Round 11 will kick off in Monza on Friday night. Seventh with 15 points, they had a disapointing loss against Perugia in the last round and hope to bounce back against Molfetta, who’s coming off a superb 3-1 win over the Italian Champions of Modena.
Vibo Valentia is on a roll : three consecutive wins, the latest breakthrough coming at the tie-break in Verona. Kantor’s men will try to make it four straight when they face Sora. The other rookie of the division had lost against Vibo the A2 cup final last season but totally made up for it by earning promotion against them in the playoffs final. Sora is now bottom but regenerated by its home win over Milan.
Tricky moment for Modena and there’s the « classic » against Trento to deal with. Piazza’s men lost twice in a row on a 3-1 score, first home against Monza and then in Molfetta. Super star Ngapeth was injured and Modena paid the price. The French should be ready against Trento, who’s still top of the league in spite of losing its postponed game on Wednesday against Piacenza.
Civitanova is lurking in second place hoping to take advantage of the big game between Modena and Trento to get back in first place. A good number of fans will travel from Verona. A big game for them to get back on track after three consecutive losses. Verona currently stands in fourth place tied with Perugia.
Padova put an end to its negative run thanks to a 3-2 come-back win in Latina in the last round. The hosts had gone in front twice but Padova rallied and finally won it. In Balaso and Fedrizzi’s 100th appearance in regular season, Padova will take on Piacenza, who’s won seven of its last eight, the latest on Thursday night against Trento.
Ravenna wants to celebrate Bossi’s hundredth appearance in Italy with a win. Beaten in its last four games, the last one in the derby against Piacenza, Ravenna wants to stop the bleeding against Milan. The latter was severely beaten in the last round by the other promoted club, Sora.
Coming off a 3-1 away win in the Champions League preliminary round against Amriswill in Switzerland, Perugia will play the return game on Sunday in its PalaEvangelisti arena. This is why their league game against Latina was postponed to Wednesday 23 November.
11a giornata di andata SuperLega UnipolSai
Friday 18 November at 8.30pm
Gi Group Monza – Exprivia Molfetta Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
Sunday 20 November at 5.30pm
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia – Biosì Indexa Sora Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
Sunday 20 November at 6pm
Azimut Modena – Diatec Trentino Live on Lega Volley Channel
Cucine Lube Civitanova – Calzedonia Verona Live on Lega Volley Channel
Kioene Padova – LPR Piacenza Live on Lega Volley Channel
Bunge Ravenna – Revivre Milano Live on Lega Volley Channel
SuperLega UnipolSai round 11 postponed game
Wednesday 23 November at 8.30pm
Sir Safety Conad Perugia – Top Volley Latina Diretta Lega Volley Channel
League table
Diatec Trentino 26, Cucine Lube Civitanova 25, Azimut Modena 23, Sir Safety Conad Perugia 19, Calzedonia Verona 19, LPR Piacenza 18, Gi Group Monza 15, Kioene Padova 13, Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia 11, Exprivia Molfetta 11, Bunge Ravenna 8, Revivre Milano 8, Top Volley Latina 7, Biosì Indexa Sora 7
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia – Biosì Indexa Sora
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 11 (7-4 Sora)
Waldo Kantor (coach Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia): “We’ve been playing well of late, and we have to translate this good work in solid performances both in terms of play and mental toughness. We’re more mature, we make less mistake, we really improved mentally because we never give up. We’re facing an even more difficult game than the others against Sora, we have to give it all. You cannot take anything for granted in this league, we’ll have to fight from start to finish ».
Matteo Sperandio (Biosì Indexa Sora): “It will be special to come back to Vibo, but this is a different season and they have an different team than last year. They have changed everyone except for the libero and outside hitter. This will be a difficult game, but we will give it our best shot, we gained confidence and experience with the four points taken. Besides we have a full week of training under our belts. Vibo has been playing brilliantly of late, they obtained great victories but that does not scare us, at times in volleyball it does not mean anything ».
