While the eight teams that will take part in the Italian Cup are known, this last round to the half way point of the regular season will define the match-ups.
The big game will be Trentino versus Civitanova. The hosts defeated Verona at the tie-break but lost a point on the top two, while Civitanova had it all easy against Monza. In case of victory, Trento would keep Perugia and Verona at distance and keep third place. Juantorena will be back against his former club, where he won all sorts of trophies between 2009 and 2013.
CMC Romagna will play this coming home game in Ravenna against the bottom team of Milan. After a courageous display against Modena, the hosts will try to get points against against a team that is still looking for its first victory of the season. However, Milan has shown a lot of progress in recent outings. Alletti is just three blocks away from the 300, and Baranek is 8 points from a thousand.
Regenerated by its victory over Milan on Wednesday, Padova has the tough task to take on Modena, who’s tied with Civitanova in first place. Modena won its last game against Romagna.
Monza will try to bounce back from its latest defeat although it can also celebrate a historical moment: the first ever qualification into the Italian Cup. They will try to beat Verona for the first time too, as the visitors had the upper hand in two previous meetings. In its last game against Trento, Verona wasted a big opportunity to win it in four sets before surrendering in the tie-break and consequently losing one position.
Latina went close to a breakthrough in Molfetta as it came back from 2-0 down to force a tie-break, but it eventually lost in the fifth. They will face Perugia, who welcomes back coach Boban Kovac, in place of Daniel Castellani. A surprising change of coach which came on the back of a 3-0 victory over Piacenza.
The Piacenza versus Molfetta game will turn into a real celebration of volleyball as the hosts will have over 120 Under 12 kids of the area receiving the applause of the crowd before kick-off. Giuliani’s men are stuck with four points. They try to put an end to a nine game losing streak, the latest loss coming in Perugia. As for Molfetta, they ended their last game with a big sigh of relief as they were pegged back from 2-0 up to 2-2 before eventually grabbing two crucial points to stand in fifth place.
SuperLega UnipolSai round 11
Sunday 13 December at 5pm
Diatec Trentino – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova Live on RAI Sport 2
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Cesare-Santi)
Sunday 13 December at 6pm
A Ravenna CMC Romagna – Revivre Milano Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Puecher-Florian)
Tonazzo Padova – DHL Modena Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Vagni-Cappello)
Gi Group Monza – Calzedonia Verona Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Rapisarda-Boris)
Ninfa Latina – Sir Safety Conad Perugia Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Cipolla-Satanassi)
LPR Piacenza – Exprivia Molfetta Live on Lega Volley Channel
(La Micela-Zucca)
League table
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova 26, DHL Modena 26, Diatec Trentino 22, Calzedonia Verona 21, Sir Safety Conad Perugia 21, Exprivia Molfetta 15, Ninfa Latina 13, Gi Group Monza 12, Tonazzo Padova 9, CMC Romagna 9, LPR Piacenza 4, Revivre Milano 2
Diatec Trentino – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 45 (26-19 Trento).
Filippo Lanza (Diatec Trentino): “It’s an exciting game, fundamental for us to define our position for the cup quarter-finals. This is one of those games you cannot wait to play. We have the advantage to play home, and we’ll have less pressure than our opponents who have to win to stay first. We have to take advantage of this to try to get another positive result. I invite the fans to come to the PalaTrento arena, it will be a great night of volleyball”.
Osmany Juantorena (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova): “It will be tough in Trento, this will be an extremely important game against my former club. It will be crucial to play our best volleyball to try to stay top of the table. Our target is to keep improving and naturally to keep winning against one of the best teams of the league”.
CMC Romagna – Revivre Milano
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 2 (Romagna won both)
Dore Della Lunga (CMC Romagna): “We’re a bit disappointed to be out of the race for the Italian Cup. But we’re focused on the game against Milan. They have a good team, even if they are currently bottom it doesn’t mean this will be an easy game that we can take for granted. They have recently changed their setter, Skrimov and Milushev are two excellent players and the middle blockers are good too. It won’t be easy at all. We’ll need to play a good game, determined to get a result, playing with our qualities and strengths. The game in Modena must have given us some confidence, we’ll try to play as well against Milan”.
Henk Jan Held (Revivre Milano): “We have to put our heads up, it was not easy to take in that last defeat. We have to work hard in training to go there and play a good game, even if it will be tough because Ravenna is a good team. Me, Luca and the whole staff, we still have faith in the boys, we know they can achieve good things, we’re confident they can play a positive encounter”.
Tonazzo Padova – DHL Modena
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 82 (68-14 Modena).
Valerio Baldovin (coach Tonazzo Padova): “The Modena game will surely be a tough one. Useless to underline how good is our opponent. They’ll come to Padova aiming to stay top of the table. We’ll just have to focus on our game, play without fear and with will to prove that this group can play good volleyball”.
Andrea Sartoretti (GM DHL Modena): “Sunday’s game will decide who we play in the Italian Cup quarter-final. We’ll face a team that proved in this first half of season it could give a game to basically anyone. We’ll need maximum focus and fighting spirit. I have total faith in the boys. They’ve been playing an awful lot but they have managed to maintain a very high level of play”.
Gi Group Monza – Calzedonia Verona
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 2 (Verona won both)
Iacopo Botto (Gi Group Monza): “We know for well it won’t be easy against Verona. They have a top quality team. We’ve been doing extremely well of late and took valuable points to qualify for the Italian Cup. We’ll need to limit our mistakes as much as we can, to receive as well as we did on Tuesday against Civitanova, we should never slow down. We are excited, motivated, we really want to end this first half of season on a positive note”.
