The final rush is here. Just five games to play and a lot to be decided. Civitanova bounced back from their cup disappointment with a three-point win in Verona that meant catching up Modena at the top. Now they take on the in-form Milan, who collected back to back wins in the derby against Monza and then home against Latina. Matteo Burgsthaler will be out injured for at least two weeks.
Shockingly defeated home by Romagna at the tie-break, then severely brushed aside in the cup final by Modena, Trentino got back on its feet with a tie-break win in a revenge in the league against Modena away from home. They will play host to Molfetta, who’s coming off back to back defeats, in Padova and against Monza.
San Valentine’s derby between bottom of the table Piacenza and league leaders Modena (tied with Civitanova). The hosts are coming off a five-set loss on the road against Romagna, while Modena won the Italian Cup before stumbling home against Trento.
One more big game on Sunday with the Venetian derby between Padova and Verona. Padova could do very little in the last round in Perugia, while Verona gave a little scare to Civitanova in spite of players missing but still lost the game and their fourth position in the table to Perugia.
Monza bounced back from its derby debacle against Milan with a brilliant road victory over Molfetta. Currently tied on points with Romagna in 8th place, the last qualifying for the playoffs, they will take on Perugia, who moved up to fourth in the last round thanks to a 3-0 win over Padova.
Latina is eager to bounce back from a road trip to forget in Milan, which ended up in a 3-1 defeat. Seventh in the league but coming off back to back losses, they will entertain Romagna, who took two more points against Piacenza after the breakthrough achieved in Trento in the previous encounter. But in spite of the latest win, Monza caught them up in the table.
SuperLega UnipolSai Round 18
Saturday 13 February at 6pm
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova – Revivre Milano Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sunday 14 February at 5pm
Diatec Trentino – Exprivia Molfetta Live on RAI Sport 1
Diretta streaming su www.raisport.rai.it
Sunday 14 February at 6pm
LPR Piacenza – DHL Modena Live on Lega Volley Channel
Tonazzo Padova – Calzedonia Verona Live on Lega Volley Channel
Gi Group Monza – Sir Safety Conad Perugia
Live on Lega Volley Channel
Tuesday 16 February at 8.30pm
Ninfa Latina – CMC Romagna Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
League table
DHL Modena 44, Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova 44, Diatec Trentino 38, Sir Safety Conad Perugia 33, Calzedonia Verona 32, Exprivia Molfetta 24, Ninfa Latina 20, Gi Group Monza 18, CMC Romagna 18, Tonazzo Padova 17, Revivre Milano 11, LPR Piacenza 7
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova – Revivre Milano
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 3 (Civitanova won all 3)
Ivan Miljkovic (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova): “Saturday’s match against Milan is an important one for us to extend the run of victories and hang on at the top of the table since we’ve just caught up Modena, which we’ll meet on February 21. A win would be important to go to Turkey for our Champions League game in good spirit. But we have what it takes to do well in all those coming challenges”.
Federico Tosi (Revivre Milano): “We’re coming off a positive period of two wins and 6 crucial points for us. The playoffs might be almost impossible to reach but they certainly give us a big boost. To define the Civitanova game “hard” is an euphemism. Besides, we won’t have our full squad. They have an excellent team, but they’re coming off a difficult an intense period. We’ll just try to do the best we can with what we’ve got”.
Diatec Trentino – Exprivia Molfetta
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 9 (6-3 Trento)
Mitar Djuric (Diatec Trentino): “Thursday night’s victory at the PalaPanini arena was just what we needed after the Italian Cup final defeat. But to win against Molfetta it’s better not to think about it and put it all behind us. There is no time to rest in this regular season, and now we’re up against a team that has already beaten us twice in three games. We have to reset everything again and play with maximum determination because we know we have a very tough task ahead of us”.
