RadzivonMiskevich was named UnipolSai MVP for the month of November. The Sora star received three nomination in which he scored 33, 29 and 25 points, respectively against Latina, Vibo Valentia and Padova. He will receive his award on Sunday 11 December before the home match against Modena.
First return games to come this weekend in the SuperLega. Another 13 rounds to go before the playoffs and a lot of entertainment and suspense ahead of us.
Verona put an end to a terrible run with a 3-0 road win in Padova in the last round. Sixth in the table, they’ll want to keep up the good work against Latina, currently last from bottom and out of the cup in spite of the recent come-back victory against Vibo Valentia (3-2).
Vibo Valentia is enjoying its cup qualification is spite of the tie-break disappointment in Latina. They have a tough task ahead against Trentino, second in the standings after their five-setter won in Molfetta.
Sora and November’s MVP Radzivon Miskevich are expecting a sold-out arena this Sunday as the Italian Champions of Modena are coming over. Modena is coming off a superb victory over the league leaders of Civitanova at the tie-break. And they showed their capacity of digging deep in the Champions League too, when they overcame Ljubljana on a 3-2 score too.
Bottom of the table with 9 points and brushed aside by Perugia in the last round, Milan will try to get on track against Molfetta, who sneaked in the cup thanks to the point taken against Trentino.
Ravenna is feeling good ahead of the return games as it stands in tenth place and have French spiker Lyneel back. In the last round, they came back from 2-0 down to beat the newly promoted Sora 3-2. They’ll play host to Padova this weekend. Ninth, Padova had begun the season very well before suddenly putting the breaks on. They will try to put an end to a three-game losing streak.
In spite of a last gasp defeat against Modena, Civitanova was winter champ. However, the energy spent in the big league game took its toll in the Champions League. Indeed, Civitanova went crashing in four sets in Berlin. They’ll try to bounce back against Monza, seventh in the table after a 3-1 home loss against Piacenza.
Perugia is on a roll both in Italy and Europe. They have put together a string of five wins, the last four without conceding a set. The latest triumph was an impressive performance in Ankara. There’s another big game coming up for them with Piacenza, an in-form team fifth in the league and coming off a 3-1 CEV Cup win over the Byelorussians of Minsk.
SuperLega UnipolSai round 14
Saturday 10 December at 7.30pm
Calzedonia Verona – Top Volley Latina Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sunday 11 December at 6pm
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia – Diatec Trentino Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
Biosì Indexa Sora – Azimut Modena Live on Lega Volley Channel
Revivre Milano – Exprivia Molfetta Live on Lega Volley Channel
Bunge Ravenna – Kioene Padova Live on Lega Volley Channel
Cucine Lube Civitanova – Gi Group Monza Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sir Safety Conad Perugia – LPR Piacenza Live on Lega Volley Channel
League table
Cucine Lube Civitanova 32, Diatec Trentino 31, Azimut Modena 30, Sir Safety Conad Perugia 28, LPR Piacenza 24, Calzedonia Verona 22, Gi Group Monza 19, Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia 16, Kioene Padova 14, Bunge Ravenna 13, Biosì Indexa Sora 12, Exprivia Molfetta 12, Top Volley Latina 11, Revivre Milano 9
Calzedonia Verona – Top Volley Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 26 (16-10 Verona)
Simone Anzani (Calzedonia Verona): “This will be an important game, we have to keep working hard. We’re on the right track, this is the way to go. We must use the momentum from the Padova game. Every encounter has its own difficulties ».
Matteo Pistolesi (Top Volley Latina): “Verona put an end to a difficult period with a win in Padova. This will be a tricky game but after two consecutive wins, we’ll go there to try to take more points. We have to keep improving, and that does not mean only results, but the way we’ve been working and playing volleyball. We have to try to move up the table to qualify for the playoffs ».
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia – Diatec Trentino
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 27 (23-4 Trento)
Waldo Kantor (coach Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia): “We had a good first half of season. The 8th place is an excellent achievement, many teams of our level would love to be there. The team has improved both as a group and as individuals. The boys have shown their courage and had a little luck too, which is nice to have. We have to look ahead with even more determination, starting against Trento. They play at a very high level, we’ll have to put pressure with our serve and be aggressive with our blocking and dig ».