Nicola Pesaresi (Calzedonia Verona): “This last game against Monza is crucial for us. A 3-0 win would get us to fourth place, while we’d wait for the result of the Trento versus Civitanova game. We have to focus on our game, determined to take the win and the three points. In this SuperLega, you must always play at your best to get the result, it will certainly not be different in Monza against an in-form team having the court advantage”.
Ninfa Latina – Sir Safety Conad Perugia
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 6 (5-1 Perugia)
Andrea Rossi (Ninfa Latina): “We’re up against a competitive team, one of the best in the league. They have just changed the coach, we might be able to take advantage of that, but they have some top class players so it will be tough. We’ll try to make the most of being at home, pushed by our fans, to play to the best of our abilities”.
Emanuele Birarelli (Sir Safety Conad Perugia): “We have lived a strange week. The change of coach obviously brings a little disruption, but more in the daily routine than for the game. We just have to work well, without thinking too much about what happened, just go to Latina and bring back the three points. We have an opportunity to finish this first half of season in a good position. It’s true it does not all depend on us, but in the meantime we have to stay focused on our game, aware of our potential. I don’t remember any easy win in Latina in my career. It’s always tough to win there, they have Sottile back, an excellent team and some big ambitions. It is a well-built and well-balanced team, they’re strong at the net, good in reception and they have excellent spikers. We have to be ready for a tough game, it will be a battle, we’ll need composure, we’ll need to play together, and express our best volleyball”.
LPR Piacenza – Exprivia Molfetta
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 4 (3-1 Piacenza)
Guido Molinaroli (President LPR Piacenza): “We’re looking for a sign from anywhere really. Sunday is a special day here, hopefully Saint Lucia will bring us the gift of victory against Molfetta”.
Michele Fedrizzi (Exprivia Molfetta): “We should not rest on our laurels just because we qualified for the Italian Cup. And we should not take anything for granted because of Piacenza’s results. It’s always a good idea to take points on the road. We have to try to finish this first half of season as well as we can, then there will be a quick succession of games before the Christmas break. I am personally satisfied, though it’s always possible and necessary to improve in every fundamental”.
We’re going into this round 9 with a new league leader, Vibo Valentia, who moved above Sora, beaten for the first time in the previous encounter.
Derby time on Saturday afternoon with Club Italia Roma taking on Tuscania. Totire’s young guns moved up the table thanks to a 3-0 road victory in Mondovì, while Tofoli’s team had to assimilate the four-set loss conceded against the reborn Potenza Picena.
Ortona will have a chance to move off the bottom of the table as it plays host to Mondovì. They share that last position with Reggio Emilia with 7 points. Mondovì said goodbye to Domenico Maiorana who signed at Basi Grafiche Rinascita Lagonegro in the B1 division. The newly promoted side have put together 12 points and shown some exciting volleyball in spite of the black out and loss in the last round.
A win in Montefiascone has definitely given a boost to Potenza Picena. The remedy to this recover from the difficult times? Some music to go along in training. Great satisfaction for President Massera who received the Bronze Star given for the club’s excellent results. Potenza will take on Cantù, who stands one point ahead thanks to its latest road win in Reggio Emilia, which put an end to a four game losing streak.
Currently third in the table, Civita Castellana stands five points away from the top of the table thanks to its win over Ortona. On the other side of the net there will be Siena, who stepped up a gear following the change of coach. They put together a run of three consecutive wins and inflicted Sora its first loss of the season. The most active team on the market will have its new middle blocker Matteo Granito ready to make his debut.
It’s top versus bottom when Vibo Valentia entertains Reggio Emilia. The hosts will try to make it eight wins in a row, while Reggio was defeated home in the last round by Cantù. Reggio’s next game against Sora will be postponed to Tuesday 22 December.
Upset in the last round in Siena, Sora lost the first place but stands just one point behind Vibo. They’ll try to bounce back against Brescia, who took points in the last two rounds and defeated Castellana Grotte at the tie-break on Tuesday. Brescia now counts 9 points, tied with Club Italia, Castellana Grotte and Alessano, the last two teams will meet this Sunday at 6pm. Castellana lost 3 straight but clinched a point on Wednesday in Brescia, while Alessano came out empty handed from their last two games, surrendering against the league leaders after giving it a good fight for two sets.
Serie A2 UnipolSai round 9
Saturday 12 December at 6pm
Club Italia Roma – Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Pecoraro-Talento)
Saturday 12 December at 8.30pm
Sieco Service Ortona – VBC Mondovì Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Di Blasi-Carcione)
Sunday 13 December at 12am
Potenza Picena – Cassa Rurale Cantù Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Bellini-Saltalippi)
Sunday 13 December at 4pm
Globo Scarabeo Civita Castellana – Emma Villas Siena Live on Lega Volley Channel
(De Simeis-Spinnicchia)
Sunday 13 December at 6pm
Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora – Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Cappelletti-Rossetti)
Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte – Aurispa Alessano Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Palumbo-Zingaro)
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia – Conad Reggio Emilia Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Moratti-Scarfò)
League table
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia 21, Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora 20, Globo Scarabeo Civita Castellana 16, Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania 13, Cassa Rurale Cantù 13, Potenza Picena 12, VBC Mondovì 12, Emma Villas Siena 11, Club Italia Roma 9, Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia 9, Aurispa Alessano 9, Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte 9, Sieco Service Ortona 7, Conad Reggio Emilia
