gherardi SVI Città di Castello 50, Crazy Diamond Segrate 50, Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora 47, CheBanca! Milano 44, Energy Resources Carilo Loreto 43, Carige Genova 43, NGM Mobile S.Croce 41, Caffè Aiello Corigliano 35, Cicchetti Isernia 29, Club Italia Roma 25, Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia 18, Sidigas Atripalda 17, Cassa Rurale Cantù 13
