Quarter-finals Game 2 results:
LPR PIACENZA – TONAZZO PADOVA 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-21)
CMC ROMAGNA – CALZEDONIA VERONA 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-21)
REVIVRE MILANO – NINFA LATINA 0-3 (22-25, 19-25, 17-25)
GI GROUP MONZA – EXPRIVIA MOLFETTA 3-1 (28-30, 25-18, 25-20, 25-17)
LPR PIACENZA – TONAZZO PADOVA 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-21)
LPR PIACENZA: Coscione 1, Kohut 8, Ter Horst 18, Perrin 12, Papi (L), Sedlacek 2, Luburic 7, Tencati 8, Cottarelli. DNP Patriarca, Zlatanov, Tavares Rodrigues. Coach. Giuliani.
TONAZZO PADOVA: Leoni, Orduna 2, Giannotti 6, Balaso (L), Bassanello, Quiroga 6, Volpato 1, Averill 4, Berger 8, Milan 6, Diamantini 5, Lazzaretto. DNP Cook. Coach. Baldovin.
Piacenza won Game 2 at home and qualified for the Challenge playoffs final four. Giuliani’s men swept Padova thanks to an excellent team display. Ter Horst was the man again. He scored 18 points with excellent percentages in attack.
Thijs Ter Horst (LPR Piacenza): “The most important thing was to put pressure from the start and that’s what we did. We did a good job of building some key breaks. We believe we can do well in the final four. We’ll definitely go there to win it”.
Valerio Baldovin (coach Tonazzo Padova): “We wanted to do better than that, we wanted to bounce back but we couldn’t do it. We got there with flat batteries and that certainly influenced the game but that won’t take anything away from what we achieved this season”.
REVIVRE MILANO – NINFA LATINA 0-3 (22-25, 19-25, 17-25)
REVIVRE MILANO: Milushev 10, Gavenda 3, Sbertoli 2, Skrimov 5, Russomanno Dos Santos (L), De Togni 9, Georgiev 9, Marretta 5. DNP Alletti, Rivan, Baranek, Boninfante, Burgsthaler. Coach. Monti.
NINFA LATINA: Sottile, Sket 5, Pavlov 16, Romiti (L), Tailli, Hirsch, Yosifov 6, Rossi 7, Maruotti 9. DNP Krumins, Mattei, Ferenciac. Coach. Placì.
Latina put an end to Milan’s season and qualified for the Challenge Playoffs final four. Already 3-0 winners in Milan, Latina had another perfect outing. The hosts found inspiration from Nikolay Pavlov who scored 16 points at 52% in attack and with 4 aces. He was named MVP of the game.
Giorgio De Togni (Revivre Milano): “We had played rather poorly in Latina and tonight again we did not manage to move on. We threw away the first set and we faded in the other two. Latina played better than us, they proved they were in good shape. They played with much better rhythm after their league playoffs quarter-finals against Civitanova”.
Camillo Placì (coach Ninfa Latina): “We’re very happy to be through. All our players who recently had some physical worries are back at their best. This allow us to train with more consistency and quality, and therefore to increase our level of play. Now we’ll try our best in this final four”.
CMC ROMAGNA – CALZEDONIA VERONA 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-21)
CMC ROMAGNA: Mengozzi 8, Ricci 3, Cavanna 2, Della Lunga 7, Van Garderen 22, Polo, Koumentakis, Goi (L), Torres 23, Boswinkel, Bari (L), Perini De Aviz 1. DNP Zappoli. Coach. Kantor.
CALZEDONIA VERONA: Zingel 3, Kovacevic 20, Pesaresi (L), Gitto 9, Lecat 10, Spirito, Frigo (L), Baranowicz 3, Starovic 9, Bellei 3, Anzani 5, Bucko. DNP Sander. Coach. Giani.
CMC Romagna won its home game and sent the tie to a deciding game 3 to be played in Verona on Sunday. The visitors had had the better start but an excellent reaction from the whole team allowed Romagna to turn things around. Mengozzi and co improved in reception as the game advanced, which allowed them to score with more consistency. As for Giani’s men, they made much more mistakes than four days ago. Kovacevic was the last to surrender as usual as he scored 20 points, while Van Garderen was named MVP (22 points).
Stefano Mengozzi (CMC Romagna): “We’re extremely happy we managed to say goodbye to our fans with this victory. We really wanted it. We had a good game, thanks to an accurate reception that allowed Max (Cavanna) to distribute better. We proved we could play better than what we had done in Verona. And on Sunday we want to have another go to get into the final four”.
Luca Spirito (Calzedonia Verona): “Today we have not been as composed and determined as last Saturday, and the result is just the logical consequence of that. We’ll try to forget about this game because on Sunday we want to play our best volleyball to reach the Final Four”.
GI GROUP MONZA – EXPRIVIA MOLFETTA 3-1 (28-30, 25-18, 25-20, 25-17)
GI GROUP MONZA: Raic 18, Galliani 15, Mercorio, Jovovic 4, Rizzo (L), Botto 19, Verhees 8, Beretta 6. DNP Sala, Daldello, Brunetti, Rousseaux, Gao. Coach. Cattaneo.
