SuperLega UnipolSai
Round 6 preview
It’s been an exciting start to the season and it’s very tight at the top of the table. And the top four will meet up in round 6, which should make for a thrilling weekend of volleyball.
After positive outings in Europe, Civitanova and Verona will meet in the league as both have Modena in sight. The hosts might be without French libero Jenia Grebennikov, who went out injured on Wednesday night in Poland. Giacomo will celebrate his 200th appearance in the Serie A.
The match of the weekend will however be Trentino versus Modena. Trento thrashed Romagna away last weekend, and they followed that up with a solid performance in Thessaloniki on Wednesday. But nothing will be easy for the Italian champs as Modena is unbeaten and coming off a Champions League victory over Gdansk. Blocking could be the key factor in this encounter.
Big motivation for Piacenza and CMC Romagna. The hosts have failed to win since the opening game of the season, losing their last one in Verona, while Kantor’s men have lost two in a row, the last one in less than 90 minutes against Trento. The Romagna fans could feel bitter as their former idol, Zlatanov (3 years in Romagna), is 4 points away from 9500 (league and cup), 3 blocks away from the 800 in the league and 4 aces away from the 600.
Scorching atmosphere expected with a special fusion between music and volleyball in the Kioene Arena. Padova will take on Perugia with setter Orduna celebrating his 200th appearance. Padova has only gathered three points so far and is coming off a severe defeat in Molfetta. As for Perugia, they want to put behind them the bitter loss against Civitanova last week.
Big points at stake in the game between Monza and Molfetta. The hosts are coming off a derby win over Milan, while Molfetta enjoys its fifth place following the 3-0 win over Padova. Thomas Beretta is just 8 points from a thousand in regular season.
Latina and Milano will fight it out for important points. The hosts might have been deceived by two early wins, but three defeats followed. They will look to get back on track against a bitter Milan side, which is bottom of the table after its derby defeat against Monza.
SuperLega UnipolSai Round 6
Sunday 22 November at 5pm
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova – Calzedonia Verona Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Boris-Simbari)
Sunday 22 November at 6pm
Diatec Trentino – DHL Modena Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Rapisarda-Puecher)
LPR Piacenza – CMC Romagna Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Gnani-Sobrero)
Tonazzo Padova – Sir Safety Conad Perugia Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Bartolini-Frapiccini)
Gi Group Monza – Exprivia Molfetta Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Pozzato-Satanassi)
Ninfa Latina – Revivre Milano Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Pol-Zanussi)
League table
DHL Modena 14, Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova 13, Diatec Trentino 12, Calzedonia Verona 11, Exprivia Molfetta 10, Sir Safety Conad Perugia 9, Ninfa Latina 6, Gi Group Monza 4, CMC Romagna 4, LPR Piacenza 3, Tonazzo Padova 3, Revivre Milano 1
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova – Calzedonia Verona
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 25 (21-4 Civitanova)
Micah Christenson (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova): “Hardly back from Poland, our goal will be to keep this positive streak going in the league. Winning in Lodz in front of 10 thousand supporters was a real breakthrough, but now we have to focus on the SuperLega which will bring us three games in a week, starting this Sunday against Verona. A tricky encounter between two teams of the top of the table which we want to win in front of our fans to maintain our unbeaten record”.
Andrea Giani (Coach Calzedonia Verona): “Civitanova is definitely one of the strongest teams in the league. Every game has to be won on court, not in the pre-match talks. This is an important game because we’ve reached a stage of the season in which the points are starting to really say something in the table. This will be a game with quality and good fundamentals, this will be a good game because both Civitanova and ourselves have top quality players, the level of play should be high”.
Diatec Trentino – DHL Modena
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 55 (33-22 Trento)
Daniele Mazzone (Diatec Trentino): “The game against Modena will definitely be different from the one played in Thessaloniki on Wednesday night, even if it was useful to test our capacities in such a heated atmosphere. Modena plays differently, they have better players too. But this time we’ll be at home and I am sure we will be pushed by our fans. I expect it to be a long game, which might be decided once again at the tie-break like a month ago in the Super Cup”.
