Serie A1 Sustenium
Round 12
The last round of the year offers a match-up between Padova and San Giustino, two teams that fights to stay away from the danger zone, to open round 12. Interesting game between Modena, which registered a comeback win in Verona after falling 2-0, against Vibo Valentia, recent 3-0 winner over Ravenna. There will also be a northern derby between Trento and Verona, while Roma will try to bounce back against Cuneo as it still has a chance to be in the Italian Cup.
RECORD. Piacenza is ready to celebrate two great champions of Italian volleyball: Samuele Papi and Hristo Zlatanov. The spiker from Ancona will make his 500th appearance in regular season, and he is only one away from 5000 spikes and one away from 400 aces between league and cup. As for Zlatanov, thanks to the 23 points scored in Roma, he has reached the 8000 point mark (8003 to be precise) between the league and cup. He is now looking to end up in among the best three scorers of all time in the Italian league: in front of him there is Andrea Zorzi (4th) with 8077, then Luca Cantagalli, third with 8153, then there is 8573 for Andrea Giani, and top of the chart is Lorenzo Bernardi with 8841 who was penalized by the fact the stats began only in 1989.
Round 12 Serie A1 Sustenium
Thursday December 29 at 8pm
Fidia Padova – Energy Resources San Giustino Live on Rai Sport 1
Live streaming on http://www.raisport.rai.it/dl/raisport/multimedia/diretta.html
(Caltabiano-Tanasi)
Thursday December 29 at 8.30pm
Casa Modena – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia
(Sobrero-Balboni)
Itas Diatec Trentino – Marmi Lanza Verona
(Gnani-Pozzato)
Copra Elior Piacenza – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo
(Pol-Padoan)
Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Sisley Belluno Live on Sportube.tv
(Saltalippi-Satanassi)
CMC Ravenna – Andreoli Latina
(Santi-Vagni)
Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza – M. Roma Volley
(Bartolini-Prandi)
League table
Itas Diatec Trentino 29, Lube Banca Marche Macerata 27, Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 26, Casa Modena 23, Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 17, M. Roma Volley 16, Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza 16, Sisley Belluno 16, Andreoli Latina 14, Marmi Lanza Verona 13, Copra Elior Piacenza 11, Fidia Padova 11, Energy Resources San Giustino 7, CMC Ravenna 5.
Fidia Padova – Energy Resources San Giustino
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 17 (12-5 San Giustino)
Paolo Montagnani (coach Fidia Padova): “Another match against a team fighting not to go down like us after the one played against Latina. We have little time to think, we have to use it to act, we’re focusing on our next opponent which we’ll face with an advantage: our new signing Evan Patak. This outside hitter is young but very strong, especially on the serve. In his first home game, he played 47 balls, which means he is in great shape. We’re not thinking of the league table but focusing on getting a positive result. The support of our fans will be fundamental”.
Andrea Sartoretti (Sport director Energy Resources San Giustino): “Thursday’s game is crucial for us. We have improved in recent outings, we played as a team. Now we just need the hard work to pay off”.
Casa Modena – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 12 (9 successi Modena, 3 successi Vibo Valentia)
Daniele Bagnoli (coach Casa Modena): “It’s 4th versus 5th and with important points at stake. Vibo is an experienced team, they’re playing excellent volleyball and have made it very difficult for many teams, including Trento. We know well Cernic and Diaz, the Dutch outside hitter has been one of the best at his position so far. And overall, Vibo is a very dangerous team on the serve. Having said that, we’ll have to see how we play, if we play like against Verona, we have no chance. But if we play at a higher level, like against Latina at home, then we have a good chance to win it”.
Gianlorenzo Blengini (coach Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “we’ll be up against a top quality team in every area of the court. They have top class players and excellent alternatives in position 4. I think, as it often happens, the difference will be the focus and attitude. Whichever team shows these attributes will increase its chance of success”.
