Results:
Sir Safety Conad Perugia-DHL Modena 2-3 (24-26, 25-18, 19-25, 25-20, 13-15); LPR Piacenza-Ninfa Latina – domani alle 20:30 in diretta su RAI Sport 1; Tonazzo Padova-Gi Group Monza 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-13); Calzedonia Verona-CMC Romagna 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 22-25, 26-24); Diatec Trentino-Revivre Milano 3-1 (25-27, 25-15, 25-16, 25-15); Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova-Exprivia Molfetta 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-22)
CUCINE LUBE BANCA MARCHE CIVITANOVA – EXPRIVIA MOLFETTA 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-22) – CUCINE LUBE BANCA MARCHE CIVITANOVA: Parodi, Juantorena 14, Vitelli 10, Christenson 4, Grebennikov (L), Miljkovic 10, Cebulj 12, Podrascanin 9. DNP Fei, Stankovic, Priddy, Kovar, Corvetta. Coach. Blengini.
EXPRIVIA MOLFETTA: Candellaro 2, Randazzo 7, Del Vecchio, De Barros Ferreira 9, Barone 8, De Pandis (L), Hierrezuelo 2, Fedrizzi, Hernandez Ramos 8. DNP Kaczynski, Spadavecchia, Mariella, Porcelli. Coach. Di Pinto.
Civitanova keeps flying high in the league. Just 72 hours after its breakthrough in Modena’s PalaPanini arena, they disposed of Molfetta in straight sets to remain unbeaten in the second half of season. Ten months after its knee injury, Jiri Kovar was back in the squad, while middle blocker Marco Vitelli (91) substituted Cester who had the flu. And Vitelli made the most of his first game as a starter with 88% in attack, 10 points, 2 blocks, one ace, and the MVP title to go with it.
Marko Podrascanin (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova): “We played with determination, we imposed our game from the first till the last rally. We have improved a lot in recent games. And the win in Modena gave us a lot of confidence. Now we have to keep going like that”.
Vincenzo Di Pinto (coach Exprivia Molfetta): “We made so many mistakes. Too many. And when you do that against a team like Civitanova you inevitably lose. At times we were hanging on thanks to some good serves but then unforced errors meant we could not keep up. Let’s focus on the coming game”.
TONAZZO PADOVA – GI GROUP MONZA 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-13)
TONAZZO PADOVA: Cook 10, Orduna 2, Giannotti 17, Balaso (L), Quiroga, Volpato 10, Averill 8, Berger 8, Diamantini. DNP Leoni, Bassanello, Milan, Lazzaretto. Coach. Baldovin.
GI GROUP MONZA: Raic 13, Sala 4, Galliani 4, Jovovic, Rizzo (L), Botto 9, Verhees 1, Beretta 4, Rousseaux 2. DNP Daldello, Mercorio, Brunetti, Gao. Coach. Vacondio.
Extremely valuable win for the playoffs for Padova, who got rid of Monza in just an hour and twenty minutes. The serve and dig of the Venetian team were outstanding. They never let any hopes to the visitors. MVP Fabio Balaso (Tonazzo Padova)
Fabio Balaso (Tonazzo Padova): “I did not expect to be elected MVP. I am happy for the victory, we played very well as a team. Our strength is the block-dig area, and the serve was key too tonight. I dedicate this win to my teammates and family”.
Oreste Vacondio (coach Gi Group Monza): “Padova was aggressive on the serve and they played excellent dig. We did not manage to be as aggressive. Before the Christmas break, we were playing very well, but then the injuries and players missing got us off track. But we shouldn’t look for excuses anymore, we just have to congratulate Padova for the victory”.
CALZEDONIA VERONA – CMC ROMAGNA 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 22-25, 26-24)
CALZEDONIA VERONA: Zingel 7, Kovacevic 23, Pesaresi (L), Gitto, Lecat, Spirito 1, Baranowicz 3, Starovic 17, Bellei, Sander 13, Anzani 10. DNP Frigo, Bucko. Coach. Giani.
CMC ROMAGNA: Mengozzi 7, Ricci 3, Cavanna 2, Della Lunga 6, Van Garderen 19, Polo 3, Koumentakis 2, Goi (L), Torres 20, Boswinkel 3, Bari (L), Perini De Aviz. DNP Zappoli. Coach. Kantor.
Verona had not been able to send its starting line-up for a month but tonight Starovic and co obtained a four-set victory over CMC Romagna. Sander scored the winning point at 26-24 in the fourth set. MVP Uros Kovacevic (Calzedonia Verona)
Uros Kovacevic (Calzedonia Verona): “I am delighted because we have won and we have found the rhythm we had in the first half of season. We finally play good volleyball again. Shame we lost that third set, but in the fourth we managed to have the upper-hand and take three crucial points”.
