The 39th Italian Cup will begin with four 8th of finals, the winners of which will take on the top four of the SuperLega at the halfway point of the regular season. The final four will be on January 28-29 in Casalecchio di Reno.
Piacenza slipped to sixth last weekend because of a road loss against Perugia. They will take on Molfetta who clinched the last ticket into the cup (12th).
Verona overcame Padova on the road before beating Latina home to move above Piacenza in fifth place. In the cup, they will entertain Sora, who’s coming off a home loss against Modena. Finalist of the A2 cup in 2016, this will be Sora’s first participation in the top division.
Seventh at the halfway point, Monza dreams of a quarter-final against Trentino. They’re coming off losses against Trentino, Piacenza and Civitanova as they prepare to face Ravenna in the cup. Ravenna gained confidence of late with a win over Sora and a 3-1 home victory over Monza.
Vibo Valentia could be described as the A2 cup specialist as it won it three times in history. Kantor’s men have done brilliantly recently with 5 wins in its last seven encounters, including a tie-break win over Trentino. They will play Padova, the veteran team of this Italian Cup. In the league, Padova has only beaten Vibo once in 11 attempts.
Del Monte® Italian Cup SuperLega
8th of finals
Mercoledì 14 dicembre 2016, ore 20.30
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia – Kioene Padova (8 – 9) Live on Lega Volley Channel
LPR Piacenza – Exprivia Molfetta (5 – 12) Live on Lega Volley Channel
Gi Group Monza – Bunge Ravenna (7 – 10) Live on Lega Volley Channel
Calzedonia Verona – Biosì Indexa Sora (6 – 11) Live on Lega Volley Channel
Del Monte® Italian Cup SuperLega
Quarter-finals on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 January at 8.30pm
Cucine Lube Civitanova – Winner Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia/Kioene Padova (1 – 8/9)
Sir Safety Conad Perugia – Winner LPR Piacenza/Exprivia Molfetta (4 – 5/12)
Diatec Trentino – Winner Gi Group Monza/Bunge Ravenna (2 – 7/10)
Azimut Modena – Winner Calzedonia Verona/Biosì Indexa Sora (3 – 6/11)
One game on Thursday 12 Live on RAI Sport 1
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 8 (5-3 Molfetta)
IN THE CUP: None
Piacenza’s cup history:
12 participations, 2 trophies : 2014 vs Perugia, in the A2 2002 vs Forlì.
Molfetta’s cup history
3 participations: 1 in the A1 in 2016, beaten in the quarters by Trentino
Samuele Papi (LPR Piacenza): “This 8th of finals will be tough. Molfetta will come in without much to lose and they’ll play loose. We should not wait for their mistakes. It’s up to us to play our best volleyball. We must impose our rhythm and put pressure on our opponents. Except for the return game against Perugia, we have done very well of late, we’ll try to keep it going ».
Pier Paolo Partenio (Exprivia Molfetta): “In the last game, Milan made the most of our mistakes to win it. We have to come out of this poor run and get all our players back to fitness. We have a deep roster, we must use everyone. I always give my best in training and I am happy I played, but I hoped in a different result like all my teammates. We have to play our game on Wednesday, we know how strong is Piacenza. I used to play there, I learnt a lot there playing alongside many super talents of this league. It’s a special emotion for me to play against them but like I said we need to stay focused and give it all ».
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (Verona)
NONE IN THE CUP
Verona’s cup history
9 participations: 2 trophies in the A2 in 2004 and 2008 vs Vibo Valentia
Sora’s cup history
7 participations : Beaten in the A2 final 2016 by Vibo
Gian Andrea Marchesi (Sport director Calzedonia Verona): “We’re up against a team that has done well of late. They have an interesting outside hitter for our league. This is a team we know well, that we have beaten. It’s a do or die game so we’ll need maximum focus and determination ».
