Serie A1 Sustenium Playoffs
Easter verdicts
Playoff quarter-final day 2:
M. Roma Volley – Energy Resources San Giustino 3-2 (21-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-23, 15-9)
Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza – Marmi Lanza Verona 3-1 (25-23, 21-25, 25-16, 25-18)
Copra Elior Piacenza – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-20)
Sisley Belluno – Casa Modena 3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 25-18, 25-22)
Day 1:
Itas Diatec Trentino – Energy Resources San Giustino 3-0 (25-23, 25-15, 25-22)
Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Marmi Lanza Verona 3-1 (21-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-22)
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 3-1 (21-25, 25-21, 29-27, 28-26)
Sisley Belluno – Andreoli Latina 0-3 (26-28, 23-25, 21-25)
GROUP A
M. ROMA VOLLEY – ENERGY RESOURCES SAN GIUSTINO 3-2 (21-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-23, 15-9)
M. ROMA VOLLEY: Lebl 9, Paolucci, Paparoni (L), Maruotti 9, Zaytsev 23, Boninfante 1, Bencz 8, Puliti, Sabbi 17, Bjelica 8. DNP Passier, Corsano, Cisolla. Coach. Giani.
ENERGY RESOURCES SAN GIUSTINO: Creus Larry 8, Rauwerdink 14, Patak 21, Mc Kibbin 3, Finazzi 9, Petkovic, Giovi (L), Sammelvuo 3, Urnaut 11. DNP Cozzi, Bartoletti, Tholse, Lo Bianco. Coach. Held.
No surprises on Easter day. Just like in the regular season final round, Roma defeated San Giustino 3-2 and will face Trentino tomorrow with all its chances of qualifications for the semis intact.
Henk Jan Held (coach Energy Resources San Giustino): “Shame because this team deserved more than that. We had the game in hands in various moments but then we ruined it with silly mistakes. We had a poor start to the tie-break which followed the bad end of fourth set. Roma served better and we struggled”.
Gabriele Maruotti (M. Roma Volley): “We knew it was going to be a difficult game because San Giustino had little to lose, we know they hit it with arms loose. We have been inaccurate in some situations but we managed to get back on track in the fourth, when it mattered most. We’re facing a very tough game tomorrow against Trentino, we know it but we’ll try our best”.
On tomorrow’s game:
Matey Kaziyski (Itas Diatec Trentino): “We only did 50% of our homework on Saturday by beating San Giustino. We’ll need to complete it with another victory tomorrow against Roma. It won’t be an easy game but we had one more day to prepare compared to our opponents. We’ll try to take advantage of this by putting maximum determination on court: we really want to go to the semi-finals”.
Standings group A
Itas Diatec Trentino 3, M. Roma Volley 2, Energy Resources San Giustino 1*
*1 more game
GROUP B
ACQUA PARADISO MONZA BRIANZA – MARMI LANZA VERONA 3-1 (25-23, 21-25, 25-16, 25-18) – ACQUA PARADISO MONZA BRIANZA: Rossini (L), Zhukouski 6, Conte 15, Nikic 1, Molteni, Buti 4, Rooney 10, De Cecco 3, Gavotto 21, Shumov 10, Roumeliotis. DNP Ciabattini, Mckniff. Coach. Zanini.
MARMI LANZA VERONA: Popp 15, Kosmina 1, Ter Horst 2, Calderan, Meoni 2, Smerilli (L), Patriarca 11, Zingel 5, Casarin, Kromm 10, Postiglioni, Gasparini 13. Coach. Bagnoli.
Verona’s season ended in Macerata as it was beaten by the home side yesterday and today again by Monza. MVP: Gavotto.
Marco Meoni (Marmi Lanza Verona): “We played decent volleyball for two sets, then we faded. Our team is not used to play such important back to back games. Still, this remains a positive season for us, given that our target was to stay up, which we did”.
Emanuele Zanini (coach Acqua Paradiso Monza): “I decided to leave De Cecco and Conte on the bench at the start because they both have minor physical problems. We played a good game, we had some nice blocking, and we handled well the various situations we had to face. At one point, their level dropped and we did well to take advantage. Tomorrow, though, if we want to beat Macerata, we’ll all need to play at 101%”.
On tomorrow’s game:
Alberto Giuliani (coach Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “The favorite won it between Monza and Verona. Monza even tried to rest a couple of starters, probably for tomorrow’s game. It will be a very tough game, Monza is undoubtedly a top quality team. Maximum determination needed to reach a very important target for us”.
Standings Group B
Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza 3, Lube Banca Marche Macerata 3, Marmi Lanza Verona 0*
*1 more game
GROUP C
COPRA ELIOR PIACENZA – TONNO CALLIPO VIBO VALENTIA 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-20)
COPRA ELIOR PIACENZA: Marra (L), Papi 8, Zhekov 2, Nikolov 15, Zlatanov 20, Holt 8, Tencati 4. DNP Kral, Sidibé, Massari, Kampa, De Oliveira, Binaghi. Coach. Monti.
TONNO CALLIPO VIBO VALENTIA: Falasca 9, Coscione, Serafini, Cernic 9, Diaz 17, Grassano 1, Barone 3, Fanuli (L), Nikolov 5. DNP Mignolo, Banderò, Klapwijk. Coach. Blengini.
Piacenza swept Vibo Valentia and will play against Cuneo tomorrow as the winner will advance to the semi-finals.
