Serie A1
Round 18
Piacenza versus Latina will be the live Saturday game on Rai Sport, while on Sunday there will be the clash between Modena and Macerata.
Serie A1 round 18
Saturday February 22 at 8.30pm
Copra Elior Piacenza – Andreoli Latina Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Longo-Saltalippi)
Sunday February 23 at 6pm
Altotevere Città di Castello – Diatec Trentino
(Boris-Goitre)
CMC Ravenna – Bre Lannutti Cuneo Live on Sportube.tv
(Santi-Pasquali)
Calzedonia Verona – Exprivia Molfetta
(Zucca-Puecher)
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia – Sir Safety Perugia
(Genna-Tanasi)
Sunday February 23 at 6.30pm
Casa Modena – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata Live on RAI Sport 2
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Simbari-La Micela)
League table
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata 46, Copra Elior Piacenza 42*, Sir Safety Perugia 36, Diatec Trentino 31, Bre Lannutti Cuneo 26, Casa Modena 25, Altotevere Città di Castello 24, Calzedonia Verona 24, Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia 19, CMC Ravenna 17**, Andreoli Latina 15, Exprivia Molfetta 13*.
*1 game in hand: Copra Elior Piacenza, Exprivia Molfetta
**2 games in hand: CMC Ravenna
Copra Elior Piacenza – Andreoli Latina
Piacenza is coming off a straight set victory over Trento in mid-week, which cut the deficit on the leaders. Captain Zlatanov is the best scorer ever of the Italian league, he needs just two points to celebrate the 9000. On the other side of the net, there will be Latina, defeated in the last two rounds. They will try to win in Piacenza, which they haven’t been able to do since December 2002.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 25 (16-9 Piacenza)
Davide Delmati (Assistant coach Copra Elior Piacenza): “Given our midweek result and Macerata’s, our goal is to win as many games as possible, especially at home where we have always won thanks as well to the support of our fans. Latina recently changed coach, Simoni is a great friend, I really wish him all the best. Latina is trying to take points to get back up the table, they are worth more than their current league position and they are doing very well in the Challenge Cup, in which they reached the semis to be played next week. Saturday’s game won’t be easy, they had made it hard for us in the first match, and they’ll try to do that again having added Starovic, a player that makes the difference in attack. We’ll have to be very careful and take care of details in order to limit them”.
Dario Simoni (Coach Andreoli Latina): “The game against Piacenza will be difficult, very difficult for us. We’ll need a superb performance to take something out of it. This encounter will take us a lot of energy in a period in which we’re playing many games”.
Altotevere Città di Castello – Diatec Trentino
Winners at the tie-break over Vibo this week, Città di Castello will be home again. Piano has become the top blocker of the league in front of Zingel. In the first meeting, Trentino had won the fixture at the tie-break but this time they will be without Sokolov, while Birarelli is doubtful. Serniotti’s men are on a fourth game losing skid.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (Trento)
Andrea Radici (Coach Altotevere Città di Castello): “Both team will play their third game in a week. This is one more difficulty to face for us against a strong opposition. They’ve had a tough spell and will want to get back on track. We have done our best to recharge our batteries, mentally too, after the five sets played against Vibo. Hopefully, our will and confidence, together with the court advantage, will allow us to overcome these possible problems”.
Sebastian Solé (Diatec Trentino): “It’s not been an easy ride of late for us, we have accumulated defeats but we should not think we’ve got it all wrong. We have qualities on which to work to turn things around, and our league position remains very good. One victory could really change things for us. We’ll try to get it this Sunday hoping we’ll get on a roll and maybe get the injured players back. This is not the time to be negative, we just need a little more determination and have a more simple approach in the things we execute”.
CMC Ravenna – Bre Lannutti Cuneo
Ravenna has gathered 5 points of its last two outings and is now just two points away from ninth position and with two games in hand. One of Ravenna’s main men is Cester, currently second in the rankings of middle blockers. As for Cuneo, they have taken points in each of their six outings even if they could not go over the hump in tie-break losses against Macerata and Piacenza.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 33 (21-12 Cuneo)
Marco Bonitta (coach CMC Ravenna): “We’re feeling good, we’ve obtained good results, we obviously want to get this winning streak going. But we know we’re facing a tough game against Cuneo, which has reached its best form of the season. The support against Città di Castello was superb last week, some of the same would be great”.
