SuperLega UnipolSai
Round 17
This round 17 says goodbye to a month of January extra packed of action with the league and the European Cups, but February promises to be as exciting. Top entertainment guaranteed on Saturday night with Trentino versus Verona, while on Sunday Latina and Molfetta will be live on RAI Sport.
SuperLega UnipolSai round 17
Saturday January 31 at 5.30pm
Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino – Calzedonia Verona Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Tanasi-Gnani)
Sunday February 1 at 5pm
Top Volley Latina – Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Vagni-Santi)
Domenica 1 febbraio 2015, ore 18.00
Copra Piacenza – Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Cesare-Cipolla)
Sir Safety Perugia – Tonazzo Padova Diretta Lega Volley Channel
(Longo-Pasquali)
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia – CMC Ravenna Diretta Lega Volley Channel
(Zucca-Puecher)
Modena Volley – Revivre Milano Diretta Lega Volley Channel
(Gini-Goitre)
Rested: Vero Volley Monza
League table
Modena Volley 39, Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino 37, Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia 31, Calzedonia Verona 31, Sir Safety Perugia 29, CMC Ravenna 25, Top Volley Latina 24, Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta 21, Copra Piacenza 18, Vero Volley Monza 12, Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro 8, Tonazzo Padova 7, Revivre Milano 6
1 game in hand: Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia, Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro, Revivre Milano
Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino – Calzedonia Verona
Round 17 starts with a bang, the 15th Adige derby between Trento and Verona. Trento lost its first place last Sunday by losing against Molfetta. That was the second defeat of the season for Stoytchev’s men following the one conceded in November against their next opponent Verona. Trento will therefore try to take revenge against one of the most in-form teams of the league. Verona is on a four game winning streak, and they took points in their last nine encounters.
PAST ENCOUNTER: 24 (18-6 Trentino)
Matey Kaziyski (Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino): “A crucial game for our league position. We’re up against the only team that beat us in the first half of season. But that 3-0 is all forgotten, we won’t look for revenge but simply a victory in the next game we play in. We want to stay high up in the league table”.
Mitja Gasparini (Calzedonia Verona): “That will surely be a difficult game against a team that proved it was extremely strong. They finished the first half of season top of the table, so this is definitely one of the most competitive team in the SuperLega. Playing in Trento is never easy because there’s always a heated atmosphere there. It’s great to hear so many fans will come from Verona, we have to give 100% for them like we’ve done in our recent outings which brought us eight wins in nine games. This will be without a doubt a great game to watch”.
Top Volley Latina – Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta
The fight in mid-table to get into the playoffs is getting fiercer. Two candidates are Latina and Molfetta, seventh and eighth. Latina lost points in this beginning of second half of season with two losses and just one win. And Molfetta took advantage by gathering eight points and closing the gap to three points. They’ll have a chance to go level on points with them with a win.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 3 (Latina won them all)
Loris Manià (Top Volley Latina): “We prepared well to face Molfetta, who managed to beat Trento in the last round. They proved they are tough to beat for anyone. We’ll be home, we’ll try to win and extend the advantage we have on them. This will be a difficult game, we shouldn’t underestimate anyone, we have to give everything we have to take points”.
Davide Candellaro (Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta): “Last year was a complicated one, we had many injuries and the team struggled. I have good memories from the Challenge Cup final, that was a unique experience. Useless to deny it, our opponent is an excellent team. They put together a roster to stand at the top part of the table. I know their gym very well, small and compact, playing as an opponent is always tough. This will be a good game. We want to keep playing good volleyball. Winning or not depends on how much you want to develop a good volleyball, not only on the will to win. The national team? Everybody dreams about it. This is the highest point of a professional career. For now I focus on the next game, we’ll see what happens in four month”.
