Year 2017 began with a weekend of league action and it is now time for the Italian Cup quarter-finals, in which there will be the four winners of the 8th of finals and the four ‘bigs’ who were directly qualified.
Second in the league, Trento continues to chase the leader Civitanova. In the cup they lifted the trophy aloft three times, while they were on the losing end of a final three times too. They will take on Monza, who’s coming off a nice come-back win over newly promoted Sora. In the 8th of finals, they had the better of Ravenna at the tie-break.
The holder, Modena, won the last two editions. However, their recent ups and downs in the league made them slip to fourth. In the last round, they had the better of Latina at the tie-break. In the cup quarters, they will host Sora, bottom of the table after a 3-1 defeat in Monza in spite of being 1-0 up.
Perugia comes in as third in the table just one point behind Trento. They will play a remake of the cup final 2014, lost 3-0 against Piacenza. The latter won the trophy twice but this year had to go through the 8th of finals won over Molfetta 3-1.
Dominant in the league, Civitanova will try to leave its mark as well in the cup. They’re coming off a rather comfortable win over Milan and are ready to take on Vibo Valentia who was defeated on Sunday by Perugia 3-1. Kantor’s men had a suprising first part of season, they made it to the quarters by knocking out Padova on a 3-1 score.
Del Monte® Italian Cup SuperLega – Quarter-finals
Wednesday 11 January at 8.30pm
Sir Safety Conad Perugia (4) – LPR Piacenza (5) Live on Lega Volley Channel
Diatec Trentino (2) – Gi Group Monza (7) Live on Lega Volley Channel
Azimut Modena (3) – Biosì Indexa Sora (11) Live on Lega Volley Channel
Thursday 12 January at 8.30pm
Cucine Lube Civitanova (1) – Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia (8) Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
Del Monte® Italian Cup SuperLega – Final Four
Unipol Arena – Casalecchio di Reno (BO)
Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 January
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 24 (18-6 Civitanova)
IN THE CUP 2 – Quarters 2010-2011 (Macerata – Vibo Valentia 3-1), Quarters 2008-2009 (Macerata – Vibo Valentia 3-0).
Civitanova’s cup history
4 trophies in 22 participations : In 2001 and 2003 against Treviso, in 2008 vs Roma and 2009 vs Cuneo
Vibo’s cup history
3 A2 cup won, and one final in the A1 in 13 overal participations : Serie A1 final in 2005 lost against Treviso. A2 triumphs in 2003 against Lamezia, in 2015 vs Potenza Picena and 2016 vs Sora.
Gianlorenzo Blengini (coach Cucine Lube Civitanova): “We’ll need to play with maximum focus, we need to do that against any opposition and even more in a do-or-die game like this one against Vibo. Like I always say, we have a lot of resources and quality players, we must make the most of this important potential, especially in the games that matter ».
Manuel Coscione (Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia): “This is the kind of games that every player would love to play. This is exciting for us and for the club to face such an important team, which is also the league leaders right now. We proved we could compete in Perugia, but we have to step up another gear and avoid ups and downs. They will have all the pressure, we have to enjoy our game and just try to do everything we can from first to last play ».
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 5 (All Trento)
IN THE CUP: None
Trento’s cup history
Three trophies in 15 participations : In 2010 vs Cuneo, 2012 and 2013 vs Macerata.
Monza’s cup history
Had its first participation in the A1 in 2015-16 : Knocked out by Modena in the quarter-finals.
Tine Urnaut (Diatec Trentino): “We’ll need great focus and an even better performance than the one we had on Sunday against Piacenza. Monza is a tough teal, they pushed us to the tie-break in the PalaTrento arena, they know how to make it hard for us but we want to go to Bologna, we will do eveyrthing we can to make it in the semi-finals».
Iacopo Botto (Gi Group Monza): “In those kind of games, you don’t really think about what occured in the league. Knowing we made it to the tie-break in one of the toughest court does give us confidence and the belief awareness that we’ll need our very best to reach our target. Trento has been doing extremely well of late, i twill be even harder this time around to get a result in the PalaTrento arena. I’d say the serve and blocking will be key. This is the weapons that helped us the most in recent games and the ones that had helped us make it hard for them in the regular season game ».
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 2 (Both for Modena)
IN THE CUP: None
Modena’s cup history
12 times winners in 34 participations : in 1979, 1980, 1985, 1986 (Group format competition), 1988 vs Bologna, 1989 vs Treviso, 1994 vs Parma, 1995 vs Treviso, 1997 vs Cuneo, 1998 vs Cuneo, 2015 vs trentino, 2016 vs Trentino.
Sora’s cup history
7 participations all in the A2 : One final in 2016, beaten by Vibo Valentia.
Andrea Sartoretti (GM Azimut Modena): “This is the first knock-out game and there is a place in the cup final four at stake. They are said weaker but they will come with nothing to lose. We need to be agressive, determined to take the win. We have to impose our game, our rhythm and prevent them from settling into the game. Sora proved they could play top quality volleyball. Like coach Piazza said, it’s important to play with a smile, get back to enjoying it a bit more. The team has an excellent potential, the boys have to improve through the difficult moments though ».
Adi Lami (General Manager Biosì Indexa Sora): “This will be a tough game against top quality players. They have talent and experience in great events like World Leagues, European and World Championships. They are used to those in-or-out games, and ready not only mentally but technically too. But we have to stay calm, do what we can and enjoy the game from our first step into the PalaPanini arena until the last ball drops. Each player should take it as an opportunity to get better for the future, for this season and future career. We’ll obviously have to take care of every detail because they will all be ready to make it hard for us. We have to keep up with their serve at all cost. They really excell in that department. Physically, all the boys are in good shape and mentally we had started to prepare them before the start of the second half of season, so we feel ready and motivated for this quarter-final ».
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 18 (9 each)
IN THE CUP: 1 – Final 2014 (Piacenza – Perugia 3-0)
Perugia’s cup history
5 Participations, 4 in the A1 : one final in 2014, beaten by Piacenza.
Piacenza’s cup history:
1 Serie A1 and 1 Serie A2 trophy out of 12 overall participations : The A1 victory was in 2014 over Perugia, while the A2 triumph was in 2002 against Forlì.
Federico Tosi (Sir Safety Conad Perugia): “We’ll need to play a great game on Wednesday. This is do-or-die so all the characteristics and what happened in the league before do not matter anymore. This will be a tough match, we’ll need a strong start to reach the final four ».
Alberto Giuliani (coach LPR Piacenza): “We’ll play for a place in the Italian Cup final four against Perugia. We did a good job of getting here and have our chance to go to Bologna. This would be a dream for us. We know we’re up against a team that is firing on all cylinders. And we know that, given the financial efforts made by the club of President Sirci, that they have no choice but aim for the final four. After our trip to Trento, we’ll hit the road again to be in Perugia on Tuesday morning and start preparing this difficult encounter. Hopefully we’ll have everybody fit to play ».
