In the third and last mid-week round of the regular season in the A1, Verona will take on Latina in an important game as both teams aim for the playoffs. Roma will try to get back on track against San Giustino but the big game has to be Modena versus Cuneo. Modena was thrashed by Trento while Cuneo is tired after the trip to Russia and the long battle against Monza on Sunday. Monza will face another big: Treviso, which should have Fei back. Two wins in a row have given a boost to Castellana Grotte which will go for a hat trick and precious points to stay up against Macerata, which will look to consolidate its third place. With the playoffs already secured, Trento flies to Vibo Valentia, which has snatched a point against Treviso in the last round. Much of a do-or-die game for Forli, which is bottom four points away from Castellana Grotte: Molducci’s boys play host to Piacenza, led by captain Zlatanov (close to 6000 points in regular season), which drastically slipped down to 12th position and is still without a win in this second half of championship.
Round 21
Wednesday 16 February at 8.30pm
Marmi Lanza Verona – Andreoli Latina Live on Rai Sport 2
Live streaming on http://www.raisport.rai.it/dl/raisport/multimedia/diretta.html
(Rapisarda-Pozzato)
Casa Modena – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo
(Pasquali-Pol)
Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza – Sisley Treviso
(Cesare-Boris)
BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte – Lube Banca Marche Macerata
(Balboni-Cerquoni)
Yoga Forlì – Copra Morpho Piacenza
(Bartolini-Santi)
RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino – M. Roma Volley
(Cappello-Cipolla)
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Itas Diatec Trentino
(Vagni-Caltabiano)
League table
Itas Diatec Trentino 52, Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 43, Lube Banca Marche Macerata 40, Sisley Treviso 36, Casa Modena 28, Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza 28, Marmi Lanza Verona 26, M. Roma Volley 24, RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino 23, Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 23, Andreoli Latina 20, Copra Morpho Piacenza 19, BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte 10, Yoga Forlì 6
Marmi Lanza Verona – Andreoli Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 13 (9-4 Verona)
Maurizio Latelli (Marmi Lanza Verona): “This game against Latina is an important opportunity for us to get more points at home and consolidate our position to make it into the playoffs. We want to win it, and we will play with the spirit we’ve shown in the last rounds, including against Macerata, when we managed to make it difficult for one of the most in-form teams of the league”.
Matteo De Cecco (ass. coach Andreoli Latina): “This could be a good chance to keep Castellana Grotte at a safe distance given that they have been closing in lately. The margin is good but not enough to be totally safe. Verona is in good form, it overcame the problems it had and is aiming for the playoffs. Even in Macerata they played well despite the loss. We have to think first of staying up, then we’ll see where we stand in the playoffs race”.
Casa Modena – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 62 (33-29 Cuneo)
Daniele Bagnoli (Coach Casa Modena): “Cuneo is a very strong team, without many weaknesses. But beyond the quality of the opponent which everyone acknowledge, we have to focus on ourselves, and try to progress. I expect to see something better compared to what we’ve done in Trento in terms of play, motivation and focus. When we play the big guns, we have to play all out and if we manage to build ourselves opportunities, we must take them at all cost. You can get away with certain mistakes against other teams, but not against these ones. And if we want to improve, we have to start from limiting our mistakes”.
Simone Parodi (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “Modena is a good team and we know that, that’s why we’ll have to be extremely focused over there. It’s a very intense period for us, after the long trip to Russia last week in the Champions League, it’s obvious that it took its toll on us. We only had two days to prepare the game, which will surely be difficult. We’ll need maximum focus in order to make as few mistakes as possible”.
Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza – Sisley Treviso
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 7 (4-3 Treviso)
Luca Monti (Coach Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza): “Treviso is definitely not the same team as in the first half of championship: it changed style with Boninfante and it has become used to winning, they are in form, playing good volleyball and with character. This will undoubtedly be a tough game tomorrow, but I hope my team will show the character it had against the big guns so far, even if the only disappointment against Trento and Cuneo is not to have capitalised on it. We have to go for it, aiming to get points out of it. I think this is a key match for us in order to turn things around. In the last few games, Treviso was without Fei, but even without him, his substitutes have been very difficult to deal with for the opponents”.
