Serie A1
Latina vs Castellana forwarded
The game between Latina and Castellana Grotte of Round 20 has been forwarded to Saturday 23 (initially scheduled on Sunday 24) in order to give Latina more time to prepare the Cev Cup final.
Serie A1
Round 19
Here we are for the fnal rush in the A1 with only four games to go in the regular season before knowing what will be the playoffs match-ups. Saturday’s game will be Ravenna versus San Giustino. The hosts got off the bottom last week and are now aiming at the 10th position to get in the playoffs, 10th spot occupied precisely by San Giustino. Two highly interesting games on Sunday with Trento taking on an in-form Castellana Grotte and the euphoric Cuneo – which just qualified for the Champions League Final Four – against Modena.
Serie A1 round 19
Saturday February 16 at 6pm
CMC Ravenna – Altotevere San Giustino Live on RAI Sport 2
(Cappello-Rapisarda)
Sunday February 17 at 5.30pm
Itas Diatec Trentino – BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte Live on RAI Sport 1
(Padoan-Gnani)
Sunday February 17 at 6pm
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Casa Modena Live on Sportube.tv
(Puecher-La Micela)
Sir Safety Perugia – Copra Elior Piacenza
(Pol-Pasquali)
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Marmi Lanza Verona
(Perri-Cesare)
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Andreoli Latina
(Caltabiano-Bartolini)
League table
Itas Diatec Trentino 43, Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata 41, Copra Elior Piacenza 37, Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo 35, Casa Modena 30, Sir Safety Perugia 30, Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia 26, Andreoli Latina 25, BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte 23, Altotevere San Giustino 16, CMC Ravenna 10, Marmi Lanza Verona 8
CMC Ravenna – Altotevere San Giustino
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (San Giustino)
Mauro Fresa (coach CMC Ravenna): “We know San Giustino very well even if that reminds us of our worst game since I am coach here. They have a variety of solutions. As for us, the win over Latina gave us a boost but we also have a few physical worries to deal with. We’ll see just before the game for Mengozzi.
Francesco Mattioli (Altotevere San Giustino): “Ravenna is a team we can beat, we proved it in our first meeting. We have to get on court confident, play with composure, and play at our best. They’re coming off a good win against Latina. A positive result against us would get them back in the race for the playoffs, that’s why we’ll need maximum focus. We need to throw in our last efforts to get a good position for the playoffs. This would be an important result which we deserve considering all the work done in all those months. We believe in our chances, we’re in good shape, we have improved in every area of the game, even if we probably miss a little something more, more conviction and fighting spirit, we should understand when to give the knock-out punch. But these are characteristics that you acquire with experience”.
Itas Diatec Trentino – BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 3 (All 3 Trento)
Massimo Colaci (Itas Diatec Trentino): “We want to keep the first place we have just regained. To achieve this, we’ll have to deal well with the tough game against Piacenza we’ll have in two weeks, but without underestimating the games we’ll have coming up first. Castellana Grotte has been doing extremely well of late, they will be able to play at their best without much pressure. The fact Piacenza lost over there should be a warning to take seriously. Besides, we’re the ones with all the responsibilities, needing to get a result”.
Giulio Sabbi (BCC-NEP Castellana Grotte): “Trento is one of the strongest teams of this league, that’s why we have to make the most of the good moment we’re going through. We have four games left until the end of the regular season, which we have to face with the same attitude as in the last four. We’ll just see where that leads us in the end and we’ll give it our best shot without fear in the playoffs”.
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Casa Modena
PRECEDENTI: 66 (32 successi Cuneo, 34 successi Modena)
Daniele De Pandis (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “Wednesday’s victory was a unique feeling, that’s the first time the club will take part in a Champions League Final Four, a historical moment, and having contributed in it makes me very proud. We have to keep training hard and stay focused to face Modena with the same determination as yesterday. This game will be crucial to secure fourth place, keep the fifth at safe distance, in order to play the playoff quarter finals at home”.
Angelo Lorenzetti (coach Casa Modena): “Cuneo is a very strong opponent, and they will be even more up for it than in the Champions League. They serve extremely well, but they have many more attributes. In those games, our mission is to fight for every point, try to stay close as we play one set at a time. We have to behave like a team that wants to go home having learned something that will help get better. We have to keep working like we’ve done until now and reproduce on court what we do in training. It would obviously be positive to be in the top 6 but we should not be looking at the league table. I am saying this because Modena is a team that gathered wins and defeats, because at times we played technically at a good level and others not as good. That’s why we just have to do what we always do: work on our game”.
Sir Safety Perugia – Copra Elior Piacenza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (Piacenza)
Aimone Alletti (Sir Safety Perugia): “This is a special game for me because Piacenza is my city and that’s the club where I grew up. I really want to do well, and we all want to keep our good run going given that we’re in a good position just four games away from the end of the regular season. We’re up against one of the top teams of the A1, but in our first meeting we proved we had the quality to give them a good game. On Sunday, we’ll have to play without fear, be aggressive on the serve and then work well in the block-dig area to contain their attack. Their setter De Cecco, is extremely strong, and he is surrendered by superb spikers, that’s why serving well will be key for us”.