Copra Piacenza – Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro
Piacenza obtained a great victory in Romania this week and made it through into the Champions League’s last 12. Now they need to turn things around in the SuperLega as they have failed to win since December 26. They have not taken points in the last four rounds. Piacenza will be without Alexandar Page who went back to the United States. Città di Castello changed coach last week and they showed signs of recovery, especially mentally. Coach Polidori will hope to get his team a relieving victory in their second consecutive road game.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 5 (4-1 Piacenza)
Jacopo Massari (Copra Piacenza): “This week we obtained our pass into the Champions League playoffs 12 with a game that was a real do-or-die for us. Now our focus is entirely turned on the league, we want to find our rhythm back and get some results and good performances in the SuperLega. Sunday’s game will be complicated, Città di Castello played good volleyball in the last round against Ravenna. I will have the opportunity to meet some old friends thanks to this game”.
Federico Tosi (Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro): “Sunday’s game will be very important for us, we have to make further progress after the one played against Ravenna. We have to play with the same intensity to make it hard for Piacenza. We have worked extremely hard this week, we’ll go there and try to play as well as we can”.
Sir Safety Perugia – Tonazzo Padova
Just like in the first half of season, Perugia got back on track in the third round against Latina. Tuesday’s defeat in Ankara won’t have any influence and Grbic’s men, who still showed excellent spells with a different line-up than usual. Perugia’s goal is to close the gap on Verona. Padova will play the last one of a run of extremely tough games. But despite the quality of their last opponents, Modena and Treia, they showed great determination and made it hard for some of the best teams in the league.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 3 (2-1 Padova)
Simone Buti (middle blocker Sir Safety Perugia): “The Champions League draw was done and now we can focus on the league. In the last one we could easily have lost against Latina but we did a good job of reacting when needed to win it. Now we need a great performance and a win to give us confidence. Padova stands towards the bottom part but they are dangerous, and we could see that in our first match with them. And in Italy you can never underestimate anyone. We’ll have to play well and leave it all on the floor to beat them. We want a win to put points on the board and we need to do it with a quality outing”.
Valerio Baldovin (coach Tonazzo Padova): “This will be our fourth consecutive game against the top teams of the league. Unfortunately, we did not get points out of previous encounters but our level of play definitely got better. We’ll go to Perugia and play without fear, aware of being up against a great team”.
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia – CMC Ravenna
The new Civitanova arena is ready to host its first SuperLega game. Treia enchanted its new home on Tuesday in the champions League tie against Fenerbahce. A sold-out crowd could watch an absolute cracker played at the highest level. With the pass into the playoffs 12 in their pocket, Treia will now face Ravenna in the league. Ravenna took points in every of its last five outing. They will try to get this positive run going and win in the Marche region where they have not won since February 21, 1999 (Macerata – Ravenna: 2-3).
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 18 (11-7 Treia)
Marko Podrascanin (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia): “We want another great victory in our debut league game in our new Palacivitanova arena following the Champions League win on Tuesday. But careful to Ravenna, they play excellent volleyball, they will try to make it hard for us. With the help our fans we will try to win to keep chasing the top places”.
Waldo Kantor (Coach CMC Ravenna): “In our first meeting, Treia played one of its best games of the season, and I’m sure we will find them at a high level again. They will be up for it and relieved thanks to their qualification in the Champions League. I’ll just ask my boys to play the best volleyball they can, and if that was not to be enough we would still come out of court with an important game under our belt”.
Modena Volley – Revivre Milano
Back on top of the table, Modena will try to defend its first place. Modena was without Kovacevic and NGapeth in the last round in Monza but a monster performance from Petric and young Japanese spiker Yuki Ishikawa (14 points, 62% in debut as a starter) made up for it brilliantly. Rested last week, Milan will travel to Modena full of energy but they have to make do without Robert Horstink who underwent surgery and will be out for the next six months.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (Modena)
Angelo Lorenzetti (Coach Modena Volley): “Useless to deny that the team has not been doing too well of late. We’ve had some issues with a few players, I will only decide who to line up on Sunday. It won’t be an easy game against Milan, they play against the league leaders and they will therefore give 110%, and rightly so. We’ll need to play at our best”.
Marco Maranesi (Coach Revivre Milano): “This is one of those games in which we have nothing to lose. We’ll try to play a good game with a positive attitude. We’ll try to serve well and see what happens. They’re not going through a great spell, they have set their physical preparation in order to be at their best in the clutch moment of the season, we might have our chances to stay in the game”.
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