Gianlorenzo Blengini (coach Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “Tonight we struggled to play at a high level of intensity, it’s not been one of our best performances at all. It was not easy after the game we played yesterday, emotionally too. It’s not been as interesting a game as yesterday’s, we’re still a bit disappointed with the way it ended against Cuneo, we had played one of our best games”.
Hristo Zlatanov (Copra Elior Piacenza): “We needed a good game and we got it. We started off slow this season, then we improved, now we’ll see what happens tomorrow. It will be a real in-or-out final. There is a lot to lose for both teams, although Cuneo will have more pressure than us”.
On tomorrow’s game:
Leandro Vissotto (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “We have to play more as a united group. We’ll need to be more of a team against Piacenza than on Saturday against Vibo. We’re not doing our best and definitely not playing our best volleyball. So far we only had individual performances here and there, we lacked the understanding in the team. We’ll have to find it tomorrow from the start if we want to win and go to the semi-finals”.
Standing Group C
Copra Elior Piacenza 3, Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 3, Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 0*
*1 more game
GROUP D
SISLEY BELLUNO – CASA MODENA 3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 25-18, 25-22)
SISLEY BELLUNO: Abdelaziz, Fei 20, Horstink 13, Dolfo, Farina (L), Kohut 9, Curti, De Togni 8, Suxho 3, Antonov, Ogurcak 9. DNP Szabò, Sorato. Coach. Piazza.
CASA MODENA: Manià (L), Sala 12, Kadziewicz 4, Dennis 21, Carletti 1, Bellei 1, Esko 4, Martino 12, Casoli, Anderson 11. DNP Catellani. Coach. Bagnoli.
The upset suffered against Latina was partially forgotten following the 3-1 victory over Modena for Belluno. MVP: Fei. The semi-finalist will be known tomorrow when Modena takes on Latina. Modena will need a 3-0 score to go through.
Roberto Piazza (coach Sisley Belluno): “We did a good job of bouncing back after yesterday’s defeat: We wasted an opportunity but redeemed ourselves today. Credit to Latina for the splendid game they played yesterday. But today, Belluno played at a different level. There is a lot of pressure in those games and our opponent’s mistakes are part of the game. We’ll see what happens tomorrow between Modena and Latina. We’re hoping to get second place now”.
Mikko Esko (Casa Modena): “We gave everything we had tonight but that was not enough. We missed some important players it’s true, but that should not be an excuse for the defeat. We’d better forget about this game because we have another crucial one tomorrow. We’re frustrated but we have to think we still have our chances by beating Latina 3-0. We’ll have a go”.
On tomorrow’s game:
Daniele Sottile (Andreoli Latina): “I have to admit that Belluno was much better today, with more determination. We were lucky they had a bad day against us. Modena seemed to struggled at the start, they might have to get used to this playoff atmosphere, it’s particular, there is a lot of pressure, you play your season in two games. I think that can be the reason of the many initial mistakes on the serve. We’ll see what they’ll do against us. We are super motivated following our big win against Belluno. This was a good game in which we played better in the clutch time. Now we have a big opportunity against Modena, we’ll need to play a great game. Just like Belluno, Modena is one of the great teams of Italian Volleyball. If we realized a breakthrough on Saturday, there’s no reason we couldn’t do it again on Monday. We are in the race, let’s have a good run”.
Standing Group D
Andreoli Latina 3, Sisley Belluno 3*, Casa Modena 0
*one game more
Serie A2 Sustenium
Regular season is over. Perugia already promoted, playoffs ready to go. Atripalda and Cantù go straight down. Playouts on the go.
Serie A2 Sustenium: Round 30
Energy Resources Carilo Loreto – Pallavolo Molfetta 2-3 (25-23, 25-20, 19-25, 23-25, 13-15); Cassa Rurale Cantù – Caffè Aiello Corigliano 2-3 (23-25, 24-26, 25-20, 25-19, 11-15); BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte – NGM Mobile S.Croce 3-1 (25-9, 29-27, 23-25, 25-16); Sir Safety Perugia – Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia 3-1 (26-24, 22-25, 25-16, 27-25); Carige Genova – Club Italia Roma 3-1 (22-25, 25-11, 25-16, 25-18); CheBanca! Milano – Gherardi SVI Città Di Castello 3-2 (15-25, 25-19, 25-22, 22-25, 15-13); Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora – Sidigas Atripalda 3-1 (25-17, 18-25, 25-19, 25-20); Cicchetti Isernia – Crazy Diamond Segrate 3-0 (25-13, 25-21, 25-21)
League table
Sir Safety Perugia 70, BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte 65, Pallavolo Molfetta 63, Gherardi SVI Città Di Castello 59, Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora 55, Crazy Diamond Segrate 54, CheBanca! Milano 54, Carige Genova 51, Energy Resources Carilo Loreto 47, NGM Mobile S.Croce 46, Caffè Aiello Corigliano 37, Cicchetti Isernia 34, Club Italia Roma 32, Edilesse Conad Reggio Emilia 22, Sidigas Atripalda 17, Cassa Rurale Cantù 14.
PLAYOFFS FORMULA
Teams classified from second to 11th are qualified for the A2 playoffs. The winner will go up in the A1. Teams between 8th and 11th place start at the 8th of final, the others are directly through to the quarters. Three wins are needed to win a series. The best classified team always starts the series with a 1-0 advantage. The best classified teams host Game 3 and 5.
Teams
8th of FINAL
8 Carige Genova
9 Energy Resources Carilo Loreto
10 NGM Mobile Santa Croce <SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family:
