After the precious point taken from the undefeated league leaders Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina in Saturday evening’s match, the time has come for Pool Libertas Cantù to face a challenge at the opposite end. On Sunday 3 December 2023 at 6.00 pm Coach Francesco Denora Caporusso’s boys will face the newly promoted Sieco Service Ortona at the Palasport Comunale of the Abruzzo city, bottom of the table and still looking for the first victory of this 2023/2024 season. But this shouldn’t be deceiving: their roster is made up of experienced players in the category, and they will do everything to win in front of their fans.
Coach Francesco Denora Caporusso presents the challenge like this: “Ortona is a team to be very careful with: the ranking does not reflect the value of this roster. Nobody would have predicted a similar situation with important players like theirs, but on the other hand we also thought we would start the season better. We will have to play a patient game, at times even dirty if necessary: they have important centimeters that they can use on the block and in attack. Then I think we will also find a warm environment since they are waiting for their first victory. Our goal is to try to win it to detach ourselves a little from the back group, to be able to start looking at those in front of us with more serenity.”
THE OPPONENTS
Coach Nunzio Lanci has been on the bench of Sieco Service since his first season in Serie A2 Credem Banca, 2012/2013. The confirmed Leonardo Ferrato is in the control room, having helped Credem Banca win promotion from Serie A3 last year. Opposite is the son of art Diego Cantagalli, who returned to Abruzzo in the summer after two championships at Conad Reggio Emilia. The spikers are the former player, and another confirmation, Matteo Bertoli, and the eternal (born in 1979) Leonel Marshall, a Cuban grinder, confirmed in Ortona after a life in the Super League with the Piacenza shirt and experiences all over the world . In the center we find Tommaso Fabi, in his fourth year on the Adriatic coast, and Gabriele Tognoni, who spent the last three seasons in Serie A3 in Sabaudia, but from the Modena school. The libero is Alberto Benedicenti, in his third consecutive championship with the Ortonese shirt.
PREVIOUS
There are 18 precedents between these two teams, and 14 were won by Sieco Service. The last two date back to the 2021/2022 season, in which the field factor was completely overturned: 3-0 victory for Cantù in Ortona, with the Abruzzo team “returning the favor” by conquering the PalaFrancescucci with the same result.