EXPRIVIA MOLFETTA: Kaczynski, Candellaro 11, Del Vecchio 1, De Barros Ferreira 17, Barone 7, Mustedanovic 5, De Pandis (L), Hierrezuelo 6, Fedrizzi 13. DNP Spadavecchia, Mariella, Porcelli. Coach. Di Pinto.
The Monza players came out of the court among a standing ovation from the home fans. Cattaneo’s men lost a never-ending battle in the first set but fought back with character to take the following three with one of their best performances of the season. Led by an outstanding Botto (MVP with 19 points, 2 blocks, 1 ace) and an efficient Galliani (15 points, 2 aces, 2 blocks), Monza dominated the second and third set. The visitors struggled with their serve and made a lot of mistakes. Fedrizzi and Rafael tried to get Molfetta back on track in the fourth but the excellent work at the net (13 blocks) meant Monza could come away with the victory.
Pieter Verhees (Gi Group Team Monza): “It’s been a team victory, we really wanted it. We played well from the start, we proved we could play great volleyball. It was probably our last home game so we had to win it for our fans. Now we’ll focus on Sunday’s game. We’ll play on a court that we know by now. We know that in front of their fans, they hit the serve very hard, but the time has come for us to show what we can do”.
Vincenzo Di Pinto (coach Exprivia Molfetta): “You have to congratulate Monza for tonight’s performance. We lacked a bit of rhythm and intensity, we also had some physical worries, which might have hurt us psychologically too. They did a great job of seeing they could win it, and they won it without much problem. Game 3 will surely be a different game”.
Fitures
Challenge Playoffs, quarter-finals Game 3
Sunday 17 April at 6pm
Calzedonia Verona – CMC Romagna Live on Lega Volley Channel
Exprivia Molfetta – Gi Group Monza Live on Lega Volley Channel
Results:
TONNO CALLIPO CALABRIA VIBO VALENTIA – CONAD REGGIO EMILIA 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 31-29)
GLOBO BANCA POPOLARE DEL FRUSINATE SORA – MAURY’S ITALIANA ASSICURAZIONI TUSCANIA 3-2 (24-26, 25-23, 19-25, 25-20, 20-18)
TONNO CALLIPO CALABRIA VIBO VALENTIA – CONAD REGGIO EMILIA 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 31-29) – TONNO CALLIPO CALABRIA VIBO VALENTIA: Pinelli 1, Marra (L), Casoli 13, Michalovic 11, Forni 15, Vedovotto 7, Sardanelli, Silva De Araujo 1, Presta 10. DNP Korniienko, Ferraro, Maccarone, Corrado. Coach. Mastrangelo.
CONAD REGGIO EMILIA: Cetrullo 14, Cargioli 1, Bonante, Dolfo 10, Tondo 9, Kody 3, Benaglia 5, Silva 5, Marchiani 2, Morgese (L), Douglas-powell 3. DNP Bevilacqua, Scaltriti. Coach. Cantagalli.
An excellent performance led Vibo Valentia to win semi-final Game 1. But Reggio Emilia never ceased to believe in its chances and pushed Mastrangelo’s men to their limits in the third set. Saturday’s game at the PalaBigi will surely be difficult for the team from Calabria. Forni’s performance stood out for Vibo Valentia.
GLOBO BANCA POPOLARE DEL FRUSINATE SORA – MAURY’S ITALIANA ASSICURAZIONI TUSCANIA 3-2 (24-26, 25-23, 19-25, 25-20, 20-18) – GLOBO BANCA POPOLARE DEL FRUSINATE SORA: Fabroni 3, Mariano 12, Festi, Santucci (L), Bacca 4, Rosso 32, Hoogendoorn 10, Buzzelli 13, Giglioli 10, Marrazzo 1, Sperandio 9. DNP Lucarelli, Mauti. Coach. Soli.
MAURY’S ITALIANA ASSICURAZIONI TUSCANIA: Calonico 14, Bonami (L), Vitangeli, Ottaviani 11, Mrdak 18, Mazzon, Monopoli 2, Shavrak 17, Esposito 11. DNP Anselmi, Straino, Hueller, Pieri. Coach. Tofoli.
The tie proved much tighter in Sora, where five sets were needed to separate the two sides. In the tie-break, two blocks on Mrdak were clutch for Sora. The home side sealed the deal on their sixth match point thanks to Mattia Rosso. But both sides came out under the applause from the crowd.
Fixtures
Serie A2 playoffs, semi-finals Game 2 (Series on the best of 5)
Saturday 16 April at 8.30pm
Conad Reggio Emilia – Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sunday 17 April at 6pm
Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania – Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora Live on Lega Volley Channel
Game 3
Wednesday 20 April at 8.30pm
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia – Conad Reggio Emilia Live on Lega Volley Channel
Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora – Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania Live on Lega Volley Channel
