SERIE A1 TIM
Return games start on 28 and 29th
One half of the championship is over, just like the qualifications for the Italian Cup. The return games starts this Sunday 28 December with everyone desperate to get some points to reach their respective targets.
At 6pm, there will be 6 games. Treviso will celebrate its 700th game in the Serie A at Verona in a special derby. Over the years, Treviso has become a symbol of Italian volleyball but the opponent of the day is certainly not one of the easiest to face because Giuliani’s boys gathered no less than 22 points in 13 games, better than Treviso.
The runners up, Trentino, travels to Forli, who is desperate for points. It will be the second consecutive home game for Molducci’s team. Meanwhile, there is yet another debut on Martina Franca’s bench with home grown Gianni D’Onghia coaching his first game in Perugia. The latter is not an easy one to manoeuvre even though they will have to forget quickly about the last home defeat and the consequent ousting of the Cup. The team making it to the Cup Final Eight at their expense was Vibo Valentia, who will try to build on that motivation factor to give food for thoughts to Cuneo.
Modena’s coach will make its home debut against Montichiari, as the game will be live on Sky Sport 2.
It’s almost top versus bottom with Piacenza against Padova, but the result is far from certain. Thanks to their win over Pineto, Padova got closer to Forli in the table. Gato and co will have to face a player that exploded last week: Leo Marshall.
Finally, on Monday, at 8.30pm on Sky Sport 2, Macerata will host Pineto.
RPA-LUIGIBACCHI.IT PERUGIA – STAMPLAST MARTINA FRANCA
Past encounters: 7 (5-2 Perugia)
First leg: Stamplast Martina Franca – RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia 2-3
Record chasers: 1500 spikes in regular season is Matej Cernic’s target, he needs 9 to reach his goal. The spiker could also reach the 100 aces with 3 more.
Vigor Bovolenta (RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia): “I’m feeling better now, I could train properly after the physical problems of last week. Still, as a team, we’re working on our weaknesses. We’ll have to respond straight away on Sunday after the disappointment of being out of the Italian Cup. We”ll have to take some points at home and get rid of the negative trend in front of our fans. Martina Franca is a good team, in every department. Hopefully, they won’t be consistent given the good result they had last Sunday”.
BRE BANCA LANNUTTI CUNEO – TONNO CALLIPO VIBO VALENTIA
Past encounters: 8 (7-1 Cuneo)
First leg: Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 0-3
Record chasers: Peter Platenik needs 10 spikes to reach 500 between league and cup. The ex Simeonov could get the 7 points he needs to reach the 4000 in regular season. He could make it 300 blocks in the league too with just one more.
Andrea Ariaudo (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “Not one game has been easy so far and we’ll have to fight once more on Sunday to win. Vibo managed to grab the 8th spot to get in the Italian Cup, it’s a tough team and should not be underestimated. We’ll meet a few ex, who will surely be keen to give their all”.
Luis Diaz (Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “In the last few weeks, our team really became aware of its possibilities. I think we’re showing great focus and will. These will be our weapons in Cuneo and, with the confidence gained with the Montichiari win last week, hopefully we’ll be able to take a point”.
COPRA NORDMECCANICA PIACENZA – ANTONVENETA PADOVA
Past encounters: 17 (13-4 Piacenza)
First leg: Antonveneta Padova – Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza 0-3
Giovanni Rossi (2� all. Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza): “On Sunday, we’ll be playing against a team that greatly improved recently. It plays better than what the table suggests, it will surely be a game not to be underestimated for us. Apart from Dunnes, we have now all our players back, and with one more alternative with Pampel”.
Matias Raymaekers (Antonveneta Padova): “Piacenza will be the first of three extremely tough games against top teams. We’ve put together three positive results in the last four games, and we have to try to get some more points on Sunday, taking advantage of our recent form. We shouldn’t be looking too much at the results of our direct opponents. It was important to beat Forli and Pineto at home. That proves we have everything it takes to get out of the danger zone”.