Andrea Sartoretti (GM DHL Modena): “We had an excellent game against Danzica in the Champions League yesterday night but we’re immediately facing another big game on Sunday against Trento on the road. We know for well they have a great team, we’ll obviously give everything we have to take some important points. Being able to play top level games in this intense start to the season is extremely valuable in terms of confidence and belief of how far we can go, and we have to go far”.
LPR Piacenza – CMC Romagna
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 8 (5-3 Piacenza)
Loris Manià (LPR Piacenza): “Tomorrow’s game is very important, we need some points and we have to win at all cost. We’ve been preparing well, especially mentally, we cannot underestimate anyone. We have to believe we can win and take all three points”.
Waldo Kantor (coach CMC Romagna): “The good news is that our injured players are all coming back. Bari should be fit to play on Sunday, Ricci is not at his best yet but he’s been training with his teammates in the last few days, he will be in the squad. We’ve played three home games against the big guns so far, against Civitanova, Perugia and Trento, now our goal will be to grab some points out of the next three to move up the table. We’ll face some good teams, but we’ll have our chance. Piacenza is a well-balanced team, their players have a lot of experience who do an excellent job in the most delicate moment of games. We met them twice in pre-season, they looked extremely solid. We’ll try to make the most of their mistakes, we’ll need to be clinical and limit our own mistakes”.
Tonazzo Padova – Sir Safety Conad Perugia
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 4 (2 each)
Marco Volpato (Tonazzo Padova): “Perugia will be looking to bounce back from its defeat against Civitanova and they’ll have the momentum following their CEV Cup victory on Wednesday. This will be a very difficult game, but at the same time we want to find our touch of brilliance we had in recent outings except for the game in Molfetta, where unfortunately we failed to take points”.
Alberto Elia (Sir Safety Conad Perugia): “The game in Padova is important for us. We’re coming off a home loss against Civitanova in the league, we have to bounce back right away. This is an away game against a tough team, a team we know well and that has in Giannotti one of last season’s top scorers. They also added several quality players to their roster. We have to be extremely careful, I expect it to be a difficult game. We had a positive CEV Cup game in mid-week, which got us back on track. The advantage of playing that often is that you can put losses like the one against Civitanova behind you. Right now we’re trying to gel as a group and even if a couple of results did not go our way I think there are a few positive aspects of our game we can rely on with confidence. But we have to keep improving to reach a higher level, and I am sure this team has what it takes to go high”.
Gi Group Monza – Exprivia Molfetta
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 7 (Molfetta 6-1)
Oreste Vacondio (coach Gi Group Monza): “Sunday’s game could make a big difference in the table: if they were to win they would increase their lead on the teams of the lower part of the table. On the other hand, if the result goes our way, we’d have a chance to stay close to the top 8. Molfetta has definitely shown some excellent volleyball, especially at the start of the season, we’ll need the same determination seen against Milan. We need to limit our mistakes, contain their excellent Cuban servers, and make the most of our blocking, which has been our main strength so far. We have what it takes to win this one, everybody is positive and motivated, all factors I hope will help us collect our first home win”.
Joao Rafael de Barros Ferreira (Exprivia Molfetta): “This will be a tough game against a team full of confidence following their latest victory. And we know that when a team wins, it often plays even better the following game. We have to focus on working, putting the effort in, put into practice what we work on every day in training. The level of this SuperLega is extremely high, we’ll face a lot of strong teams like them. And even stronger ones”.
Ninfa Latina – Revivre Milano
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 2 (Latina won both)
Viktor Yosifov (Ninfa Latina): “Milan is a dangerous team because they have yet to win and therefore each game is crucial to them. We have to focus on playing well and maintain our concentration to reach our target, victory. As for my personal goal, I just want to play good volleyball and execute as well as I can for the good of the team”.