Vincenzo Spadavecchia (Exprivia Molfetta): “I am not fully satisfied with our performance against Monza because we always have to do more. This is a fundamental team concept. We can and must always get better. Still, I am happy I got court time and scored some points. As a team, we gave everything we had, we lacked that little bit of luck in the important moments of the game. All the coming games will be crucial, but it’s useless to make predictions, it’s more important to stay focused and give hundred percent. And I am sure we’ll all do that”.
LPR Piacenza – DHL Modena
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 32 (18-14 Piacenza)
Luca Tencati (LPR Piacenza): “We’ll face a very tough and very strong team on Sunday. Hopefully they’ll be a bit tired after their triumph in the Italian cup and their game against Trento. They’ll have one less day rest and hopefully that will help us. Getting a result would be exceptional but we’ll just see what happens. Our goal is to build on the positive things done against Romagna”.
Andrea Sartoretti (GM DHL Modena): “This is a tricky game, we’ll have to be careful. It’s obvious they’ll be ready to give 110% against the league leaders. We have everything to lose, that’s why we’ll need maximum focus, because the truth is that in this SuperLega you can’t afford to get it wrong”.
Tonazzo Padova – Calzedonia Verona
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 15 (10-5 Verona)
Santiago Orduna (Tonazzo Padova): “A difficult game without a doubt. They’re coming off a loss and they’ll obviously want to bounce back. But that’s the same thing for us, and playing in our Kioene Arena could be the perfect opportunity to reach our goal. Perugia played excellent volleyball in our last game, led by Atanasijevic who made the difference in the clutch time. Sunday’s game will surely be a great battle”.
Andrea Giani (coach Calzedonia Verona): “Padova is a good team that is getting excellent results in this second half of season. They have done a great job against teams like Civitanova, Trento and Molfetta. They play at a very good pace. We’ll need to play quality volleyball and be ready to play long rallies”.
Gi Group Monza – Sir Safety Conad Perugia
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 7 (5-2 Perugia)
Oreste Vacondio (coach Gi Group Monza): “The situation there is in the league table means we have to play without pressure and without looking too much at the table. We have to think one set at a time, one play at a time, and try to play our game, just like we did yesterday against Molfetta. Perugia is favourite, even if we know that in sport, every game is a different story. One thing is for sure though, that we’ll give maximum effort and determination to try to make it hard for them, hoping to get a good result with our fans”.
Alberto Elia (Sir Safety Conad Perugia): “This will be a complicated game. Monza is capable of having great games, especially at home, even if on Wednesday they have also won in Molfetta, which is known to be an incredibly tough place to get points. We’ll also be away from home so we’ll have to be very careful. The three points at stake are crucial in our race with Verona and Trento. Our intention is to go as high as possible at the end of the regular season, so we’ll try to win each game, including this one on Sunday. We’re on the up, Wednesday’s win over Padova gave us a boost. We have regained confidence after a difficult period marred with physical problems and under par performances. But the injured players are on their way back bit by bit and we’ll look to the future with confidence. I am very happy to go back to Monza, where I played the last two years, I have great memories. It’s great to play against my former teammates, in front of these fans that have always been close to me and against my former coach Oreste Vacondio, a man with great knowledge of the game”.
Ninfa Latina – CMC Romagna
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 9 (6-3 Romagna)
Gabriele Maruotti (Ninfa Latina): “We have to bounced back immediately from this poor performance against Milan, we’ll try to do so with the help of our fans. We had been playing well and we are keen to get back to the things we were doing until Tuesday. Our goal remains to make it in the playoffs, and we’ll keep an eye on sixth place, which we think we can still reach”.
Stefano Mengozzi (CMC Romagna): “We have been training a lot lately, without two spikers who we hope to have back on Tuesday night. We have to work hard to make up for their absence in training, but we want to go to Latina ready physically and mentally to have a good game. We want to take more important points to get closer to our goals”.
