Playoffs Serie A1 UnipolSai
Semi-finals Game 1
The A1 is back on Sunday with the playoffs semi-finals as well as the playoffs for fifth place.
The Italian Volleyball League will be hand in hand with AIL (Italian Association against Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Mieloma) in its “Easter Egg” initiative on April 4 to 6 as volunteers will sale Chocolate Eggs for the minimum price of 12 Euros all over Italy. For Info:www.ail.it or www.legavolley.it
Playoffs UnipolSai – SEMI-FINAL GAME 1
Sunday April 6 at 5.30pm
In Osimo: Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata (1) – Casa Modena (5) Live on RAI Sport 1
(Boris-Sobrero)
Sunday April 6 at 6pm
Copra Elior Piacenza (2) – Sir Safety Perugia (3) Live on Sportube.tv
(Cipolla-Rapisarda)
GAME 2
Wednesday April 9 at 8.30pm
Casa Modena (5) – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata (1) Live on Sportube.tv
Sir Safety Perugia (3) – Copra Elior Piacenza (2) Live on RAI Sport 2
1 Cucine Lube B. Marche Macerata 2 | |||||
3-2 3-0 | 1 Cucine Lube B. Marche Macerata | ||||
8 Calzedonia Verona 0 | |||||
4 Diatec Trentino 0 | |||||
0-3 1-3 | 5 Casa Modena | ||||
5 Casa Modena 2 | |||||
Italian Champ 2013/14 |
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2 Copra Elior Piacenza 2 |
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3-1 3-0 | 2 Copra Elior Piacenza | ||||
7 Altotevere Città di Castello 0 | |||||
3 Sir Safety Perugia 2 | |||||
3-1 3-1 | 3 Sir Safety Perugia | ||||
6 Bre Lannutti Cuneo 0 | |||||
Playoffs UnipolSai: Semi-final Game 1
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Casa Modena
Macerata moves to Osimo where it will play the rest of its home games in the playoffs. In the quarters, Giuliani’s men quickly dampened Verona’s hopes in game 2 after a much more complicated opening encounter that ended at the tie-break. As for Modena, it had not reached the semi-finals since 2011, when Bruninho had made his mark. Trento, eventually champion, had won the series 3-2. Three years on, the Brazilian is back in the roster as he helped the team reach 5th place in the table. And they took revenge by knocking out Trento in two games.
Past encounters: 64 (33-31 Modena)
Regular season: 2 (Macerata won both: 3-2 home, 3-0 away).
In the playoffs: 14 meetings. 6 quarter-finals (3 each) and 8 semi-finals (6-2 Modena)
Marko Podrascanin (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “We’re starting this new adventure with Game 1 with our fans who will follow us in Osimo. This will be a battle, our opponent have a good momentum having defeated the Italian champions in the previous round. Useless to underline how important it is to win the opening game. We want to do it and keep our winning streak going at home in order to get to game 2 in the best conditions next Wednesday on the road”.
Angelo Lorenzetti (Coach Casa Modena): “Numbers in volleyball matter and Macerata is the team with the best numbers. They beat us twice this year and in the last encounter they dominated in our gym. We’re extremely motivated, we’ll need to maintain a high intensity, be humble and improve our level of play to try to close the gap. In order to learn though, we have to play on court and stay in it as long as possible”.
Copra Elior Piacenza – Sir Safety Perugia
Perugia is still looking for its first ever win on Piacenza. Last year, Zlatanov and co had comfortably had the better of Macerata in the semis before losing to Trento in the final. The club has not forgotten the title lost in the fifth set of the fifth game. Monti’s men are ready to mount another challenge following their triumph over Città di Castello in the quarters. Perugia finished 3rd in the table and is chasing its first ever title. They proved they were capable as they went to the cup final by beating Verona and Macerata on the way. Perugia’s destiny crosses the road of Piacenza again, like last year, beaten in the playoffs quarters.
Past encounters: 7 (All Piacenza)
Regular season: 3 (Piacenza won both league games 3-1 and won in the Cup final 3-0).
In the playoffs: 2 quarter-finals (Piacenza won both)
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