SuperLega UnipolSai
Exprivia Molfetta – CMC Romagna tonight to seal Round 2
Ninfa Latina – Calzedonia Verona in round 4 forwarded game on Wednesday (Live on Lega Volley Channel)
While Molfetta will play host to CMC Romagna tonight (Live on Rai Sport at 8.30pm) in the last encounter of the second round, Latina and Verona will fight it out on Wednesday night as a forwarded game of round 4. Indeed, involved in the Challenge cup on the weekend of this fourth round (November 11-12), Verona would have been unable to play its SuperLega game.
Placì’s men will therefore play a second game running at home as they gathered 5 points in the opening two rounds. In the last one, they were forced to play a tie-break by Monza. In the end, the excellent blocking of Latina made the difference, they collected 18 total blocks (8 for Yosifov alone) while Monza had only 9. As for Verona, they will try to bounce back from a 3-0 home defeat against Modena, who had stopped the excitement built up after the opening upset of Perugia 3-0 on the road.
SuperLega UnipolSai Round 2
Tuesday 3 November at 8.30pm
Exprivia Molfetta – CMC Romagna Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Cesare-Zavater)
SuperLega UnipolSai Round 4 (forwarded game)
Wednesday 4 November at 8.30pm
Ninfa Latina – Calzedonia Verona Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Saltalippi-Cesare)
League table
Diatec Trentino 6, Ninfa Latina 5, DHL Modena 5, Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova 5, LPR Piacenza 3, Sir Safety Conad Perugia 3, Calzedonia Verona 3, Exprivia Molfetta 1, CMC Romagna 1, Gi Group Monza 1, Tonazzo Padova 0, Revivre Milano 0
1 game in hand: Exprivia Molfetta, CMC Romagna
Ninfa Latina – Calzedonia Verona
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 22 (14-8 Verona)
Dante Boninfante (Ninfa Latina): “It’s always a pleasure to meet Andrea Giani. I have played so many games with and against him. But right now I think this will be a very difficult game. The level of our opponents in the next three games is extremely high, even if Monza and Padova were excellent teams. We have to improve further to make it hard for them. We have to play without fear and try to bring the level of our game a notch above”.
Andrea Giani (coach Calzedonia Verona): “From now on, for us and the teams playing in the European Cups, there will be a game every 2-3 days. We knew about the schedule and some players are also used to play several times a week. We have to make the most of every opportunity to train and make sure everybody gets into their rhythm. We coach also have to do a good job of using everyone in the roster during the course of the games. Latina is an excellent team, they play good volleyball and they are guided by a good coach with experience in a city that has lived volleyball for years. This won’t be an easy game, we’re at the start of the season and right now we have to focus mainly on ourselves and work on our schemes. Games are a bit strange in this period because we don’t see the best volleyball yet”.
European Cups 2015-2016
CEV DenizBank Champions League and CEV Cup kick off.
A new season of European volleyball is about to get under way. Five Italian clubs in the mix: Trentino and Modena are back in the Champions League, while Civitanova will makes its fifth consecutive appearance. Meanwhile, Perugia will make its debut in the CEV Cup after its first ever participation in the Champions League last year. A first too for Verona, who had never played in Europe before this Challenge Cup 2015-16. In 2011, Trento and Treviso had respectively won the Champions league and CEV Cup, but the hunt has not produced any result since. In the Challenge Cup, the last Italian winner was Piacenza in 2013.
2016 CEV DenizBank Champions League
FORMULA
28 teams, 7 groups of 4. The winner of each group as well as the best five seconds progress. This is when the CEV picks the team that will host the final four among the 12 qualified. The chosen one is directly qualified in the semi-finals and the sixth best second substitutes it. The remaining second as well as the best three thirds will play in the CEV Cup from the Challenge Round. The Playoffs 12 and then Playoffs 6 follow. The three winners of the Playoffs 6 qualify to the Final Four. It’s home and away for each round except for the Final Four.