Itas Diatec Trentino – Marmi Lanza Verona
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 17 (13-4 Trento)
Osmany Juantorena (Itas Diatec Trentino): “It’s been a fantastic year for our club: it would be great to seal it with a win, especially at home, but we’re mentally ready for a battle. We have to stay focused, there can be surprises during the Christmas period. It would really be bad to fall now because two points of advantage on Macerata are not really reassuring if we want to be top at the half way point of the season”.
Bruno Bagnoli (coach Marmi Lanza Verona): “Each game has its own story. We’ll try to do well in Trento and get something out of the game. The league and past experiences teach us that all the games are open, we just have to play with confidence, even if we know well we’ll have an extraordinary team in front of us. If the reception and serve are not of the usual standards, there could be surprises”.
Copra Elior Piacenza – Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 35 (23-12 Cuneo)
Paolo Maffi (General Manager Copra Elior Piacenza): “Very little time between one game and another this week. It’s tough to play two games in four days. There’s so little time that nobody could really enjoy the win over Roma, a team that was fifth before we beat them. It was a breakthrough, now we’re aiming to trouble a great team like Cuneo. Piacenza seems to have found consistency. We are not poor like we were against Ravenna but we have not become geniuses of volleyball either. If we really have found this consistency, we’ll find our identity and we could have a good season”.
Hubert Henno (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “Piacenza has a lot of quality players: Zlatanov, Nikolov, Tencati, Holt. This is why I can’t understand their current league position, I am sure they will react and that their quality will come to light. Anyway, we have to face this game like any other one, determined to win. We have to keep working like we’ve done so far, if we do so, we will do well”.
Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Sisley Belluno
PAST ENCOUNTERS: None
Marko Podrascanin (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “We are very close to accomplish the mission we had at the end of the World Cup break: that is to say limit the damage due to the fact we don’t have time to train and try to win all the games until the end of the year. This one is the toughest one, Belluno is a great club with excellent potential. They’re coming off a defeat against Trento, so they will want to bounce back, but we really want to end the year on a high”.
Roberto Piazza (coach Sisley Belluno): “Macerata is another good test for us because we have to improve in the clutch moments of games. We’d better learn quick because these teams make you pay when you make mistakes. Macerata is a very similar team to Trento, which we played the other day, physical and powerful with a game based on a strong serve. We’ll have to be at 100% as usual, we don’t have any choice, and try to get the points we almost got against Trento, more because of our mistakes at the end of sets rather than the strength of our opponents”.
CMC Ravenna – Andreoli Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: None
Antonio Babini (coach CMC Ravenna): “We have to play a lot better than in Vibo. Latina will be up for it too after the defeat conceded in the last round, a game I have had the chance to see and I have to say they played at a good level despite the loss. This will be yet another tough test for us, but we’ll do our best to win it”.
Dario Simoni (assistant coach Andreoli Latina): “After a first part of season in which they have changed a lot, it seems like Ravenna found its ideal starting six. They have four good spikers which they can alternate. Corvetta has a lot of fantasy, while they seem to struggle more in counter attack. This means it will be very important to serve well. We’ll have the full squad as everyone recovered from the flu they had before the Padova game”.
Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza – M. Roma Volley
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 7 (5-2 Roma)
Emanuele Zanini (coach Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza): “We need to reset it all after Monday’s performance and quickly. We need to rebuild and focus on the Roma game, against a team that showed a similar level and consistency to ours so far. No surprise that we are tied in the league table. We can’t deny this will be an important game, especially considering the Italian Cup. Besides, we’ll be at home, so we’ll have all the reasons in the world to fight back after the bad performance against Cuneo”.
Andrea Giani (coach M. Roma Volley): “We have done well so far this season, but only after the next two games will we be able to analyze it. We won’t have much time to train and prepare the coming games, but all the teams have the same problem. Monza is a team of our level but, with the arrival of Conte, they have greatly strengthened their squad. As for Padova, this is a team we have more chance to beat. Like always, it will depend on our game and how much we will be able to make it difficult for our opponents”.