Azimut Modena – Diatec Trentino
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 63 (36-27 trento)
Roberto Piazza (coach Azimut Modena): “The boys are ready for a big one. Trento will be eager to get back on the winning track after its loss in Piacenza. It will surely be very tense at the start but then the two teams will loosen up and we’ll see a good game. Serve and reception are the two best weapons of both teams. Patience will be key as well as good volleyball ».
Angelo Lorenzetti (coach Diatec Trentino): “This will be a tough game, especially for me emotionally, even if I had the experience of the SuperCup semi-final. No matter the result, I hope we’ll be more competitive and they we’ll have learned the lesson of the loss in Piacenza. We know Modena is a top quality side and that they’ll want to make up for two recent losses with a big win on Sunday ».
Cucine Lube Civitanova – Calzedonia Verona
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 27 (23-4 Civitanova)
Dragan Stankovic (Cucine Lube Civitanova): “Verona is a top team built to win. We’ll need our best volley to beat them. Patience and determination are key words here. We have to play one rally at a time with maximum focus, we have to be in it from the get-go. There are three games left before the half-way point of the regular season, each games have big points at stake and we want to make the most of the two home games we have ahead, first we’ll focus on Verona then Molfetta ».
Andrea Giovi (Calzedonia Verona): “Playing such an important and difficult game must be an opportunity for us. Not many have the chance to play games of this intensity. We have to experience it fully, be hundred percent in it and give everything we’ve got ».
Kioene Padova – LPR Piacenza
PASTE ENCOUNTERS: 26 (17-9 Piacenza)
Valerio Baldovin (coach Kioene Padova): “On Sunday we’ll be up against top class athletes who have a lot of experience. Piacenza obtained good results so far, we know it will be tough to contain their servers, Clevenot and their Cubans. But we want to play without fear. The level of the league is very high, big performances are required against any oppositiion ».
Francesco Cottarelli (LPR Piacenza): “We can say we made up for the points lost in Vibo with the victory against Trento. We’re all satisfied with this team performance but now the important thing is not to lower our guards and relax. We have another important game ahead against Padova, another challenge that will probably be very tight until the last ball drops. We have to stay focused like we did against Trento and give our best again in Padova ».
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 5 (3-2 Milan)
Fabio Soli (coach Bunge Ravenna): “The game against Milan becomes twice as important because we’re coming off a poor defeat, not easy to take in. We know who will be in the top six but then Milan is a team built to fight for the two remaining places. They have lost their last one too, and they’ll be eager to bounce back. Besides, they have their main guy Skrimov back in the side. I think the game might take time to take off. The one who will manage to loosen up in the clutch time might win it. We’ll need a lot of patience in the reception-attack combination, ready to work on balls away from the net, trying to reduce the difficulties as much as we can and play with maximum focus ».
Gianluca Galassi (Revivre Milano): “We have been working extremely hard this week and we will keep improving on some aspects in our last training sessions before Sunday’s game. This is an important game for us, an in-or-out game. We have to give everything we have to win it. Unfortunately, after the loss against Sora we need to regain confidence. We’ll need to get on court with a different spirit against Ravenna and impose our game. Little by little, all our injured players are coming back and this is a significant aspect for us. Hopefully, this run of bad luck is over and we can get back up the league table ».
Sir Safety Conad Perugia – Top Volley Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 8 (7-1 Perugia)
Post game quotes will be out on Tuesdaya 22 in the presentation of this postponed game
Predicting any results in the Serie A2 has become totally impossible, which makes it all the more interesting.
Beaten on the road by Tuscania, Siena lost its leadership in the white group. Some doubts had sufaced in the match against Potenza and last weekend Tuscania uncovered some difficulties at the net and reception from Siena. The latter will try to get back on top when they take on the new leader. Castellana Grotte is feeling comfortable above the rest with six wins in as many games. A win would create a six-point gap with Siena. In the meantime, the club let setter Di Noia go. He will be substituted by Parisi.
After its breakthrough in Santa Croce, Alessano is back home to take on Aversa, who will try to keep their opponent of the day behind in spite of the long trip they have to make. Four wins and eleven points have brought euphoria but it also puts pressure on Pasquale Bosco’s team.