The Champions League on TV
All the Champions League games will be on streaming on www.laola1.tv
Fox International Channels Italy, who bought the TV rights, will broadcoast all the games on Fox Sports HD, channel 204 of SKY, and Sky Sport Plus, channel 205.
ITALIAN TEAMS
Trentino Diatec (Pool C)
Cucine Lube Civitanova (Pool E)
DHL Modena (Pool F)
Trentino is back in the Champions League after a year out in which they went very close to win the CEV Cup (Lost in the final vs Dinamo Moscow coached by Zaytsev). They will hunt their fourth title in the top European Competition.
Civitanova has won the Champions League once in 2002 and this is their fifth participation. Last season, they were knocked out at the Playoffs 12 stage by the Polish side of Belchatow. . They have not reached the Final Four since 2008-09, beaten in the semis by Trento who won it that year.
Thanks to a splendid season that led to the Italian Cup triumph and the league playoff final, Modena is back in the Champions League 13 years after its last participation, in 2003 when they lost the final against Belgorod (Rus).
The 7 groups:
Pool A
Belogorie Belgorod (RUS)
Arkas Izmir (TUR)
Berlin Recycling Volleys (GER)
Marek Union-Ivkoni Dupnitsa (BUL)
Pool B
Dinamo Moscow (RUS)
Paris Volley (FRA)
VfB Friedrichshafen (GER)
Ziraat Bankasi Ankara (TUR)
Pool C
Trentino Diatec (ITA)
Tours VB (FRA)
PAOK Thessaloniki (GRE)
Noliko Maaseik (BEL)
Pool D
Zenit Kazan (RUS)
Halkbank Ankara (TUR)
Hypo Tirol Innsbruck (AUT)
Budvanska Rivijera Budva (MNE)
Pool E
Cucine Lube Civitanova (ITA)
Knack Roeselare (BEL)
Dukla Liberec (CZE)
PGE Skra Belchatow (POL)
Pool F
Modena Volley (ITA)
Lotos Trefl Gdansk (POL)
ACH Volley Ljubljana (SLO)
Vojvodina NS Seme Novi Sad (SRB)
Pool G
Asseco Resovia Rzeszow (POL)
Volley behappy2 Asse-Lennik (BEL)
Tomis Constanta (ROU)
#Dragons Lugano (SUI)
Fixtures:
CEV Champions League – Round 1
Wednesday 4 November at 8.30pm
POOL E
Cucine Lube Civitanova (ITA) – Knack Roeselare (BEL) Live on Fox Sports HD
(Azevedo-Makshanov)
Thursday 5 November at 6pm
POOL F
Ach Volley Ljubljana (SLO) – DHL Modena (ITA) Live on Fox Sports HD
(Van Gompel-Bozkurt)
Thursday 5 November at 8.30pm
POOL C
Trentino Diatec (ITA) – Noliko Maaseik (BEL) Live on Sky Sport Plus
(Zenovich-Yener)
2016 CEV Cup
FORMULA
Knock out stages starting in the 16th of finals, then 8th of finals, quarter-finals, Challenge rounds (in comes the Champions League teams), semi-finals and final. The four winners of the quarter-finals meet the four teams knocked out of the Champions League group phase. All the rounds will be played with home and away games, including the final.
TEAM
Sir Safety-Sicoma Perugia
Last season, Perugia was the only Italian to make it into the Playoffs 6 of the Champions League on their full debut in the competition. Beaten in the cup and league finals by Trento, Perugia will make their first appearance in the CEV Cup thanks to their fourth place in the regular season. Modena will try to bring the trophy back to Italy after Trento went so close last season, losing in the final. The CEV Cup was last won by an Italian club in 2011, it was Treviso.
16th of finals first leg
Wednesday 4 November at 8.30pm
Sir Safety-Sicoma Perugia (ITA) – CEZ Karlovarsko (CZE)
(Maifoshis-Senyurt)
16th of finals return leg
Wednesday 18 November at 6pm
CEZ Karlovarsko (CZE) – Sir Safety-Sicoma Perugia (ITA)
(Lagierski-Petrovic)
2016 CEV Challenge Cup
FORMULA
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