Waldo Kantor (coach CMC Romagna): “The first and last two sets seem to belong to two different games. At the start, Verona played brilliantly while we struggled in attack and on the serve. Then, we started to step up and play good dig. Our blocking found consistency, that got us back in the game and increased the overall level of the encounter”.
DIATEC TRENTINO – REVIVRE MILANO 3-1 (25-27, 25-15, 25-16, 25-15)
DIATEC TRENTINO: Nelli 13, Antonov 9, Mazzone 3, Bratoev 3, De Angelis, Giannelli 6, Solé 11, Djuric 3, Colaci (L), Van De Voorde 8, Urnaut 17, Mazzone 2. DNP Lanza. Coach. Stoytchev.
REVIVRE MILANO: Milushev 19, Alletti 11, Sbertoli, Russomanno Dos Santos 1, Tosi (L), Baranek 15, Boninfante, Georgiev 5, Marretta 4. DNP Gavenda, Skrimov, De Togni, Rivan, Burgsthaler. Coach. Monti.
Thanks to this 3-1 win over Milan, Trentino secured at least the third place at the end of the regular season. The Italian Champions lost the first set but then things became a lot easier for them. They will now try to hunt for second place as the gap with Modena has been further reduced. MVP Gabriele Nelli (Diatec Trentino)
Radostin Stoytchev (coach Diatec Trentino): “We had our moments in the first sets but still made too many mistakes, which made it easier for our opponents. From the second set on, we sorted out a few aspects and the game became easier. The game cannot be explained only with the stats: Although we had 19 blocks, we did not play well. We have to get some players back to fitness and work hard in this final rush, because there are still stronger teams than us. Civitanova and Modena are still ahead of us, while we are at the level of Perugia and Verona”.
Kamil Baranek (Revivre Milano): “The first set has been very tight, we took some risks and it went well for us. We had a great start. In the second set, though, Trento changed its line-up and started to find great serves which made it hard for us. We were up against a very good team in the blocking department. I think that was the key after the first set”.
SIR SAFETY CONAD PERUGIA – DHL MODENA 2-3 (24-26, 25-18, 19-25, 25-20, 13-15) – SIR SAFETY CONAD PERUGIA: Buti 9, Fromm 16, De Cecco, Kaliberda, Giovi (L), Russell 18, Dimitrov 1, Tzioumakas, Atanasijevic 21, Birarelli 7. DNP Holt, Elia, Fanuli. Coach. Kovac.
DHL MODENA: Mossa De Rezende 4, Casadei 1, Rossini (L), Ngapeth 28, Nikic 7, Piano 6, Bossi 1, Saatkamp 18, Vettori 10. DNP Donadio, Soli, Sartoretti, Sighinolfi. Coach. Lorenzetti.
What a game in the PalaEvangelisti arena! Two hours of superb volleyball in a packed house. In the end, Modena snatched a very tight tie-break. The hosts played brilliantly in the block-dig area, while the trio Atanasijevic-Russell-Fromm did wonders in attack. On the other side of the net, however, Brazilian middle blocker Lucas was having a night too with 18 points, while Ngapeth was a nightmare for Perugia: 28 points and MVP of the game.
Emanuele Birarelli (Sir Safety Conad Perugia): “We’re disappointed it went like that. We could have won it. They did not always play at their best but we did not make the most of it. Overall though, we played better volleyball compared to recent outings so we have to build on this”.
Luca Vettori (Dhl Modena): “It’s been a difficult game. We did not play our best and could have gone behind easily in certain tricky situations. The tie-break was very tight, and even if in the end we got the result, we certainly could have done better”.
League table
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova 53, DHL Modena 49, Diatec Trentino 47, Calzedonia Verona 38, Sir Safety Conad Perugia 37, Exprivia Molfetta 26, Tonazzo Padova 25, Gi Group Monza 22, Ninfa Latina 21, CMC Romagna 21, Revivre Milano 11, LPR Piacenza 7.
One game in hand: Ninfa Latina and LPR Piacenza
Fixtures
SuperLega UnipolSai Round 20
Thursday 25 November at 8.30pm
LPR Piacenza – Ninfa Latina Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
SuperLega UnipolSai Round 21
Sunday 28 February at 5.15pm
Diatec Trentino – Calzedonia Verona Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
Sunday 28 February at 6pm
Gi Group Monza – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Civitanova Live on Lega Volley Channel
CMC Romagna – DHL Modena Live on Lega Volley Channel
LPR Piacenza – Sir Safety Conad Perugia Live on Lega Volley Channel
Ninfa Latina – Exprivia Molfetta Live on Lega Volley Channel
Tuesday 1 March at 8.30pm
Tonazzo Padova – Revivre Milano Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
