XXVII edition of “Christmas Stars AIL”
New appointment with solidarity as the Italian Volleyball League will support the Italian Association against Leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma from the 5th to the 8th of December. This will be the XXVII edition of the Christmas Stars AIL, under the High Patronage of the President of the Republic. The event is organised thanks to the effort of thousands of volunteers who will offer a Christmas little plant to those who will give a minimum contribution of 12 Euros.
Over the years, this initiative has helped raise significant funds to finance projects of scientific research and health care. It also contributed in the progress of blood cancer treatments.
No time to rest after the weekend action. Ten teams will be right back on court this Tuesday night for Round 10, which will end on Wednesday.
The big match of this round is Verona versus Trento. The two teams are tied in third place, just three points behind the leaders. The hosts are coming off a comfortable road win in Forlì, while Trento registered the same 3-0 result in Milan but in a tighter game than expected.
Superb winner in Molfetta, Civitanova has no intention to give up on its first place as it plays host to Monza. The latter gathered four wins in its last five outings, the latest at home against Padova. Klemen Cebulj is two points away from one thousand in the league, Miljkovic is 7 away from 4000 spikes and Juantorena will make it 2000 in the Serie A in the 100th appearance of Pasquale Grabriele. As for Monza, Jacopo Botto will make it 1500 spikes.
Derby time between Modena and Romagna. The league leader, tied with Civitanova, will try to maintain its focus after the 3-1 home win over Perugia. The visitors are looking to bounce back from two games without even a set against Padova and Verona.
Beaten in Modena, Perugia wants to take points to close the gap with the top guns of the league. They face Piacenza, who’s only won once and were severely defeated last weekend by Latina (3-0). This will be Emanuele Birarelli’s 300 appearance in the Serie A.
Second consecutive home game for Molfetta, hoping to bounce back from its defeat against Civitanova when they take on the giant killer Latina. The latter could move above Molfetta will a win following their victory over Piacenza .
Bottom of the table, Milan take son Padova. The hosts lost in three sets at home against Trentino in the last round but gave it a good fight. They’re hoping to register their first victory of the season against an angry Padova team, beaten 3-0 in Monza. This will be Baranek’s hundredth appearance.
SuperLega UnipolSai Round 10
Tuesday 8 December at 6pm
Calzedonia Verona – Diatec Trentino Live on RAI Sport 1
Diretta streaming su www.raisport.rai.it
(Sobrero-Braico)
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova – Gi Group Monza Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Zanussi-Gnani)
DHL Modena – CMC Romagna Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Boris-Simbari)
Sir Safety Conad Perugia – LPR Piacenza Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Pol-Lot)
Exprivia Molfetta – Ninfa Latina Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Frapiccini-Bartolini)
Wednesday 9 December at 8.30pm
Revivre Milano – Tonazzo Padova Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Piana-Zavater)
League table
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova 23, DHL Modena 23, Calzedonia Verona 20, Diatec Trentino 20, Sir Safety Conad Perugia 18, Exprivia Molfetta 13, Gi Group Monza 12, Ninfa Latina 12, CMC Romagna 9, Tonazzo Padova 6, LPR Piacenza 4, Revivre Milano 2
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 25 (19-6 Trento)
Uros Kovacevic (Calzedonia Verona): “Very important game for us. There’s the third place at stake, one of the biggest game of this first half of season. We have to and want to win but it won’t be easy because Trentino is a very strong team. We’ll need all our supporters to give us a big push. We’re coming off a good victory in Ravenna, where it’s never easy to win”.
Tine Urnaut (Diatec Trentino): “I feel better every day but I can only improve by training hard. I started to find my rhythm in the game against Milan on Saturday. I was thrilled, I had been waiting for an opportunity like that for a while. We have a young and strong team, who has several alternatives on high balls. Verona is the first of a little series of games that will define our league position at the half way point. Verona has proved in the first 9 rounds they are extremely strong, but we have what it takes to win and take points from this away game”.
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova – Gi Group Monza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 2 ( Civitanova won both)
Klemen Cebulj (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova): “We’re right back on court against Monza at home. Our goal will be to take all three points. We want to stay top, which will be important for the Italian Cup too. We showed a lot of character in Molfetta and played as a unit. We want to keep playing like that at home against a Monza team full of confidence”.
Claudio Bonati (Sport director Gi Group Monza): “The game against Padova was extremely tough. We knew they were coming off excellent performances. We maintained a high intensity, especially in the clutch time and that was key. Now we’re up against one of the strongest team in the world, a team with a roster of 14 super stars. This will be a useful match for our team, to get better and consolidate the improvements made in the last outings. They are the favourite, but to win it they will have to play at their best”.
DHL Modena – CMC Romagna
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 70 (56-14 Modena)
Andrea Sartoretti (GM DHL Modena): “There are no easy games in this league, all the results have proved it. Reaching the top and staying there is our goal in every competition. We’ve been playing well, we have to keep doing so. We work on the quality and the experience of our players, we cannot take anything for granted in a game like the one we face this Tuesday. We’ll have to stay focused all the way”.
