Cup final four presented in Bologna
In the beautiful Accursio Palace in Bologna, the Italian Cup final four was presented this morning. The event will take place on March 8-9 in Bologna’s PalaDozza’s arena.
“One aim of the town hall is to bring back great events in the city – said the councilor for sport of Bologna, Luca Rizzo – We are thrilled to start right away with such an important volleyball event”.
Then the Italian Volleyball League CEO Massimo Righi said a few words: “We want to thank the Bologna town hall, the Del Monte brand who has been supporting us in our events for a few years now, and all our sponsors. We really want it to be a special event for the city of Bologna, which is a symbol of volleyball, where currently are the Italian League offices but where unfortunately top volleyball is missing. The final four will be broadcasted not only in Italy but in 66 nations, and there will also be the web streaming on BWin.com”.
Volleyball.it launches the “Italian Volleyball Cup” app
News, photos, videos, special fixtures and interactivity and much more will be on the iPad app launched by Volleyball.it. This can be downloaded for free from the App Store Apple.
Vote for the Final Four MVP with new App
Smartphone, Android or Iphone? An official App for the Italian Cup Final Four will be available in which you will be able to vote for your MVP and enter a draw to win an autographed Mikasa MVA200 ball. It will be easy to vote once you have downloaded the app. Just before the end of the final, the journalists will reveal who will be the MVP.
Serie A1
Round 20 (forwarded)
Hristo Zlatanov: mister 9000?
Round 20 has been forwarded before round 18 and 19 in order to be in line with the International calendar. Piacenza vs Trentino will be the big game of the day. Intriguing as well the meeting between Cuneo and Macerata.
Serie A1 round 20
Wednesday February 19 at 8.30pm
Bre Lannutti Cuneo – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata Live on Sportube.tv
(Sobrero-Boris)
Andreoli Latina – Sir Safety Perugia
(Goitre-Cesare)
Altotevere Città di Castello – Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia
(Rapisarda-Puecher)
Copra Elior Piacenza – Diatec Trentino Diretta RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Pasquali-Sampaolo)
Calzedonia Verona – Casa Modena
(Bartolini-Braico)
Postponed to Saturday March 8 at 8.30pm
CMC Ravenna – Exprivia Molfetta
League table
Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata 44, Copra Elior Piacenza 39*, Sir Safety Perugia 33, Diatec Trentino 31, Bre Lannutti Cuneo 25, Calzedonia Verona 24, Altotevere Città di Castello 22, Casa Modena 22, Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia 18, CMC Ravenna 17*, Andreoli Latina 15, Exprivia Molfetta 13
*1 game in hand: Copra Elior Piacenza, CMC Ravenna
Copra Elior Piacenza – Diatec Trentino
Rai Sport could not miss this encounter. Both knocked out of the Champions League in the last round, they aim to go as far as possible in the league and the cup. Piacenza recovered for their European disappointment with a win in Cuneo and will try to take revenge on the first meeting lost against Trento, which is going through a bad spell mainly due to injuries. They are without their outside hitters Sokolov and Szabo, as well as Birarelli. They slipped to fourth last weekend. This could be a special day for Piacenza’s captain who’s 16 points away from the 9000 in career. He’s already the record man in Italy.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 41 (26-15 Trento)
Luciano De Cecco (Copra Elior Piacenza): “Despite the tired legs, we proved we were a united group and had character on Sunday in Cuneo. Tomorrow at home, it will all depend on ourselves. Our attitude and mental approach will be key. Our physical fitness will be important too, we have been spending a lot of energy of late and it’s taking its toll. The important thing is not to get overwhelmed by our mental tiredness and maintain our composure, without ever giving up. We have to stay united like in recent games to reach our target”.
Filippo Lanza (Diatec Trentino): “The more games we play in this period the easier we’ll find an understanding on court with this line-up without Sokolov and Birarelli. Piacenza is definitely not the most tender opponent to face but every game is a good opportunity to try to start over. We know it will be extremely tough because there’s always a heated atmosphere in the PalaBanca arena but we have to try our best. We’ll give everything we have hoping that in the end we’ll be able to talk more about the tactical aspects rather than cry over the players missing”.
