Del Monte® Italian cup SuperLega Final Four
Presentation on Monday 22
The press conference to present the Cup Final Four will be on Monday December 22 at noon in the Tassinari hall in Maggiore square in Bologna. The event is organized by the Italian Volleyball League in collaboration with the Bologna town hall, the Emilia Romagna Fipav Regional Committee and the Bologna Provincial Committee. It will take place in Bologna’s Paladozza arena on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 of January.
SuperLega UnipolSai
Round 11
There are only three games left to decide which will be the top 8 teams to take part in the Italian Cup quarter-finals, to take place on January 6. The current best four have already secured their participation, they will now try to get the best position possible. The big match of the weekend will be Trentino against Modena
SuperLega UnipolSai round 11
Saturday December 20 at 5.30pm
Revivre Milano – Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Lot-Rapisarda)
Sunday December 21 at 5pm
Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino – Modena Volley Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Cesare-Simbari)
Sunday December 21 at 6pm
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia – Top Volley Latina Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Goitre-Boris)
Sir Safety Perugia – Vero Volley Monza Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Frapiccini-Sampaolo)
CMC Ravenna – Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Pasquali-Zucca)
Tonazzo Padova – Copra Piacenza Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Tanasi-Braico)
Rested: Calzedonia Verona
League table
Modena Volley 27, Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia 25, Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino 21, Sir Safety Perugia 19, Calzedonia Verona 18, Top Volley Latina 15, CMC Ravenna 15, Copra Piacenza 14, Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta 9, Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro 6, Tonazzo Padova 5, Revivre Milano 4, Vero Volley Monza 2
1 game more: Calzedonia Verona, Top Volley Latina, CMC Ravenna
Revivre Milano – Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro
First ever meeting between the two clubs. Both are fighting towards the bottom part of the table, having gathered just two wins each in nine games. Milan got one of them last Sunday in the derby against Monza but blew a 2-0 lead before sealing it in the tie-break. Bencz was outstanding, he scored 28 points and was named MVP. Castello’s last win goes back as far as November 30, against Monza too. They failed to take a set in their last two outings in Modena and home against Trento.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: None
Marco Maranesi (Coach Revivre Milano): “We know this is a good opportunity to move up the table, this opponent is strong but fits in with our characteristics. We’ll need to be efficient and try to make it hard for their reception with some good serving. The win over Monza gave us confidence and got the team buzzing. The team has clearly got a lot better. Things are improving day after day which is a good sign for the future”.
Paolo Montagnani (Coach Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro): “The game against Milan is a crucial one for us in this first part of the season. They’re dangerous because they’re coming off a victory. Their level of play has gotten better with the change of setter and the arrival of the strong Veres. But we’re ready, we know how important his one is”.
Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino – Modena Volley
The big match of the weekend. It’s third versus first. Trento only lost once (vs Verona), while Modena is the last unbeaten team. And most of all, Modena is chasing an unbelievable record: last week they tied their club record of 8 consecutive wins on a 3-0 score but they look for their ninth symphony to tie the absolute record, realized in 2010-11 by Trento (!), and before that by Treviso (88-89), Parma (82-83) and Florence (65-66). Trento will try to stop that impressive run as they’re on a roll too: 9 consecutive wins, 5 in the SuperLega, 4 in the CEV Cup.
PAST ENCOUNTERS:47 (28-19 Trento)
Radostin Stoytchev (Coach Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino): “Modena is not top of the league by chance, I have watched their game, they play excellent volleyball. What makes the difference is that they have a great coach in Lorenzetti and a setter like Bruninho, they give the team an excellent organization. We’ll need to show our will to win and give 110%, this is the only way we can win this one”.
Andrea Sartoretti (GM Modena Volley): “A very tough road game, it’s always been. We’ve won 9 in a row but our opponent have lost only one since the start. Not much to say, that’s a game between two clubs with a great tradition, but what matters is the present and future, never the past. We have less experience, but Trento also has a mix of young and experienced players. Stoytchev as coach is a guarantee for them, like Lorenzetti is for us. In those games, you don’t talk about “favourites”, you just get on court and give your best without fear”.