Ortona needs a victory as they will take on Potenza Picena, a team they know well, having them beaten twice in pre-season. Potenza Picena might be the most unpredictable team of the Serie A2. Di Pinto’s men managed to beat Tuscania and make it hard for Siena, while they lost home against Lagonegro in spite of a 2-0 lead.
Lagonegro proved that sometimes a little spark can change it all. Dominated and close to surrender against Potenza, they turned things around from the third set to win it. They will try to add a home win to that when they entertain Club Italia, still without a win and with only two sets taken so far.
On Sunday in the PalaMalè arena, Tuscania showed what a serious contender it was by inflicting a 3-1 defeat to the leader Siena, who had only lost one set in the first five encounters. They will play host to Santa Croce, who needs a special performance to put the poor display against Alessano behind them.
Last from bottom in the Blue group, Grottazzolina has however the momentum following their come-back win at the tie-break against Montecchio Maggiore. They will take on Bergamo, fourth and on the up after a tough start to the season. In the last round they dominated Cantù thanks to brilliant attacking displays from Hoogendoorn and Cavuto.
It’s third against second. Civita Castellana will try to make the most of the home court advantage when they take on Brescia. In the last round, Civita came back from Reggio Emilia with a 3-1 win, while Brescia swept Spoleto on the road.
The leaders of Mondovì will play a second game running at home after the comfortable win obtained at the expense of Materdomini Castellana Grotte. The visitors in the PalaManera arena will be Reggio Emilia, who saw a two game winning streak interrupted by a four-set loss at home against Civita Castellana.
Bottom of the group with two points, Materdomini Castellana Grotte has faced a lot of disappointments and injuries since its 3-2 win over Reggio Emilia. Last weekend, they surrendered to the leaders of Mondovì without Fiore (long term) and Casoli, who came back in the mid-week loss against Spoleto. Montecchio Maggiore lost a big opportunity in the sixth round when they let Grottazzolina come back from behind to win it 3-2.
Cantù is coming off a 3-1 home loss against Reggio Emilia and a 3-0 loss in Bergamo. Sixth with 9 points, they will try to get back among the top teams in the standings by beating Spoleto, who had it easy on Wednesday against Materdomini. That was a good way to forget about last weekend’s home loss against Brescia.
Serie A2 UnipolSai Round 7 – WHITE GROUP
Saturday 19 November at 8.30pm
Emma Villas Siena – BCC Castellana Grotte Live on Lega Volley Channel
Aurispa Alessano – Sigma Aversa Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sunday 20 November at 6pm
Sieco Service Ortona – GoldenPlast Potenza Picena Live on Lega Volley Channel
Basi Grafiche Geosat Lagonegro – Club Italia Crai Roma Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sunday 20 November at 7.30pm
Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania – Kemas Lamipel Santa Croce Live on Lega Volley Channel
White group standings
BCC Castellana Grotte 18, Emma Villas Siena 15, Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania 13, Sigma Aversa 11, Kemas Lamipel Santa Croce 9, Aurispa Alessano 8, GoldenPlast Potenza Picena 7, Sieco Service Ortona 6, Basi Grafiche Geosat Lagonegro 3, Club Italia Crai Roma 0
Serie A2 UnipolSai Round 7 – BLUE GROUP
Sunday 20 November at 12am
Videx Grottazzolina – Caloni Agnelli Bergamo Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sunday 20 November at 4pm
Ceramica Globo Civita Castellana – Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia Live on Lega Volley Channel
6pm
VBC Mondovì – Conad Reggio Emilia Live on Lega Volley Channel
Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte – Sol Lucernari Montecchio Maggiore
7.30pm
Pool Libertas Cantù – Monini Spoleto Live on Lega Volley Channel
Blue group standings
VBC Mondovì 13, Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia 13, Ceramica Globo Civita Castellana 12, Caloni Agnelli Bergamo 10, Monini Spoleto 10, Pool Libertas Cantù 9, Conad Reggio Emilia 8, Sol Lucernari Montecchio Maggiore 7, Videx Grottazzolina 6, Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte 2
