Serie A1 – Playoff quarter-finals
Game 1 results and quotes
Results:
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata-Calzedonia Verona 3-2 (22-25, 21-25, 25-19, 27-25, 15-9); Diatec Trentino-Casa Modena 0-3 (26-28, 12-25, 21-25); Copra Elior Piacenza-Altotevere Città di Castello 3-1 (24-26, 25-16, 25-17, 25-21); Sir Safety Perugia-Bre Lannutti Cuneo 3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-16)
CUCINE LUBE BANCA MARCHE MACERATA – CALZEDONIA VERONA 3-2 (22-25, 21-25, 25-19, 27-25, 15-9) – CUCINE LUBE BANCA MARCHE MACERATA: Henno (L), Parodi 18, Zaytsev 28, Stankovic 8, Kovar 9, Monopoli 2, Kurek 2, Baranowicz 2, Podrascanin 6. DNP Patriarca, Giombini. Coach. Giuliani.
CALZEDONIA VERONA: Zingel 12, Pesaresi (L), Ter Horst 14, Coali, Gasparini 16, White 11, Boninfante 2, Bellei 1, Kovacevic 4, Anzani 10. DNP Blasi, Centomo, Gonzalez. Coach. Giani.
For two sets and a half, it looked like the upset of the day. Verona seriously put in jeopardy Macerata’s unbeaten home record but then the hosts regained control and made it 17 wins in a row in their Fontescodella arena. Macerata will therefore have a chance to go through on Sunday in the return leg in Verona. Simoni Parodi scored 18 points, with 67% in attack (4 aces) and was named MVP of the game.
Simone Parodi (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “We have to take the positive out of this game. We have worked a lot to prepare the playoffs. We might not have played at our best but we showed great character. In the playoffs in Italy, all the teams are strong, Verona has excellent players who can make it tough for you at any given moment. We managed to get out of a complicated situation tonight, it was a good challenge. We have a superb group, a great team in a fantastic club. And obviously there were amazing supporters too tonight. There is everything needed to have a good run. Even if we make it the hard way, that’s fine, the important is winning it”.
Andrea Giani (Coach Calzedonia Verona): “We played good volleyball, but in the end what matters is winning and the result went Macerata’s way. We made it very hard for them in the first three sets, but unfortunately we have not had the determination and killer touch to finish it off”.
DIATEC TRENTINO – CASA MODENA 0-3 (26-28, 12-25, 21-25)
DIATEC TRENTINO: Sintini, Birarelli 5, Solé 3, Ferreira 6, Suxho 5, Lanza 4, Sokolov 8, Colaci (L), Fedrizzi 3, Burgsthaler 1, Van Dijk. DNP Thei, De Paola. Coach. Serniotti.
CASA MODENA: Manià (L), Sala 7, Sket 1, Deroo, Kampa, Bartman 14, Beretta 7, Mossa De Rezende 6, Kovacevic 12, Ngapeth 13. DNP Donadio, Bossi, Hendriks. Coach. Lorenzetti.
What looked like the tightest series of all began with a surprise and a sweep away from home for Modena. The latter had already won it in Trento on that same 3-0 score in February and now they will have a chance to seal the series on home soil on Sunday. The game lasted as far as 16-9 in the first set for Trento. Serniotti’s men were perfect until then, but they seemed to run out of gas far too soon. Named MVP, Bruninho distributed at will from the second set and his teammates did not find much resistance in smashing the ball down on the other side of the net.
Roberto Serniotti (Coach Diatec Trentino): “We totally lost our way after the first set lost despite a big lead. We lost composure and Modena took advantage to escape. We could not find the mental strength to react. But I still think they can be beaten and that we have not reached the quarter-finals by chance”.
Angelo Lorenzetti (Coach Casa Modena): “Trento was hurt after our come-back of the first set, in which Bartman’s serves helped us to get back. In the third set it was tight and Fedrizzi’s run of serves was close to get Trento back in it. The playoffs are like that, today we’re very happy but on Sunday it’s 0-0 again”.
COPRA ELIOR PIACENZA – ALTOTEVERE CITTà DI CASTELLO 3-1 (24-26, 25-16, 25-17, 25-21) – COPRA ELIOR PIACENZA: Marra (L), Le Roux, Papi 8, Fei 6, Kaliberda 16, Simon 20, Tencati, Vettori 18, De Cecco 3. DNP Partenio, Smerilli, Zlatanov, Husaj. Coach. Monti.
