On Sunday, Berruto’s team had the better of Cuneo in its debut at the Pala Iper gym. The Monza fans will have another one on Wednesday as it hosts Loreto, and it’s live on Rai Sport Più. Macerata entertains Trentino, while Piacenza, defeated last Saturday by Trentino, heads south to meet Vibo Valentia. Cuneo will try to contain the fighting spirit and the enthusiasm of a renovated and confident Treviso team. Treviso is joint-leader with Modena, rested this round. Protagonists of a breathtaking tie-break game that lasted over 2h15 last weekend, Verona and Taranto will respectively face Perugia and Pineto away. The later is still without a point. Finally, Daniele Ricci will be back in the Romagna region with his Latina team as it will try to gather his first point of the season in Forli.
ROUND 5
Wednesday 14 October at 8.30pm
Acqua Paradiso Monza – Esse-ti Carilo Loreto LIVE Rai Sport Più
(Gnani-Puecher)
Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Itas Diatec Trentino
(Pessolano-Santi)
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – CoprAtlantide Piacenza
(Pol-Bartolini)
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Sisley Treviso
(Cipolla-Barbero)
RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia – Marmi Lanza Verona
(Ippoliti-Rapisarda)
Aran Cucine Abruzzo Pineto – Prisma Taranto
(Satanassi-Caltabiano)
Yoga Forlì – Andreoli Latina
(Sobrero-Pasquali)
Trenkwalder Modena – RESTED
LEAGUE TABLE
Sisley Treviso, Trenkwalder Modena 10, Itas Diatec Trentino 9, Lube Banca Marche Macerata, Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia, Prisma Taranto, Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 7, CoprAtlantide Piacenza 6, Marmi Lanza Verona 5, Esse-ti Carilo Loreto 4, RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia, Acqua Paradiso Monza, Yoga Forlì 3, Andreoli Latina, Aran Cucine Abruzzo Pineto 0.
Note: 1 game in hand: Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia, RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia, Acqua Paradiso Monza, Yoga Forlì; 2 games in hand: Aran Cucine Abruzzo Pineto.
Acqua Paradiso Monza – Esse-ti Carilo Loreto
PAST ENCOUNTERS: Monza is a new team which is why there are no previous encounters between the two teams.
Mauro Berruto (Acqua Paradiso Monza): “We are all very happy with our first win in this league, especially satisfied with the manner it came, after a battle of two hours and a quarter against a very strong team. Now we have to make that count with a good performance on Wednesday. It is still a bit difficult to express a great level of play but if we limit the number of mistakes and if we put the same fighting spirit that we showed against Cuneo, we could make a further step forward in the table”.
Luca Moretti (Esse-ti Carilo Loreto): “Monza is a team that plays good volleyball and that is improving a lot despite the fact that they have a new team compared to last season. They have players like setter Travica and spiker Gavotto, and new signing Haldane, who played extremely well in their victory over Cuneo on Sunday. We’ll go there in 12, as a team. Whoever came on against Modena did its best to obtain a good result. I have faith in everyone and I know they want to bounce back and get better in order to obtain a positive result away from home”.
Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Itas Diatec Trentino
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 22 (11 each).
Valerio Vermiglio (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “It was a very bad defeat against Treviso. We deserved to lose because we did very little to avoid it. However, some losses have to be analysed in a positive way, and that is the case for us: I mean that the 3-0 defeat should be used as a lesson for the future, to avoid making the same mistakes. Trento is a strong team, the right one to face to see if we have learned the lesson. We really want to get back on track, get back on winning ways, which was interrupted at the PalaVerde gym”.
Osmany Juantorena (Itas Diatec Trentino): “It will be another fight, similar to the one we played last Saturday in Piacenza. Macerata will be eager to bounce back after their KO in Treviso and they will surely base their performance on the fighting spirit, their home court advantage and especially on top experienced players they have, like Vermiglio, Cisolla or Omrcen. The list is very long. We’re going to Macerata with confidence after our nice 3-1 win gathered on the court of the Italian Champions, but also with maximum respect for our opponent”.