Svetoslav Gotsev (Biosì Indexa Sora): “This is a great achievement to be in the cup for a newly promoted team. This is a very important result for me and my teammates, as well as for the club. We had played well in Verona and, after an under-par start, we went close to a tie-break in spite of being without our captain Rosso. Verona has not done too well of late, but this is a more experienced and stronger team than ours. They are favourite and they play home. We cannot underestimate any of their players, they can all contribute. I’d focus particularly on Djuric and Kovacevic though, their main offensive threats. This will be an extremely tough game but we’ll try to make it last as much as possible ».
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 8 (4 each)
NONE IN THE CUP: nessun precedente in Coppa Italia
Monza’s cup history :
3 participations: 1 quarter-final in the A1 in 2016 (vs Modena)
Ravenna’s cup history
17 participations: 1 quarter-final in the A1 in 2015 vs Modena. Ravenna won the A1/A2 mixed edition of 1991 against Milan.
Simon Hirsch (Gi Group Monza): “We lost against Civitanova but this is a game that helped us understand where we can improve. We really want to get back to winning at home against Ravenna. In the first meeting, they proved they were tough to beat. They play with energy as a unit, and that’s what we expect to see tomorrow. We’ll need to be more consistent and accurate in attack. We must avoid the poor runs we had in recent games. We also have to play with more determination and be clinical in the key moments of the sets ».
Fabio Soli (coach Bunge Ravenna): “My players know it’s in or out. I’ve seen them more focused and more positive already yesterday. This is our first target, it would be nice to be among the top 8 in this competition. In the league, they beat us at the tie-break and we don’t have good memories from this match, especially with Lyneel’s injury. Our opponent are doing as expected, they’re right behind the top 6 teams, and now they have outside hitter Hirsch. They have excellent players, like Fromm, but even if they are favourites, we’ll go there to do our best and try to win the game ».
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 11 (10-1 Vibo)
NONE IN THE CUP
Vibo’s cup history
13 participations: Final 2005 vs Treviso in the A1, three trophies in the A2 (2003 vs Lamezia, 2015 vs Potenza Picena, 2016 vs Sora).
Padova’s cup history
23 participations: Semi-final 1989 vs Modena. Winner in the A2 in 2014 against Monza
Enrico Diamantini (Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia): “Winning against a strong team like Trento gives you a lot of motivation. We know there’s a lot at stake in this cup game. We’ll have to stay humble and be patient because this will be a very difficult game against an opponent keen to get on track after a rather negative period ».
Stefano Santuz (Sport director Kioene Padova): “This will be an important game to find the level of play that has been missing of late. This cup game will be useful to prepare the next league match against Perugia, a top team that will definitely not make anything easy for us ».
The Del Monte® Italian Cup kicks off with the quarter-finals. The top four teams of each group meet each other.
BCC Castellana Grotte is back in a cup after a few years spent in the Serie B. The 2012 A2 cup winners will play Civita Castellana, fourth of the blue group and coming off a road win over Montecchio Maggiore on a 3-1 score.
Without injured outside hitter Matteo Paoletti, the blue group leaders of Mondovì lost its last encounter in straight sets against Brescia. They’ll face Aversa, one of the toughest teams of the A2.
Qualified as second of the white group, Siena got a comfortable win against Lagonegro which took them to first place before their cup match over Brescia. The latter will try to have another top performance after the one against Mondovì.
Spoleto bounced back from a loss against Mondovì with a four-set win in Grottazzolina. They will take on Tuscania, third of its group and four points from the top following its win over Club Italia.
Del Monte® Italian Cup Serie A2 – Quarter-finals
Wednesday 14 December at 8.30pm
BCC Castellana Grotte – Ceramica Globo Civita Castellana (1st white group – 4th blue group) Live on Lega Volley Channel
VBC Mondovì – Sigma Aversa (1st blue group – 4th white group) Live on Lega Volley Channel
Thursday 15 December at 8.30pm
Emma Villas Siena – Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia (2nd white group – 3rd blue group) Live on Lega Volley Channel
Monini Spoleto – Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania (2nd blue group – 3rd white group) Live on Lega Volley Channel
Del Monte® Italian Cup Serie A2 – Semifinali
Semi-finals on Thursday 29 December at 8.30pm