Daniele De Pandis (Bre Lannutti Cuneo): “We have four games left which we’ll have to face like we faced the recent games, like finals. Our aim is to get as many points as possible in the coming games, because more than ever this fifth place depends entirely on us. We have to keep it and see if the teams in front stumble. We’ll fight to end the regular season as well as possible. We’re going to Ravenna where we’ll play in a packed gym, we’ll be under pressure. We’ll have to focus on playing good volleyball like we’ve done in recent games”.
Calzedonia Verona – Exprivia Molfetta
Tricky moment of the season for both Verona and Molfetta. Despite Gasparini’s top form in attack (3rd in the scoring chart) and Zingel’s exploits at the net, Verona can’t seem to get going in this second half of season. But the team remains ambitious and hopes to take revenge on the defeat conceded in the first meeting. Molfetta has not won since December 22, they need points to get off the bottom of the table.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 3 (2-1 Verona)
Nicola Pesaresi (Calzedonia Verona): “Sunday’s game will be crucial, there’s only four left till the end of the regular season. We have to take points at all cost if we want to make it into the playoffs. We’ll need to be focused and play at our best. On the other side of the net, there will be a very similar team to ours. We know what happened in the first match up, which is why we’ll get on court with a good attitude to try to win it”.
Antonio Antonaci (President Exprivia Molfetta): “Everyone in the team, players, managers, we’re all suffering as a key figure of the club has passed away. We’ll have to get back on court anyway because that’s what Nicola would have done. Second consecutive road game in Verona. We had registered some improvements already in Latina, then we were very close to get a point against Perugia. We’re looking for another spiker but that is not an excuse because the players we have are ready to fight until the last point. Our opponents are coming off a home loss against Modena, they’ll be eager to bounce back. But we’ll give everything we have, as always”.
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia – Sir Safety Perugia
Opposite runs for Vibo and Perugia in the second half of season. Vibo had six losses, Perugia registered 6 wins. Despite a superb Gavotto, who scored 27 in the last round and is just 13 from the 7000 in career, Vibo is still five points away from 8th place. Perugia is looking to consolidate its third place.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 3 (2-1 Vibo)
Mauro Gavotto (Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia): “We are keen to bounce back from the loss against Città di Castello. We are extremely disappointed to have thrown away the opportunity to get our first road win. We have been a bit naïve. But now we’re back home, where we have always done better. We’re facing a tough game because Perugia is one of the strongest teams in the league, they have excellent players in its starting line-up and some very good players on the bench. But we’re ready for the fight, we’ll try to win it with the help of our supporters”.
Fabio Fanuli (Sir Safety Perugia): “We’re facing an opponent that is very tough to beat at home, away too, but especially in their gym. A balanced team that plays good volley, they’re in good form, they won against Modena and had a good game against Città di Castello. Their main strength is that they play as a team, and they’ll have the support of their fans. It’s true we have been doing well too. We might not have expressed our best volley in the last two games, but we won and that is crucial when you’re not at your best. We’ll obviously need to improve on Sunday and try to get points in order to have a good position before the clash against Trento, which will have the third place at stake”.
Casa Modena – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata
Fascinating match-up. Baranowicz will be back in his former gym following the excellent season he had last year with the Modena shirt. Earvin Ngapeth’s debut gave Modena the spark they needed to get going again. They collected two wins in a row and moved within one point of fifth place. As for Macerata, it won its last road game in Cuneo after two defeats in Perugia and Città di Castello. Piacenza stands four points behind hoping for Giuliani’s boys to stumble.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 6 (33-30 Modena)
Angelo Lorenzetti (Coach Casa Modena): “It’s obviously nice to get there after two victories, and the enthusiasm and better league position that it brought. We know it will be tough but we want to play a good game. Last week was an important one, we got a smile back on our faces and found harmony on court. We have to do our best once the ball is on our side of the net, playing with patience, technical ability and staying mentally strong”.
Dragan Stankovic (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “Another important test for us in Modena after finally winning on the road against Cuneo. In Modena it’s always tough but exciting to play, we’ll try to confirm the progress we made away from home against an in-form team, which has collected two big wins on the road. We’ll need to be at our best to get crucial points”.
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