ALTOTEVERE CITTà DI CASTELLO: Fromm 13, Carminati, Corvetta, Dolfo, Massari 15, Tosi (L), Piano 9, Van Walle 16, Rossi 5, Marchiani. DNP Franceschini, Lensi, Lo Bianco. Coach. Radici.
Once Piacenza got rid of the initial fear, which led to a first set lost at the death, it played with fighting spirit and won it in four sets, remaining undefeated at home. The hosts were led by Simon, who was named MVP (20 points, 8 blocks, 2 aces), and Vettori who scored 18 (2 aces, 1 block).
Luca Monti (Coach Copra Elior Piacenza): “We were a bit tense at the start and we did not play our best volleyball but our goal was to win the game not to play well. Besides, we still had the Macerata loss in our minds but bit by bit we managed to cool down. Città di Castello managed to make it difficult for us thanks to an excellent dig, I think they have one of the best dig in the A1. We won it thanks to our serve from the second set, getting them to play away from the net”.
Jacopo Massari (Altotevere Città di Castello): “Despite the fact we won the first set, I think we made a lot of mistakes on the serves in the first sets. We got some little runs of points in the game but we lacked consistency and could not take other sets. Piacenza’s serve made the difference, if we’d been more clinical we could have done better”.
SIR SAFETY PERUGIA – BRE LANNUTTI CUNEO 3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-16)
SIR SAFETY PERUGIA: Buti 12, Paolucci 4, Petric 16, Giovi (L), Cupkovic, Barone 4, Mitic, Vujevic 7, Atanasijevic 28, Semenzato 2. DNP Della Corte, Della Lunga, Fanuli. Coach. Kovac.
BRE LANNUTTI CUNEO: Rauwerdink 1, Antonov 12, Marchisio (L), Gonzalez 2, De Pandis (L), Casadei 14, Kohut 6, Alletti, De Togni 5, Rouzier 5, Maruotti 12. DNP Coscione. Coach. Piazza.
In front of 2800 fans, the team of president Sirci took Game 1 of the quarter-final series at the expense of Cuneo. Once again, Atanasijevic, well-assisted by Petric (16 points), created havoc in the opposite dig with 28 points and 68% in attack. Cuneo had played excellent volleyball in the first set though, with excellent work at the net (4 blocks) and in attack. But then Perugia, who had started off a bit tense, loosened up. While the two Serbians were hitting it off, the man that ignited the come-back was captain Vujevic. His serves and blocks got the crowd as well as the team going.
Adriano Paolucci (Sir Safety Perugia): “We started off a bit tense, which is normal in the playoffs. Besides, Cuneo played to near-perfection in the first set. Then, we got loose, served very well and did fine in the block-dig area. We played our volleyball and won this very important first game”.
Giorgio De Togni (Bre Lannutti Cuneo): “We played an excellent first set, we limited Perugia thanks to our blocking. Then they stepped up a gear and made it hard for us with their serve while they were excellent in attack. And we stopped pulling together as a team from there”.
Fixtures
Playoffs quarter-finals Game 2
Sunday March 30pm
Bre Lannutti Cuneo (6) – Sir Safety Perugia (3) Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Sobrero-Boris)
Sunday March 30 at 6pm
Casa Modena (5) – Diatec Trentino (4)
(Sampaolo-Pasquali)
Altotevere Città Castello (7) – Copra Elior Piacenza (2)
(Pol-Tanasi)
Sunday March 30pm
Calzedonia Verona (8) – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata (1) Live on Sportube.tv
(Santi-Saltalippi)
GAME 3
Wednesday April 2 at 8.30pm
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata (1) – Calzedonia Verona (8)
Diatec Trentino (4) – Casa Modena (5)
Sir Safety Perugia (3) – Bre Lannutti Cuneo (6)
One game live at 8.45pm on RAI Sport 2
Thursday aprila t 8.30pm
Copra Elior Piacenza (2) – Altotevere Città Castello (7)
1 Cucine Lube B. Marche Macerata 1 | |||||
3-2 | |||||
8 Calzedonia Verona 0 | |||||
4 Diatec Trentino 0 | |||||
0-3 | |||||
5 Casa Modena 1 | |||||
Italian Champ 2013/14 | |||||
