The Del Monte® Volley Land show is behind us. The cup winner Modena and all the other teams are ready to turn their focus on the league and the race for the playoffs.
Milan is looking for a breakthrough at home to build on the derby victory obtained on Thursday against Monza. Thanks to that win, they moved above Piacenza but now want a big win against Latina, who’s currently seventh after their tie-break defeat in Padova. Just a few months ago, the two setters were playing on the opposite side. Indeed, at the start of December, a trade brought Dante Boninfante to Milan and Daniele Sottile to the opposite direction. Sottile is three blocks from the 300 in the league.
On Wednesday at 7.30pm, Verona will play host to Civitanova. Thanks to its win over Piacenza, Verona moved back into fourth place. Putting an end to a difficult period. Civitanova will have to forget about the cup disappointment and the defeat in the semi-finals. In the league, their last 3-1 win over Perugia had enabled them to keep up with the league leaders, who are just two points ahead.
Later at 8.30pm, there is the regional derby between CMC Romagna and Piacenza. The hosts will play this one in the Pala De André in Ravenna after the breakthrough made in the Trentino fortress, which put an end to Trento’s incredible unbeaten record. This feat means the playoffs zone is not very far anymore. Beaten by Verona in the last round, Piacenza is now rock bottom of the table.
Back from the cup final four where it was beaten by Modena in the semi-finals, Perugia will try to make the most of the support of their home fans to forget about the cup and the four-set loss against Civitanova, which meant Verona moved above in the table. The opponent of the day shined in the last round with a superb tie-break win over Molfetta. Heart and fighting spirit were the key to the success for Padova, which brought the club in the top eight.
Molfetta went back south from Padova with a tie-break loss as they could not complete their come-back. Still, they remain sixth and with a four-point advantage on Latina but they face a tricky task against a team extremely angry for a bounce-back win after the derby lost against Milan. Indeed, that unexpected defeat meant Monza stayed out of the top 8.
Finally, the big match of the day is a remake of the Cup final played on Sunday. Modena versus Trentino. The euphoria of the cup double is still well alive for Lorenzetti’s men but they have to find their focus as Civitanova is lurking behind them in the table. In the last round they had a convincing win over Latina. As for Trento, they are the only team that managed to beat Modena in the SuperLega this season. This thought could give them the energy to put behind them the league home loss against CMC Romagna, which stopped their unbeaten home record, and the cup final, in which they were severely defeated.
SuperLega UnipolSai Round 17
Tuesday 9 February at 8.30pm
Revivre Milano – Ninfa Latina Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
Wednesday 10 February at 7.30pm
Calzedonia Verona – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova Live on Lega Volley Channel
Wednesday 10 February at 8.30pm
In Ravenna CMC Romagna – LPR Piacenza Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
Sir Safety Conad Perugia – Tonazzo Padova Live on Lega Volley Channel
Exprivia Molfetta – Gi Group Monza Live on Lega Volley Channel
Thursday 11 February at 8.30pm
DHL Modena – Diatec Trentino Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
League table
DHL Modena 43, Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova 41, Diatec Trentino 36, Calzedonia Verona 32, Sir Safety Conad Perugia 30, Exprivia Molfetta 24, Ninfa Latina 20, Tonazzo Padova 17, CMC Romagna 16, Gi Group Monza 15, Revivre Milano 8, LPR Piacenza 6
Revivre Milano – Ninfa Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 3 (Latina won them all)
Carlos Rasores (President Revivre Milano): “I hope the boys have realised with the Monza game that they can have their say in this league. We lost against Latina earlier this season, wasting some opportunities in the tie-break. We want to take revenge. I expect another good performance from the group against a team we can beat given the recent results both clubs obtained”.
Andrea Mattei (Ninfa Latina): “This will definitely be a hard-fought game. They’re coming off a great win in the derby against Monza. We’re travelling to Milan aiming to bring back some points. We will play to the best of our abilities”.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 26 (22-4 Civitanova)
Piero Rebaudengo (CEO Calzedonia Verona): “We’ve conceded a few defeats recently but we put an end to this negative run with a win over Piacenza. We’re fourth in the table, we have to consolidate this position. This must be our goal coming into this game, to take points and get closer to the top teams”.
Marko Podrascanin (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova): “We want to immediately bounce back from the cup loss against this dangerous side, which is among the eight best teams in the league. We’ll try to get valuable points in their gym. We want to look to the future with determination, focusing on our coming goals in this intense part of the season coming up, and it all starts with Wednesday’s game in the PalaOlimpia arena”.
CMC Romagna – LPR Piacenza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 9 (5-4 Piacenza)
Andrea Bari (CMC Romagna): “Very important game for us, and it is probably for them too, they’ll be eager to have a fresh start. We’ll try to do all the things seen on our past two games: we can play some good volleyball. We need points to reach our target and that’s a good opportunity to get those points. But Piacenza remains a great team composed of experienced players who will come to play, so I’d say it’s 50-50. Hopefully, we’ll play our best volley with the help of the Ravenna fans, who will surely give us a hand”.
Manuel Coscione (LPR Piacenza): “We are struggling and we have to find a solution to get out of this situation. We need points. Every game is a final for us: our level of play has to get better. We have to keep up with our opponent more than what we’ve done so far. We’re bottom of the table and none of us want to stay there, so we’ll go to Ravenna to try to take the three points. We’ll play with fighting spirit”.
Sir Safety Conad Perugia – Tonazzo Padova
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 5 (3-2 Perugia)
Andrea Giovi (Sir Safety Conad Perugia): “We’re back in the league after the cup weekend. And we start with a very tough game. Padova’s position in the table is deceiving. They got a lot better as the season wore on, and the fact they pushed both Trento and Civitanova proves it. We’ll need to give it all. Our goal is to play one game at a time and try to win them all to stay in the top part of the table. The first one is on Wednesday against Padova, we need maximum focus and to play solid volleyball to take the points at stake”.
Valerio Baldovin (coach Tonazzo Padova): “This will be a difficult game, just like our first meeting. Even if they lost in the cup against Modena, they proved they were a top quality team. Their game is built around their outside hitter accompanied by a brilliant roster. And they’ll be keen to win it. But we have kept training with intensity in the last few days and we have to keep playing quality team volleyball to get better game after game”.
Exprivia Molfetta – Gi Group Monza
PAST ENCOUNTER: 8 (6-2 Molfetta)
Raydel Hierrezuelo (Exprivia Molfetta): “We have to turn the disappointment of the Padova loss into a victory on Wednesday against Monza. We’ll be home and that’s important. We’re in good shape but we have to avoid lapses during the game. We can’t wait to play this game”.
Tomas Rousseaux (Gi Group Monza): “Every game from now till the end will be crucial if we want to get into the playoffs. Molfetta is not only a top quality volleyball team but they have huge support from their fans in their arena. Our last performance was anything but satisfactory against Milan. Our team spirit was not there. If we play as a unit, we proved we could give a game to anyone, even the best teams. We need to play with our heart to hunt for points, we know that. We have trained well this week, with determination, so we’re confident”.
DHL Modena – Diatec Trentino
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 57 (34-23 trento)
Andrea Sartoretti (GM DHL Modena): “Thursday’s game against Trento will be a bit strange after our superb triumph in the Italian Cup. Playing against them again just four days later means we immediately have to put maximum focus back on the league and Champions League. Our hunt for finals continue”.
Simone Giannelli (Diatec Trentino): “There is no time to rest with this fixture list, but that should not be an excuse because Modena has the same problem. Definitely a bit particular meeting up again after the cup final but that can be the perfect opportunity for us to take revenge. We have already started to work to try to beat them”.