YOGA FORLI – ITAS DIATEC TRENTINO
PrecedentiPast encounters: 3 (All wins for Trento)
First leg: Itas Diatec Trentino – Yoga Forli 3-0
Record chasers: Dore Della Lunga will celebrate his 200th game in regular season at the PalaFiera gym. He needs 2 blocks to reach the 700.
Rafael Redwitz (Yoga Forli): “The true Forli team has still to be seen. We�€�re alternating away wins with home defeats, even though we knew the game against Verona was going to be tough. We’ll have to find our balance, and the injuries certainly don’t help us to do so. Still, we’re still in the race to stay up, that is if we give our all in the return games, and starting from Sunday. We have to work on our qualities, never give up, be technically disciplined and always focused. We’re up for up, hopefully we’ll manage to give it our best shot”.
Riad Garcia Pires Ribeiro (Itas Diatec Trentino): “It’s an important game for both teams. Forli needs points to stay up and in front of its fans, it will give its best, they’re also starting to look over their shoulder and see Padova. As far as we’re concerned, after two consecutive losses in the league, we need to gain confidence and start to play the way we did until two weeks ago. It will be a particular game for me too. During the warm up in the first leg, I had injured my knee and missed the next two months. This time, I’ll try to do my warm up more carefully and without overdoing it. I have to be ready given Birarelli’s injury, we can’t afford to have any more injuries”.
MARMI LANZA VERONA – SISLEY TREVISO
Past encounters: 16 (11-5 Treviso)
First leg: Sisley Treviso – Marmi Lanza Verona 2-3
Record chasers: Rob Bontje needs 3 aces to reach 100 in the league. Same target for Alberto Cisolla, he also needs 3 for the hundred but in the regular season. Middleblocker Hubner is only one ace to enter the group of players reaching the 100 in the league. Alessandro Fei will celebrate his 400th game in the Serie A1. He could also reach the 5.500 points with 12 more. Meanhwile, Lasko is 14 spikes from the 2.000.
Simone Parodi (Marmi Lanza Verona): “Treviso, regardless of their league position, is still one of the strongest team of this league. It will surely be tough against them. We’re playing home and this is an advantage but they have a very strong team, they’ll surely put us under pressure. We’ll have to give our best as usual and take advantage of our strength, the block, to take some important points”.
Alberto Cisolla (Sisley Treviso): “We’re improving, it’s undeniable. I don’t want to hear about crisis or anything like it. Treviso is surely not used to lose 7 game in one half of the championship, but in recent games we’re playing a lot better. We qualified for the Italian Cup Final Eight and this is important, we’ll prepare for the finals carefully and there we’ll give it our best shot, because we’re going there to win. But let’s take one game at a time. On Sunday after Christmas, we’re going to Verona and it will be an extremely tough one. We know how it went in the first leg and that’s why we’ll need the best possible Treviso team”.
TRENKWALDER MODENA – ACQUA PARADISO GABECA MONTICHIARI
Past encounters: 53 (37-16 Modena)
First leg: Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari – Trenkwalder Modena 3-0
Record chasers: Spiker Robert Horstink is going towards the 500 spikes (League and Italian Cup), he needs 12 more.
Cristian Casoli (Trenkwalder Modena): “I’m glad to be back at Modena. I haven’t seen much of this team in the first half of championship but I noticed we’ve often lost against teams of our level and had great performances against the big teams. Montichiari? We’re facing a tough game tomorrow. It’s a team that plays good volleyball. We will be fighting on every ball and try to keep getting better. I’m ready and at the coach’s disposal”.
LUBE BANCA MARCHE MACERATA – FRAMASIL PINETO
Past encounters: 1 (Macerata won it)
First leg: Framasil Pineto – Lube Banca Marche Macerata 2-3
Record chasers: Manuele Ravellino is 3 blocks away from the 300 in career. Rodrigão needs 10 points to get to the 1000 between League and Italian Cup.
Gianluca Saraceni (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “In the first leg, Pineto caused us a lot of trouble. We eventually snatched it at the tie-break but it proved really hard. This should help us face this team avoiding to relax at any time. This is a group that did a good job of playing as a team to work towards its target: staying up, which I’m sure they can do”.