Simone Giannelli (Diatec Trentino): “We will try to put together a run of results starting with this road game in Vibo Valentia. We know this will be tough there against a team that has improved a lot of late. The result of the first meeting will not mean anything at all ».
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (Modena)
Denis Kalinin (Biosì Indexa Sora): “Given how strong is Modena, we’ll need our very best and a full house. We’ve done well of late, we took some important points, we feel physically and mentally strong, we’ve done an excellent job. We’re ready to face Modena and more importantly face this second half of season with more belief in ourselves. Besides, we’re happy we qualified for the Italian Cup. This is something that must help us grow every day. We will work hard, follow our coaches’ advice and get better together ».
Roberto Piazza (coach Azimut Modena): “Just like any other game, the one against Sora has its own difficulties. We’ll have to be careful. We know all the teams step up a gear against us. We’re focused, we want to finish 2016 well. The critics after the Ljubjana game does not interest me, we just have to focus on what’s coming ».
Revivre Milano – Exprivia Molfetta
PAST ENCOUNTERS : 5 (4-1 Molfetta)
Gianluca Galassi (Revivre Milano): “This second half of season will be very important for us. This will be an opportunity to show who we really are and that the results so far are only the consequence of a lot of bad luck. We’ll take on Molfetta, which we beat 3-1 but this will be a totally different game. They’ll be up for it but we’ll be ready too, focused and determined after a hard-working training week. We’ll have to watch out for Sabbi and Joao Rafael, but also for their middle blockers Polo and Vitelli, who have been playing very well. I know them very well, we played together in Italy’s Under 21. This should be a good game ».
Alberto Polo (Exprivia Molfetta): “We have to find our focus for this second half of season, starting against Milan, a team that beat us in the first meeting. We want to take revenge, we hope to be all in good shape physically. This is an important game against a direct rival. We’re not far from the playoffs zone, we want to make it ».
Bunge Ravenna – Kioene Padova
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 57 (31-26 Modena)
Fabio Soli (coach Bunge Ravenna): “Even if they have not been at their best of late, Padova remains a very dangerous team with good spikers who can hit some excellent serves with consistency as well as play at the net. We’ll need patience, play one rally at a time. We cannot make mistakes. We’ll need to be ready to battle, and be effective when we’ll have opportunities. It will be crucial to receive well, while we have the potential to hurt them with our serve. After our qualification in the cup, we face this second half of season knowing that what we did was not enough to get in the playoffs. We’ll need even more determination and energy to fight for a top 8 place, which is not too far. It’s very tight in the second part of the table, we have to try our best ».
Valerio Baldovin (coach Kioene Padova): “We start this second half of season with a difficult one, though they’re all tough in this SuperLega. Ravenna has Lyneel back, a very important player for them, he had made it very hard for us in the first match. Our main goal will be to play better than in our last poor display against Verona ».
Cucine Lube Civitanova – Gi Group Monza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 5 (All Civitanova)
Dragan Stankovic (Cucine Lube Civitanova): “We want to get back on track right away, especially after the defeat in Berlin. Careful to Monza though, this is a team that managed to win in the PalaPanini arena. We want to stay top of the table ».
Iacopo Botto (Gi Group Monza): “We had some excellent games against the top teams like Modena and Trento. We start this second half of season with confidence and will to do well. Civitanova is definitley one of the strongest teams in the league and they’ll be home willing to bounce back from their Champions league defeat. We’ll need the perfect game to get some points, with a sharp serve, consistency in attack and reception ».
Sir Safety Conad Perugia – LPR Piacenza
PAST ENCOUNTERS : 17 (9-8 Piacenza)
Ivan Zaytsev (Sir Safety Conad Perugia): “We’re coming off some good wins that gave us a boost. We’ll try to keep this winning streak going. We have a tough one against Piacenza now. They are fifth, just behind us, we want to keep them behind and stay close to the top three. We’ll have to be focused, Piacenza will be up for it. They have found their balance and they’ve been playing very well of late. This is definitley a tricky game, but at the same time a great one to play ».