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia – Top Volley Latina
Treia is coming off a disappointed defeat in Russia against the European Champions of Belgorod. They will try to fight against the physical and mental tiredness that came with this long trip as they face Latina. The latter will play its second road game in a row. Blengini’s men took on the leaders of Modena last week and now they’re up against the second. Latina has not won in Macerata since November 2004.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 32 (27-5 Trento)
Alessandro Paparoni (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia): “We’ve had a difficult week with a long trip to Russia. Our goal remains to win, there’s not much left to the halfway point and we don’t want to give up on the possibility to finish first. It won’t be easy against a well-organised team like Latina, which has top quality players. We’ll need maximum focus in this final rush of the SuperLega”.
Gianrio Falivene (President Top Volley Latina): “We’re coming off a decent performance against Modena, we played face to face until halfway through each set. Hopefully, we will do better in Macerata in terms of points. This is another of those tough games, but it should be a good one for the fans”.
Sir Safety Perugia – Vero Volley Monza
Perugia bounced back from its league loss against Treia with a fourth win running in the Champions League, which secured its pass to the knock-out stage. Still without De Cecco, but well substituted by Paolucci, Perugia will try to increase the gap on Verona, rested this weekend, to defend its fourth place, which guarantees a cup quarter-final at home. They face Monza, still bottom of the table and still looking for its first win of the season. They went close last weekend, forcing Milan to a tie-break.
PRECEDENTI: 4 (2 successi per parte)
Adriano Paolucci (Sir Safety Perugia): “In this league we know we cannot trust the league table nor the predictions. Teams evolve, change, get better, there can be injuries too. And every game has its own story, and that will be the case on Sunday against Monza, which will be an important one to get back to winning in the league and for the Italian cup. We have to make the most of playing home, learn the lesson from the missed opportunities against Macerata and get back on track like we did on Wednesday in the Champions League. I am sure that with the help of our fans and a bit of rest we’ll have a great game”.
Oreste Vacondio (coach Vero Volley Monza): “We had some goals at the start, we had an idea of what the team could do but that did not help. This start of the season has left us a bit puzzled because in pre-season, when we had our full squad, we had done well. This is no excuse but so far we have not been ourselves. We’ll need a good mentality against Perugia, if we play like a team that wants to do well and never gives up, then we’ll have a good game. Among the top teams, Perugia is one of those we can play. But we have to change our attitude. We have to start thinking positive and play with the kind of determination seen against Milan. We need to get better as individuals and as a team. If every single one gets better then the group will get better too. Improvement should be one of our primary goals, along with playing clever volleyball”.
CMC Ravenna – Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta
Ravenna plays host to Molfetta before being rested next week. A big one for Ravenna, who could obtain its ticket for the Cup quarter-finals and send Molfetta crashing out of it at the same time. The hosts are galvanized by their Challenge Cup qualification, while Molfetta conceded three consecutive defeats on a 3-0 score.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 2 (1 each)
Waldo Kantor (coach CMC Ravenna): “We have gotten better in the cup game compared to the one in Verona. It was not difficult to be honest but I have to say that Tartu played at a much higher level compared to the first leg. We have worked hard in the following training sessions to get better ahead of the game against Molfetta, which I think is a better team than its league position might suggest. They’re definitely capable of making it hard for us if we don’t play at our best”.
Luca Spirito (Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta): “I did not expect this season to go that well for me. I am having a lot of court time, more than I thought I’d get. As for the team, we had a dip in the last month, but we’ve been working hard in training to sort things out. Ravenna is an excellent team, even without Toniutti, they’re coming off a few defeats and they’ll be keen to bounce back. I really believe in our team, I am sure we’ll do well. We’ll just have to put in practice what we’ve worked on in training to try to surprise Ravenna”.
Tonazzo Padova – Copra Piacenza
Rosso and co have been beaten in their last four outings, though they took two points and fought hard in each game to try to get their second win of the season. Piacenza is coming off a short trip to Switzerland, where they obtained victory and the second place of their Champions League group. Now Zlatanov and co will try to secure their place in the Italian Cup with a good position. The day will be dedicated to the Sofia Association who works for the children who had liver transplant and who suffer from intestinal and liver diseases.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 20 (15-5 Piacenza)
Mattia Rosso (Tonazzo Padova): “We’re not the favourite of the group, it’s obvious. It will be a tough game, they got stronger by adding Papi and Zlatanov, who I think is a great player. But if