Luca Monti (coach Copra Elior Piacenza): “The trip to Perugia will be very difficult. We had a bad one last week in Castellana Grotte, which should not happen again. We could get an advantage from our serve but we’ll surely have to give it a fight, Perugia is really playing well right now.
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Marmi Lanza Verona
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 18 (15-3 Macerata)
Hubert Henno (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “Being knocked out of the Champions League was hard to take in, but that’s precisely this big disappointment that has to give us extra motivation to do our very best in the league, which is our last goal left. We need the three points but above all a good performance, a good response from every standpoint. Today in volleyball, you cannot take anything for granted, ever. We have to look ahead with confidence, knowing we’ll have to fight hard every day to try to make the most of the time we have at our disposal. We must end the regular season in the best position possible and then have some great playoffs”.
Bruno Bagnoli (coach Marmi Lanza Verona): “We’ll go to Macerata with the same spirit seen in Cuneo. We know we’ll be up against an angry team, ready to take revenge in the playoffs. We have quite a few problems to deal with, which does not allow us to train and play as we’d like, but we’ll play to the best of our ability with the young players we have”.
Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia – Andreoli Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 13 (8-5 Latina)
Alessandro Farina (Tonno Callipo Vibo Valentia): “Latina is a team that plays excellent volleyball, they dig very well and they don’t make many mistakes. Vibo will come here determined, maybe thinking about taking advantage of our poor run of form. But if we play at the best of our potential we can definitely make it hard for them”.
Luigi Goldner (Andreoli Latina): “We have great potential, we can make it difficult for anyone, but if you don’t adopt the right attitude it’s easy to waste good opportunities. That happened to us several times both in the league and Cev Cup. If we play with the fighting spirit seen on Wednesday against Ankara, and with a good psychological approach, I am sure we will bring home some valuable points”.
Serie A2
Round 20
B-Chem Golden Plast Potenza Picena – Gherardi SVI Città di Castello. Città di Castello is very close from direct promotion in the A1. A three-point victory would get them just one step away from celebration. Potenza is another team getting closer to its target: staying up, an upset would make it almost certain.
Caffè Aiello Corigliano – Tonazzo Padova. Corigliano slipped to seventh place last week as their run was interrupted by a 3-0 loss in Reggio Emilia. They’re playing against the fifth, Padova, which will try to make it three on the bounce.
Sieco Service Ortona – Pallavolo Loreto. Beaten in Potenza in the last round, Ortona plays host to another team from the Marche region this week: Loreto. The latter is bottom of the table in a desperate situation, six points away from Matera, they need a win.
Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora – Coserplast Matera. In the last round, Sora took a point in Atripalda as the chase for second place is getting tighter and tighter. The hosts will look for maximum points against Matera, currently last from bottom and eager to take more points to secure salvation as soon as possible.
Vero Volley Monza – Exprivia Molfetta. Rested last week, Molfetta lost only one position as they are chasing second place with Sora and Atripalda. They travel to Monza, which has not taken any points in the last three rounds. This could be a good opportunity to get back on track and improve on their current sixth position before the end of the regular season.
Elettrosud Brolo – Sidigas HS Atripalda. Brolo can’t afford to slow down in the race to stay up. A seven-point advantage on Loreto can look comfortable but there’s a long way to go. The playoffs are ten points away. Atripalda moved up to second last week and will do everything possible to stay there until the end.
Serie A2 round 20
Sunday February 17 at 6pm
B-Chem Golden Plast Potenza Picena – Gherardi SVI Città di Castello
(Somansino-Longo)
Caffè Aiello Corigliano – Tonazzo Padova
(Goitre-Gasparro)
Sieco Service Ortona – Pallavolo Loreto
(Zingaro-Canessa)
Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora – Coserplast Matera Differed on RAI Sport 1 (Tuesday February 19 at 8pm)
(Bellini-Bertoletti)
Vero Volley Monza – Exprivia Molfetta
(Ravallese-Marchello)
Elettrosud Brolo – Sidigas HS Atripalda
(Cardaci-Pristerà)
Rested: Conad Reggio Emilia
League table
Gherardi SVI Città di Castello 50, Sidigas HS Atripalda 37, Exprivia Molfetta 37, Globo Banca Pop. Frusinate Sora 37, Tonazzo Padova 31, Vero Volley Monza 29, Caffè Aiello Corigliano 29, Sieco Service Ortona 27, Conad Reggio Emilia 26, B-Chem Golden Plast Potenza Picena 17, Elettrosud Brolo 16, Coserplast Matera 15, Pallavolo Loreto 9
1 more game: Sidigas HS Atripalda, Tonazzo Padova, Sieco Service Ortona, Conad Reggio Emilia, B-Chem Golden Plast Potenza Picena, Coserplast Matera