Loris Manià (LPR Piacenza): “Perugia has top quality players, they proved they were a great team in this first part of season. We have excellent players too and we can show our quality in this road game too. We should not be scared but play with determination. In the first game against Perugia, we had some injured players, now we have everybody fit ».
No time to rest in the Serie A2 after Thursday’s games. Santa Croce added two players at once with Dennis and Vermiglio and it paid off with the Cuban leading the way in the three points taken away against Potenza Picena.The setter will make his debut against Ortona, last from bottom in the white group but coming off a tie-break win over Alessano.
Castellana Grotte won its second consecutive road game thanks to a come-back in Lagonegro. Still, Siena caught them at the top. Now they need a three-point win over Aversa, fourth in the table and coming off 7 wins in its last 8 encounters, the latest against Tuscania in five sets.
Alessano just lost a marathon against Ortona, and now they’re ready to take on Potenza, defeated at home in a key game for fifth place. This one becomes even more crucial.
In the fourth set of its last game, Tuscania managed to fight back against Aversa, only to lose in the fifth set. Its next game will be against Club Italia Rome, bottom and still without a win.
Siena made the most of its trip to the capital on Wednesday night against Club Italia. Tofoli’s men are now tied at the top with Castellana Grotte ahead of their game against Lagonegro, who was dreaming of beating the leaders of Castellana when they were 2-1 up, only to lose it in the fifth.
In the blue group, Montecchio Maggiore is in dark waters following their three-set loss in Reggio Emilia. Next coming over is Civita Castellana, stunned by Bergamo at home at the tie-break.
Cantù is in need of points after a four-set loss in Brescia in the Lombardy derby. They will try to get a win when they host Materdomini Castellana Grotte, who got off the bottom thanks to a four-set win over Grottazzolina.
Mondovì is coming off a 3-1 road win in Spoleto, which meant they went top of the group with a three-point advantage on the rest but on Sunday there’s Brescia coming over. Brescia won the derby against Cantù on Thursday.
The superb come-back win over Civita Castellana is still fresh in the minds of the Bergamo fans. A game that seemed lost turned into a tie-break victory. Thanks to this win they are now tied in fourth place with Reggio Emilia, who swept Montecchio Maggiore on Thursday night.
Without the injured Moretti, Grottazzolina is now bottom of the group after a four-set defeat in the PalaGrotte. Now they dream of a breakthrough against Spoleto, who will try to bounce back from its loss against Mondovì.
Serie A2 UnipolSai round 11 – White group
Sunday 11 December at 12am
Kemas Lamipel Santa Croce – Sieco Service Ortona Live on Lega Volley Channel
4pm
BCC Castellana Grotte – Sigma Aversa Luciani Live on Lega Volley Channel
6pm
Aurispa Alessano – GoldenPlast Potenza Picena Live on Lega Volley Channel
Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania – Club Italia Crai Roma Live on Lega Volley Channel
Emma Villas Siena – Basi Grafiche Geosat Lagonegro Live on Lega Volley Channel
White group standings
BCC Castellana Grotte 24, Emma Villas Siena 24, Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania 20, Sigma Aversa 19, Kemas Lamipel Santa Croce 16, Basi Grafiche Geosat Lagonegro 13, GoldenPlast Potenza Picena 12, Aurispa Alessano 12, Sieco Service Ortona 10, Club Italia Crai Roma 0
Serie A2 UnipolSai round 11 – Blue group
Sunday 11 December at 12am
Sol Lucernari Montecchio Maggiore – Ceramica Globo Civita Castellana Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sunday 11 December at 4pm
Pool Libertas Cantù – Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sunday 11 December at 6pm
VBC Mondovì – Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia Live on Lega Volley Channel
7.30pm
Caloni Agnelli Bergamo – Conad Reggio Emilia Live on Lega Volley Channel
Videx Grottazzolina – Monini Spoleto Live on Lega Volley Channel
Blue group standings
VBC Mondovì 22, Monini Spoleto 19, Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia 19, Conad Reggio Emilia 17, Caloni Agnelli Bergamo 17, Ceramica Globo Civita Castellana 16, Pool Libertas Cantù 11, Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte 10, Sol Lucernari Montecchio Maggiore 10, Videx Grottazzolina 9
