The week of training for Emma Villas Siena resumed today and the objective is now set towards the Tuscan team’s next championship match, which will be played on Sunday 3 March starting from 6pm at the home of league leaders Grottazzolina. It will be the big match of the day, a match valid for the tenth day of the second round of the A2 series championship.
It will be the match that will pit the teams in the first two positions in the standings against each other: Grottazzolina has 54 points, is at the top of the rankings, thanks to a journey made so far of 19 victories and 3 defeats. Siena is second with 46 points, with 15 victories and 7 defeats in the 22 matches played to date. Both teams are already certain of taking part in the playoffs, however the last four days of the regular season are fundamental to understand what their position on the grid will be.
Siena has a one-point advantage over Cuneo, who is third with 45 points. Fourth is Ravenna with 42 points, further down are Prata di Pordenone and Brescia with 40 points and in seventh position is Porto Viro with 38 points. The first team that is currently out of the playoffs is Santa Croce sull’Arno, which has 29 points and must therefore recover 9 in Porto Viro to be able to enter the post season.
Siena has just played an appetizer of the playoffs in Cuneo: the match ended in a tiebreak after an hour and 14 minutes of the match and in the end saw the Puliservice Acqua San Bernardo locals celebrate. Emma Villas twice recovered from disadvantaged situations and took the match to the fifth set. This brought the Sienese team one point in the standings and allowed the team coached by coach Gianluca Graziosi to defend second position.
“In Cuneo we played a match that was overall of a very high level and had a playoff feel – declared Emma Villas Siena centre-back Stefano Trillini at the end of the match in Piedmont. – It’s a shame that the defeat came in a match that was very close and decided by just a few balls. Even when we were behind, we continued to push, with attention in serving and defense, and to believe in the possibility of recovering the match. Unfortunately our performance was not enough to win the match, but let’s try to take the positive things from this match and look ahead to the playoffs. Matches of this type also serve to understand where and what we can improve, there is certainly fun in playing similar matches. The point gained in Cuneo is important.