The heart of the Serie A2 is beating again after the break of the Italian Cup, won by Vibo Valentia for the second time running. Beaten in the final, Sora will resume its league campaign with a derby against third classified Civita Castellana. Sora is tied on points with Vibo at the top thanks to its 3-0 home win over Ortona in the last round. Emiliano Giglioli is two points from a thousand in the Serie A and Marco Fabroni needs three aces to reach 200. Civita Castellana is third in the table, 8 points from the top. Paulo Da Silva has been the difference maker all season, like in the latest 3-1 win in Potenza Picena.
Tie-break winners in Montefiascone, the Cantù players are still in the playoffs zone in spite of some ups and downs. They will try to add points in the table against the newly promoted side of Mondovì, who got back on their feet after a difficult period, grabbing 9 points in the last four encounters.
San Valentine’s day will begin in the PalaEstra arena with a game between Siena and Reggio Emilia. The hosts were defeated in the fifth set in Montefiascone letting their opponents of the day move above them in the table. Now sixth in the table, they will be without the suspended Mladen Majdak. On the day Braga tries to make it 1000 points in the Serie A, his team will attempt to stop Reggio Emilia’s run. The visitors are coming off six wins in their last seven games and are now eighth in the table after a poor start to the season dictated by injuries. On Saturday, Reggio registered a quality 3-1 win over Club Italia, sending a message to its direct rivals.
The marathon specialists of Castellana Grotte, who won three tie-breaks in a row against Cantù, Ortona and Siena, are now five points from the playoffs zone. They will play host to Tuscania, fourth in the league tied on points with Potenza Picena. Tofoli’s men took a point out of a tie-break loss against Cantù but now they need a win to stay in the top four.
Same situation for Potenza Picena who have to redeem themselves from the come-back conceded in Monterotondo and beat Club Italia to stay in the top four. Coach Graziosi could have outside hitter Federico Moretti back who’s 9 points from three thousand in the league. Special game for Omar Biglino who was in Club Italia in 2011. The team from the capital is third from bottom but the promising youngsters have made it hard for most of the A2 teams and even caused a few upsets like the four-set win in the first meeting against Potenza Picena.
Coming off a breakthrough tie-break victory over Vibo Valentia, Brescia is hungry for more as they host Alessano. Second scorer in the league, Alberto Cisolla will try to lead the bottom side of the table to victory against a team that has always found it hard away from home. Alessano is last from bottom, just three point above Brescia.
Finally, Vibo Valentia will celebrate with its fans its second consecutive cup triumph, the third in the club history. The breakthrough erased the surprising league defeat of the last round in Brescia. The visitors are Ortona, ninth in the table, four points away from the playoffs zone. Beaten by Sora but 3-1 winners in a friendly over Potenza Picena, they have invested in the Canadian talent Dallas Soonias. Andrea Lanci, Michele Simoni and Renato Orsini could celebrate their hundredth appearance.
Serie A2 UnipolSai Round 19
Saturday 13 February at 8,30pm
Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora – Globo Scarabeo Civita Castellana Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Turtù-Bellini)
Cassa Rurale Cantù – BAM Mondovì Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Jacobacci-Scarfò)
Sunday 14 February at 4pm
Emma Villas Siena – Conad Reggio Emilia Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Pecoraro-Merli)
Sunday 14 February at 6pm
Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte – Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Stancati-Morgillo)
Potenza Picena – Club Italia Roma Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Somansino-Feriozzi)
Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia – Aurispa Alessano Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Curto-Guarneri)
Sunday 14 February at 7pm
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia – Sieco Service Ortona Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Pristerà-Cerra)
League table
Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora 42, Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia 42, Globo Scarabeo Civita Castellana 34, Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania 30, Potenza Picena 30, Emma Villas Siena 29, Cassa Rurale Cantù 28, Conad Reggio Emilia 27, Sieco Service Ortona 23, Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte 22, BAM Mondovì 22, Club Italia Roma 18, Aurispa Alessano 17, Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia 14
