SERIE A1 TIM
FRAMASIL PINETO – RPA-LUIGIBACCHI.IT PERUGIA FOR THE CUP
Despite the fact that they were easy wins, it is well-known that European games takes physical and mental energy. The one that could suffer more from this is Macerata, who had only one day rest before meeting Montichiari, who is in good form and with Paparoni that will want to do well against his ex-team.
Trentino travels to Treviso, hoping to turn things around as they always came on the losing end last season (live on Sky Sport 2 at 6.30pm). Cuneo faces a tough trip to Martina Franca as it looks for its fourth consecutive win after Padova, Perugia and Trento. There will be another big game between Verona and Piacenza who had Bonifante substituting the injured Meoni perfectly in the Champions League.
Modena will play home again, this time hosting Forli. Intensity guaranteed between the second and third from bottom.
Still on Sunday, at the PalaValentia gym, Vibo plays host to Padova, who hopes for an away win to gain crucial points in the race to stay up.
The 12th round will end on Monday night with Pineto versus Perugia, where the teams will fight for the points that could get them into the Italian Cup Final Eight.
SERIE A1 TIM – 12th round fixtures
Sunday 14 December at 6pm
Stamplast Martina Franca – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo
(Caldarola – Ippoliti)
Marmi Lanza Verona – Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza
(Saltalippi – Sampaolo)
Trenkwalder Modena – Yoga Forli
(Padoan – Rapisarda)
Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari
(Castagna – Pasquali)
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Antonveneta Padova
(Locatelli – Barbero)
Sunday 14 December at 6.30pm
Sisley Treviso – Itas Diatec Trentino LIVE ON SKY SPORT 2
(Santi – Cinti)
Monday 15 December at 8.30pm
Framasil Pineto – RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia LIVE ON SKY SPORT 2
(Pol – Bartolini)
SERIE A1 TIM TABLE
Itas Diatec Trentino 28; Lube Banca Marche Macerata 27; Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza, Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari 21; Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 20; Marmi Lanza Verona 18; Sisley Treviso 16; RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia 15; Framasil Pineto 14; Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia, Stamplast Martina Franca 13, Trenkwalder Modena 12; Yoga Forli 8; Antonveneta Padova 5.
STAMPLAST MARTINA FRANCA – BRE BANCA LANNUTTI CUNEO
Past encounters: 11 (10-1 Cuneo).
Last game: in 2007/08, 4th round return games. Prisma Taranto – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 1-3.
Record chasers: Cernic will celebrate his 200th game in regular season. With three more aces he could also reach the 100 in regular season.
Luigi Mastrangelo (Stamplast Martina Franca): “Many years have passed since the days I played at Cuneo. For me, it will be a game like any others, I’m not really interested in the past. Right now, I only think about my team and the fact that we need to get some points. Even a point could be important given the situation, because we realised it was not easy to play face to face with the injured players we have. That’s why we have to limit the damages until we get people back”.
Daniele Vergnaghi (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “Sunday’s game against Martina Franca will be a very important and tricky game for us. We’ll have to face a solid team that will fight hard to win and qualify for the Tim Cup. We’ll try to obtain some important points to move up the table to improve our situation ahead of the Italian Cup draw. There will be a great atmosphere but we shouldn’t be afraid. We want to confirm all the good things done that brought us towards the top of the league in recent games”.
MARMI LANZA VERONA – COPRA NORDMECCANICA PIACENZA
Past encounters: 10 (8-2 Piacenza).
Last game: 2006/07, 9th round return game. Copra Berni Piacenza – Marmi Lanza Verona 3-0.
Record chasers: Rob Bontje is 3 aces from a 100 in career, he’s currently the best server in the Serie A1. Marcus Popp will celebrate his 100th appearance in the Serie A at home. He’s 14 points away from the 1000, while Daniele Sottile only needs 2 points to reach 500. For Piacnza, Leonel Marshall is 7 points from the 3000 in the league, while Hristo Zlatanov needs 3 aces to reach the 400.
Maurizio Latelli (Marmi Lanza Verona): “Piacenza is a strong team, built to win it all and it plays really well. They have top level players such as Zlatanoc, Marshall and Bravo but we proved we could play against the top teams without fear. I’m sure we’ll managed to have a good game against them too. If we can put into practice what we can do, we can cause trouble to anyone”.
Dante Boninfante (Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza): “It will be a difficult game, like always. We’ll face what I consider the real surprise team of this season. At home, Verona proved it was tough to beat, they have fantastic fans too. Personally I feel fine, galvanised by the MVP title I got on Wednesday against Kazan”.
TRENKWALDER MODENA – YOGA FORLI
Past encounters: 6 (5-1 Modena)
Last game: 2000/01, 4th round return games: Casa Modena – Conad Volley Forli 3-1.
Record chasers: Luca tencati needs 8 spikes to reach the 1500.
Dragan Travica (Trenkwalder Modena): “Forli has been unlucky with the results and injuries, but it needs points to stay up and it will come in Modena ready to fight on every ball. We’ll have to stay focus from start to finish, but we’re really up for it after the victory over Macerata. However, to get out of the tough moment we’re going through, we know one win is not enough, we need a series of positive results. Against Forli, we have the opportunity to build on that win and gain a winning mentality”.
Alberto Casadei (Yoga Forli): “I don’t know why but when we get on court, we are kind of blocked even if we trained well during the week. The Modena game will be important and difficult, but we can do well. We can still stay up, we have everything it takes to make it, nothing is lost yet”.