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – CoprAtlantide Piacenza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 11 (9-2 Piacenza)
Gianluca Saraceni (Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “The victory over Latina and the previous performances gave us great motivation and confidence before meeting the Italian champions. We are working on our game, with the awareness that the work done until now is paying off and that we are on the right track. We know that when we impose our rhythm we can beat anyone”.
Gianluca Durante (CoprAtlantide Piacenza): “We are facing this trip with the right motivation, we want to bounce back after two defeats and grab some points to get back up the table. They have an excellent team, very tough to manoeuvre on its own court. They play well in every area of the game. They have excellent jump-servers and that’s from the 9 meters that they build most of their game”.
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Sisley Treviso
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 70 (47-23 Treviso)
Alberto Giuliani (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “We are still having ups and downs: we are looking for our identity, which is the one we saw in the hard-fought game against Piacenza and in Monza, when we got back in the fourth set. Treviso has top-notch players, they have had more time than us to work with the full squad, and their pair setter-outside hitter is well-trained and rested; we’ll have to be very careful”.
Robert Horstink (Sisley Treviso): “We are not surprised with the beginning of season. The result against Macerata might seem impressive but overall we are just playing with the right intensity. We will need maximum focus in Cuneo. We are still trying to improve because there is still a lot of work on but I think we are on the right track. I can see great competitive spirit in the group, this is our only secret, and what we’ll try to show again in Cuneo. We’ll have to be especially careful in dig, because they know how to put pressure on the opponent on every ball”.
RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia – Marmi Lanza Verona
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 16 (11-5 Perugia).
Andrea Sartoretti (RPA-LuigiBacchi.it Perugia): “Verona is coming over on Wednesday: a team that shouldn’t be underestimated, they have excellent spikers and middleblockers. We’ll have to put pressure on them, trying to contain them at the net. We have to give as much rhythm to the game as possible in order to have it in our hands. Sottile (ex Perugia) is a good setter, and the other players are good too. We have to get on court knowing that if we play up to our standards we are superior”.
Michal Lasko (Marmi Lanza Verona): “We are going in Perugia hoping to grab a little something to stay up. We are not expressing our best volleyball yet even if there has been some improvement against Taranto. We’ll try to keep this trend going, in order to build our game physiognomy.
Aran Cucine Abruzzo Pineto – Prisma Taranto
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 5 (3-2 Taranto).
Alessandro Brutti (Aran Cucine Abruzzo Pineto): “It will be tough against Taranto: They have already proved they were a competitive squad in their good start to the season. Besides, players of the class of Rivaldo and Cleber, already showed, here in Pineto, what they were capable of. In all honesty, I wouldn’t have minded to do without this midweek round in order to focus on improving the cohesion of a team that has not done the preparation. At least we will have the court advantage for the first time and hopefully the fans will give us that edge. I know my players are eager to bounce back following the defeat against Forli: everyone should be fit to play, even Ravellino is back now, only Ereu is not hundred percent certain to be fit”.
Paolo Montagnani (Prisma Taranto): “Technically, we are clearly superior to Pineto but this is a risky game psichologically. If we underestimate the opponent and fall into the trap to respond to provocations, like it happened in Verona, then the game could become really tough. I want my team to make a qualitative leap in terms of mental composure compared to Sunday night’s game”.
Yoga Forlì – Andreoli Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 6 (5-1 Forli).
Paul Carroll (Yoga Forlì): “Before the game against Pineto you could feel the tension, but then we kept playing better. We got unlocked. Now my dream is to make it three wins in a row, starting with Latina’s encounter. This is a good opportunity for us, I always want to push the limits. I really want to”.
Andrjia Geric (Andreoli Latina): “It is very important to win the next two games against rivals that also aim to stay up. We have to improve in some aspects of our game, like on the counter attack and we should not be in a hurry to seal the points”.