Giorgio De Togni (Revivre Milano): “This will be another one of those games like the ones played against Molfetta and Monza, opponents we feel we have a chance to beat, even if Latina seems to be in better shape than us when you look at the league table given that they already have six points and they’ll play at home. As for us, we’re coming off a derby defeat, we failed to meet the expectations. Latina is not a super team like Perugia and Modena, so we’ll just get on court and try to play good volleyball, knowing that we have what it takes to make it hard for them. Hopefully, “Sicci” and Todor, as former Latina player, will come out with a big game”.
Serie A2 UnipolSai
Round 5
Sora escaped in the table with a three point advantage on Vibo Valentia in the table, and Tuscania and Cantù four away from the top.
During the week, Siena signed outside hitter Vincenzo Tamburo from Castellana Grotte, and his first game will ironically be against the club he was with just a couple of days ago. The team from Tuscany has not played an official game since November 8 but to make up for it they had a friendly game against the B1 side of Santa Croce (3-1 win). They will be able to line-up for the first time Daniele Mengozzi and Goran Maric. As for Fanizza’s team, they had some ups and downs in this beginning of season, though they’re coming off an upset of Ortona.
Sora has been dominant so far and they’re aiming to keep that unbeaten record going as they travel to Ortona, also undefeated at home. Impressive performance last week from the leaders who swept Cantù. Not as confident will be Ortona, who obtained a superb win over Potenza Picena before failing against Castellana Grotte. Nicola Sesto will make his 100th appearance in regular season.
Shockingly defeated by Civita Castellana in the opening game of the season, Vibo has then found its rhythm and won three straight, and among them a superb triumph on the road against Potenza Picena. As for Brescia, they face this game with a cautious optimism following their tie-break win over Reggio Emilia in their last official game on November 8. Cisolla is just one block away from 500 in the league.
Setter Adriano Paolucci will make his 500th appearance in the Serie A as his Civita Castellana travels to Potenza Picena. The latter has lost ground on the top teams due to a couple of defeats against Ortona and Vibo Valentia. Ferrini, only player who has yet to play, could have some court time this weekend. As for the newly promoted side, they have bounced back from their defeat in the Apulia region with a come-back win in the derby against Club Italia. Spanakis’ men have come out winners in the Vibo Valentia fortress earlier this season and now they target Potenza’s PalaPrincipi arena.
Unbeaten at home, Cantù will have to watch out for Tuscania, who had an excellent beginning of season. Defeated last week away by Sora, Cantù was pegged back by Tuscania in the table. The home win over Alessano confirmed all the potential of Tofoli’s men as libero Federico Bonami made his debut in the starting line-up.
In tricase, Alessano plays host to Mondovì. The two teams are ambitious. The hosts have only got three points so far and is looking to turn things around with a victory, while the newly promoted Mondovì took points in each of the last three rounds with a 3-1 come-back win against Reggio in the last round. Mondovì, who has shown an excellent level of play so far, also had Enrico Perla back in training after a few weeks out. He should be ready to play for the last weekend of November.
Disappointed by its wasted opportunities, Reggio Emilia had to deal, more than anyone else, with injuries, and on Monday they will try to take all three points against Club Italia Roma, currently bottom of the table. But Totire’s young guns have already proved they could play without fear and make it hard for anyone.
Serie A2 UnipolSai Round 5
Saturday 21 November at 8.30pm
Emma Villas Siena – Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Prati-Piperata)
Sunday 22 November at noon
Sieco Service Ortona – Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Puletti-Bellini)
Sunday 22 November at 4pm
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia – Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Sessolo-Nicolazzo)
Sunday 22 November at 6pm
Aurispa Alessano – VBC Mondovì Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Di Blasi-Moratti)
Potenza Picena – Globo Scarabeo Civita Castellana Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Zingaro-Feriozzi)
Cassa Rurale Cantù – Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Spinnicchia-Guarneri)
Monday 23 November at 8.30pm
Club Italia Roma – Conad Reggio Emilia Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Gasparro-Autuori)
Serie A2 UnipolSai Round 4 (Postponed game)
Wednesday 25 November at 8.30pm
Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia – Emma Villas Siena Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Curto-Del Vecchio)