LUBE BANCA MARCHE MACERATA – ACQUA PARADISO GABECA MONTICHIARI
Past encounters: 30 (18-12 Macerata)
Last game: 2007/08, 13th round return games. Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari – Lube Banca Marche Macerata 3-0.
Record chasers: Mauro Gavotto is 11 points away from the 4500. His teammate Robert Horstink could reach the 500 league points with just one more. As for Macerata, Igor Omrcen, needs just one ace for the 200 in regular season, while Valerio Vermeglio is 2 points away from the 2000 in the league.
Igor Omrcen (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “We’re getting to this game a bit tired because of the Champions League away game in Spain, we did not have much time to train either. Still, it’s a very important game and, like always in such cases, the adrenaline will make up for the rest. Montichiari is a team I like a lot, balanced in every area, in my opinion one of the best of the league, with great potential. It’s a fundamental game for us, we have only one opportunity to reach that fifth place. We’ll need a great Macerata team to make it”.
Alessandro Paparoni (Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari): “It’s will definitely be a great feeling to be back in the Fontescodella gym: I came up in Macerata’s youth ranks and I made my Serie A debut with them. I know many friends of mine will come to see me, I want to do well and show what I can do. I think my heartbeat will go dead fast at the start of the game. Macerata is a much stronger team than us, but this year we played better against the top teams compared to the others. We’ll go there to play our game”.
TONNO CALLIPO VIBO VALENTIA – ANTONVENETA PADOVA
Past encounters: 6 (5-1 Vibo Valentia)
Last game: 2006-07, 5th round return games. Antonveneta Padova – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 1-3
Luis Diaz (Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “After the great win over Forli, hopefully we’ll make it a double by winning at home against Padova. Another win would help us to move up the table again and make our fans dream. Padova will surely not make it easy for us. They need points and fight for it. But if we can play the way we did in recent games, the result will come”.
Bruno Bagnoli (Antonveneta Padova): “It will be a tough game but it’s a crucial one for us. We have to do a better job of holding on to our leads and, if we managed to play like we did in the last two sets against Cuneo, I’m sure we’ll get some points”.
SISLEY TREVISO – ITAS DIATEC TRENTINO
Past encounters: 23 (18-5 Treviso).
Last game: Last season 12th round return games. Itas Diatec Trentino – Sisley Treviso 1-3.
Record chasers: Records are looking close this Sunday in the PalaVerde. For Trento, Birarelli is 13 points away from the 1000. Vissotto could make it to 1000 as well, he needs 11. As for Treviso, Alberto Cisolla needs 24 points for the 4.000, 3 spikes for the 2500 and 4 aces for the 200, but the latter only in regular season. Gustavo needs 12 spikes for the 1500, while Alessandro Fei needs only 1 point to reach 4000. Stefan Hubner needs 3 aces for the 100.
Samuele Papi (Sisley Treviso): “Extremely tough game, we’ll have to give our best because we have to change the trend of the last rounds. Trento is a tough opponent but it might be a good thing to meet teams that have already find their rhythm. We are working hard in training and hopefully we’ll start seeing the result of this hard wrok already on Sunday. We’ll need the help of our supporters too. We are certainly up for it, the important thing will be to be aggressive on every play”.
Michal Winiarski (Itas Diatec Trentino): “Treviso is in a difficult situation and the recent defeat proves it. Still, in recent years, they have always won against us, playing their best volleyball. This reason is enough for me to believe this game will be particularly tough. Besides, it’s never been easy for Trento in the PalaVerde. Treviso is running the risk to be out of the Italian Cup final Eight, they will play at 110% to win this game. We’ll have to be focused. We should not look at the point difference in the table and look at the top players they have in the team to understand we’ll have to fight for every point. As always”.
FRAMASIL PINETO – RPA-LUIGIBACCHI.IT PERUGIA
Never met before
Record chasers: Emanuele Ravellino is only two points away from the 1000 in regular season, while Goran Vujevic will reach the 300 aces if he scores one.
Emanuele Ravellino (Framasil Pineto): “We’ve just lost two consecutive games, we’ll try to win against Perugia. Our opponent are obviously in the same situation and we’ll fight for the points. It will be a tough game. They have an excellent team, put together to reach important targets, more ambitious ones than us. They are not going through the best of moments, but they will definitely bounce back at one point”.
Damiano Pippi (RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia): “Pineto represents a game against a direct opponent, and in this kind of games, we’ve always done well. Let’s get our minds to it and find that confidence that we had in most of the games. We have to get into the Italian Cup”.
SERIE A2 TIM
Clashes at the top
SERIE A2 TIM – 13th round fixtures
Sunday 14 December at 6pm
Esse-ti Carilo Loreto – Fiorese Spa Bassano
(Amati – Piluso)
Nava Gioia del Colle – La Nef Castelfidardo
(Chimento – Zavater)
Sp Catania – Olio Pignatelli Isernia
(Zanussi – Parlato)
Canadiens Mantova – Andreoli Latina
(Ravallese – Tanasi)
Gherardi Cartoedit Tratos Città di Castello – Edilesse Cavriago
(Costantini – Contini)
Codyeco S. Croce – Wayel Bologna
(Trevisan – Piersanti)
Sunday 14 December at 8.30pm
M. Roma Volley – Samgas Crema LIVE ON SNAI SAT
(Pecetti – Oranelli)