Waldo Kantor (coach CMC Romagna): “We’ve been having some trouble of late and such a strong team like Modena is tough to handle, but it might just be better for us right now to face a top team rather than a team against which we’d be forced to get a result. It’s always a great feeling for me and the boys to go back to the PalaPanini arena, Modena is packed with history, it is very exciting. We’ll try to play a good game, focusing mainly on our game to get better. If we could maintain a good level of play against Modena, that would be a good dose of confidence for us, even if we don’t take any points. We served well yesterday, we’ll try to do as well and improve in attack and at the net”.
Sir Safety Conad Perugia – LPR Piacenza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 14 (9-5 Piacenza)
Emanuele Birarelli (Sir Safety Conad Perugia): “Our goal now is to take 6 points in the last two games before the halfway point. We spent a lot of energy in Modena, we have to accept the fact we play just two days later. We’ll need to be very careful against Piacenza and somehow try to get the result. Even if we don’t play at our best, who knows, a couple of guys might be in better shape than others and mioght give us a great hand, we have to win this one”.
Alberto Giuliani (coach LPR Piacenza): “We’re facing a difficult game against a team aiming to stand in the very top part of the table. But we need points and we need a positive sign as a team. We’ll try to give it our best shot and try to avoid lapses as much as we can”.
Exprivia Molfetta – Ninfa Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 4 (Latina won all four)
Paolo Montagnani (coach Exprivia Molfetta): “It’s not an excuse but starting off against Perugia and Civitanova is tough. And the rhythm of this league definitely don’t help, it’s even difficult to train. We have to recover from the last game quickly, we’ll face Latina heads high, ready for a battle with the Italian Cup at stake. Fortunately, we’ll have our fans on our side, we’ll give everything on every rally”.
Daniele Tailli (Ninfa Latina): “We’re coming off a good victory over Piacenza which made us realise we could play at a high level. Molfetta has proved it was tough to manoeuvre at home. But we’ll be full of confidence, we’ll go there hoping to get a result”.
Revivre Milano – Tonazzo Padova
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 4 (3-1 Padova)
Federico Tosi (Revivre Milano): “We want to start where we left off on Saturday against Trento, because in the last two sets we played face to face against a team meant to be much stronger. And we were ahead for most of the set. We have to play with that same intensity on Wednesday against Padova to get the kind of results we deserve, because we’re working real hard in training”.
Gonzalo Quiroga (Tonazzo Padova): “Our attitude was totally wrong against Monza, so the game against Milan becomes even more important. Milan is a team on the up but we’ll have to stay composed, play our game and take the points, which we need for our confidence and the league table”.
Two teams above the rest, the leader Sora and Vibo, the only one who manages to keep up. The rest is incredibly tight as we enter this 8th round starting on Tuesday.
Newly promoted side Mondovì takes on Club Italia. Fifth in the table with 12 points, Mondovì will try to make it three wins running after the ones over Cantù at home and in Castellana Grotte. As for Totire’s men, they are bottom but made it very hard for Vibo in the last round.
Tuscania will put to the test Potenza Picena, which got back to winning ways on Saturday against Reggio after four straight losses. Tuscania is currently third, tied with Civita Castellana, in spite of the straight set defeat against Sora. Tuscania has stepped up since new libero Federico Bonami came in. The latter will play his first game against his former club, where he won the A2 championship last season. Meanwhile, outside hitter Mirco Cristofaletti is doubtful.
Reggio entertains Cantù in an attempt to bounce back from its defeat against Potenza Picena, when they suffered yet another injury, this time to middle blocker Davide Beneglia. Cantù conceded four straight defeats, which followed a brilliant start to the season.
The arrival of coach Massimo Caponeri had Siena right back on track with consecutive wins over Reggio Emilia and Alessano. The club from Tuscany will play host to Sora, who only lost one point in seven rounds.
Led by its star spiker Cisolla, Brescia will try to put an end to a four-game losing streak when they host Castellana Grotte. Still, they took a point last weekend against the surprising Civita Castellana team. The visitors had to reflect on a home loss against Mondovì and two rounds without a point.
In Tricase, Alessano will try to put behind them the poor performance of Siena, but it won’t be easy against Vibo Valentia, who’s been firing on all cylinders. In the last round, they registered a come-back win over Club Italia Roma.
Tied in third place in the table with Tuscania, Civita Castellana has taken points in every game since the fourth round. Two days ago, Spanakis’ men came back from Brescia with a tie-break victory, while a reborn Ortona gathered two points in Cantù thanks to a victory clinched at the death.
Serie A2 UnipolSai round 8
Tuesday 8 December at 12am
VBC Mondovì – Club Italia Roma Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Bassan-Prati)
Tuesday 8 December at 4pm
Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania – Potenza Picena Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Rolla-Marotta)
Conad Reggio Emilia – Cassa Rurale Cantù Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Nicolazzo-Mattei)
Tuesday 8 December at 6pm
Emma Villas Siena – Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Saltalippi L.-Merli)
Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia – Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Cerra-Montanari)
Aurispa Alessano – Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Gasparro-Canessa)
Tuesday 8 December at 7pm
Globo Scarabeo Civita Castellana – Sieco Service Ortona Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Rossetti-Luciani)
League table
Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora 20, Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia 18, Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania 13, Globo Scarabeo Civita Castellana 13, VBC Mondovì 12, Cassa Rurale Cantù 10, Potenza Picena 9, Aurispa Alessano 9, Emma Villas Siena 8, Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte 8, Sieco Service Ortona 7, Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia 7, Conad Reggio Emilia 7, Club Italia Roma 6