Emanuele Ravellino (Framasil Pineto): “The game against Macerata will be a special one for me. The years spent on that team were the most beautiful of my career. I’ve had a lot of good times. Macerata is a top team. Even if we are going through a difficult moment, we have to try our best to get a result. After the recent defeats, in particular the one against Padova, the aim has to be to gain points in every game, regardless of how good is the opponent”.
SERIE A1 TIM – IL PROGRAMMA DELLA QUATTORDICESIMA GIORNATA
Sunday 28 December at 6pm
RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia – Stamplast Martina Franca
Pessolano – Mastrodonato
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia
Cerquoni – Santi
Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza – Antonveneta Padova
Ravallese – Gini
Yoga Forli – Itas Diatec Trentino
Longo – Boris
Marmi Lanza Verona – Sisley Treviso
Rapisarda – Bartolini
Sunday 28 December at 6.30pm
Trenkwalder Modena – Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari Live on SKY Sport 2
La Micela – Piersanti
Monday 29 December at 8.30pm
Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Framasil Pineto Live on SKY Sport 2
Finocchiaro – Cinti
SERIE A1 TIM TABLE
Lube Banca Marche Macerata 31; Itas Diatec Trentino 29; Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 26; Copra Nordmeccanica Piacenza 24; Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari, Marmi Lanza Verona 22; Sisley Treviso 19; Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia, RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia 18; Framasil Pineto 14; Trenkwalder Modena, Stamplast Martina Franca 15; Yoga Forli 11; Antonveneta Padova 9.
SERIE A2 TIM
Last game before halfway point of the championship. Tickets for A2 Cup up for grabs.
In the A2, we got to the last game before reaching the halfway point of the league, meaning one last opportunity to obtain its ticket for the Italian Cup A2, which is particularly prestigious this year, as the final will take place during the Volley Land 2009.
The 6 first team are already qualified but the positions are still uncertain and there are two tickets left. Isernia is favourite as it benefits from a two-point edge on its direct opponents. Besides, they will face bottom of the league Castelfidardo. Crema will defend its 8th place as it entertains Latina. Mantova is level on points with Crema and has kept all hopes to make it alive. It will host league leaders Bassano. Behind, two more teams can cause the upset: Roma who will host Città di Castello and Cavriago who will travel to Castellana Grotte. There will also be important points at stake in the game between Gioia del Colle and Bologna to design the table and match ups. To complete this round, Catania entertains Loreto at 8.30pm, and it will be broadcasted live by Snai Sat.
SERIE A2 TIM – IL PROGRAMMA DELLA QUINDICESIMA GIORNATA
Sunday 28 December at 6pm
Andreoli Latina – Samgas Crema
Fiore – Guerra
M. Roma Volley – Gherardi Cartoedit Tratos C.di Castello
Cassarino – Marchello
Materdomini Volley.It Castellana Grotte – Edilesse Cavriago
La Nef Castelfidardo – Olio Pignatelli Isernia
Modi – Bertogna
Canadiens Mantova – Bassano Volley
Bertoletti – Prati
Nava Gioia del Colle – Wayel Bologna
Piluso – Amati
Sunday 28 December at 8.30pm
Sp Catania – Esse-ti Carilo Loreto Live on SNAI Sat
Falzoni – Guarneri
Rested: Codyeco Santa Croce
SERIE A2 TIM TBALE
Bassano Volley 33; Codyeco S.Croce 32; Esse-Ti Carilo Loreto, Andreoli Latina 28; Nava Gioia del Colle, Wayel Bologna 21; Olio Pignatelli Isernia 20; Samgas Crema, Canadiens Mantova 18; M. Roma Volley 16, Edilesse Cavriago 15; Materdomini Volley.It Castellana Grotte 14; Sp Catania 12; Gherardi Cartoedit Tratos C.di Castello 9; La Nef Castelfidardo 8
1 Game more: Codyeco S.Croce