Roberto Piazza (Coach Sisley Treviso): “They are playing excellent and effective volleyball, this is a well coached team which plays a modern volleyball. Not many have gotten points in their gym, and lately, after the Italian Cup, they have improved their level of play, they won in Macerata for example and they went close to the tie-break against Cuneo. We have to be ready to dig on their spikers, they have great players on fast balls, then Rooney can also hit the high balls, and they are physically strong too. As for us, we are in good shape, we’ll see if we’ll be able to count on Fei, who hasn’t trained for a while because of physical problems, but in any case we’ll be ready for another battle like the ones of the last few games”.
BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte – Lube Banca Marche Macerata
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 4 (Macerata won them all)
Flavio Gulinelli (Coach BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte): “This will be a very difficult game against one of the strongest teams of the league but we have to face this game like any other, with the necessity to get points. We are working well and improving, we imposed our game for long spells against Roma and we’ll have to do this tomorrow night too. Any point we can get could be crucial”.
Igor Omrcen (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “Castellana Grotte is clearly on the up, they gathered three wins in their last five games. They are gaining confidence, putting all their cards on the table to stay up and rightly so. That’s why it will be a very tough game for us, in which we really need the three points to stay up there in the table. We have to build on the positive things seen last Sunday against Verona. We have to show the character we played with, but improving on our rhythm and consistency during the game”.
Yoga Forlì – Copra Morpho Piacenza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 8 (7-1 Piacenza)
Leonardo Caldeira (Yoga Forlì): “We have to believe in it right until the end, starting with the Piacenza game. I always want to win and I will give hundred percent, even when we will be mathematically doomed. We’ll try to do our best to get last from bottom, we haven’t said our last word yet”.
Carlos De Lellis (Athletic trainer Copra Morpho Piacenza): “I hope all the players understood that the Forli game has become crucial: it’s like a playoff final, in terms of what is at stake and the boost such win would give us. Any game has a percentage of possibility of victory, we are the ones who create this possibility to win it, just like we also create our faltering”.
RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino – M. Roma Volley
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 5 (Roma won them all)
Stefano Rinchi (GM RPA-LuigiBacchi.it San Giustino): “We have to redeem ourselves after the poor game played against them when we first met. I am happy to host our former sport director, Vittorio Sacripanti, with whom there is still a great friendship and respect, but it is obvious that the team, club and city of San Giustino will want to push the home side to a needed victory”.
Andrea Giani (Coach M. Roma Volley): “We’ve been in this difficult situation for two months. We’re missing players and we struggle in training. A couple of players that play the games do not train regularly, but they play anyway. This just shows how the boys always try to give their best. When you face teams that have their full squad, you find it hard to win. This is the Serie A1 for you. We’ll have to limit the mistakes as much as we can and work with quality. Physically, I can’t ask much of my players, given the tiredness. We’ll give it our best shot in San Giustino with what we’ve got. Hopefully, we won’t have any more injuries. Still, I want to underline the great dignity that my players put on court, in every game and no matter the opponent. It has to be said that, except for Lebl and Saraceni, all the others make their debut in such a difficult league”.
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Itas Diatec Trentino
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 15 (13-2 Trento)
Rocco Barone (Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “The point gathered on Sunday gave us a boost, we’re facing this game against Trento with excitement and confidence, aware of what is ahead of us, almost a mission impossible. Not much to say on Trento, it’s a fantastic team which is winning everything and this year, in regular season, it still has to lose a game. The important thing will be to play our game and offer a good performance to our dedicated fans. I think we proved in the first half of league campaign that, if we play a certain way, we can give a game to anyone”.
Raphael Vieira de Oliveira (Itas Diatec Trentino): “Going back to Vibo is always special for me, because I had a great moment of my career there thanks to the club and President Callipo. They helped me shine and earn a place in Trento. This will be nice to meet friends, but I certainly won0t be kind on court: the game will have to go differently compared to last year when we lost 3-0. We want to keep our winning streak going and secure as quickly as possible the top spot. In my opinion, it will be very difficult on Wednesday because Vibo is on the up and they know how to make it hard for top teams like Treviso and Macerata, which have indeed been forced to the tie-break in recent encounters”.