Bre Lannutti Cuneo – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata
Fascinating game in Cuneo where the hosts have taken a point against Piacenza in the last game (5th consecutive game taking points). This time, they take on the league leaders, Macerata, who has lost three in a row on the road. They could have Kurek back, who missed the last game because of the flu.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 74 (38-36 Cuneo)
Manuel Coscione (Bre Lannutti Cuneo): “Macerata has beaten us 3-0 twice this season. We are motivated to make it a different result this time. We have improved a lot in recent games. This will be a tough game but a battle if we can play like in recent outings. It’s always been a special fixture, for the players, clubs and fans. Even if that is a mid-week game, I expect the gym to be filled. The presence of our fans will be crucial to give us that extra fighting spirit to face such a game”.
Simone Parodi (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “This will be an important test, we want to add points for the league table and we want to get back to winning away from home. Taking points in Cuneo would mean staying top and getting a road win that has been eluding us for over a month. These are our targets in this tough encounter given that Cuneo is in great form. They have obtained excellent results of late”.
Andreoli Latina – Sir Safety Perugia
Not many games left till the end of the season and Latina must give everything it has left to make it into the playoffs. Last Italian representative in Europe (EuroChallenge semis), Simoni’s men have a seven-point deficit to recover from. They miraculously obtained a point after trailing 2-0 against Verona in the last round, while Perugia had moved up to third thanks to its win over Molfetta.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 3 (2-1 Perugia)
Salvatore Rossini (Andreoli Latina): “We’re facing a tough game against a strong team which has been doing well recently. It is important to take points and win them all now, especially the ones we play at home. We need our supporters to give us a hand in these last games. We are confident we can do well”.
Nemanja Petric (Sir Safety Perugia): “We could see against Molfetta that you can never lower your guards in the Italian league. Latina has been doing well of late, they made it into the Challenge Cup semi-finals, no doubt it will be tough in their gym. We must try to stay composed, focused and fight for every point. Sasa Starovic has proved he is a great players for years. After his injury, he’s coming back to his old best and he’s showing it every Sunday. We’ll have to watch out for him, he’s definitely one of their main guys, even if many others are top quality players”.
Altotevere Città di Castello – Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia
The defeat in Ravenna interrupted Città di Castello’s four game winning streak. They slipped to seventh but this game will represent an opportunity to consolidate his place in the playoffs zone. Indeed, a win would extend the league on Vibo (currently 4), which is just outside the top 8. From the Vibo standpoint, they must win at all cost to get into that coveted top 8. This would be their first road win of the season as Blengini’s men only took one point so far away from home in Modena.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (Vibo Valentia)
Andrea Radici (Coach Altotevere Città di Castello): “We went right back to work to prepare this game which will be different from the one played in Ravenna. They have much more experience and players like Gavotto, Steuerwald or Ogurcak, who can all make the difference. Hopefully, we’ll immediately find the energy and will needed to get a result at home, where we’ll have a different technical outlook too”.
Gianlorenzo Blengini (Coach Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia): “Overall we played a quality game in Macerata. The attitude was positive. I expect this one to be difficult. Città di Castello has greatly improved its level of play, especially in the block-dig department. We’ll have to roll up our sleeves and get down to business because their main fixture is that they might be the best team in terms of intensity in dig. This will be a battle because Città di Castello really gets motivated from the plays they make in dig”.
Calzedonia Verona – Casa Modena
Parallel run for Verona and Modena in the second half of season. They both started with a win, followed by 4 consecutive losses and the elimination from the cup in the quarters. That run ended with a win last Sunday that ended the crisis. Verona won in Latina, while new signing Ngapeth was immediately key for Modena in the win in Trento.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 19 (15-4 Modena)
Mitja Gasparini (Coach Verona): “We’re feeling good, we got a great win on Sunday after a negative run. This victory was crucial to get in good spirit before the coming home games. We’ll have another difficult game tomorrow against Modena. They’re coming off a 3-0 win in Trento, as they stopped a bad spell like us. This will be a thrilling battle, in which every point will be important”.
Angelo Lorenzetti (Coach Casa Modena): “The Trento game was weird, we had a different attitude. We cannot take for granted the improvements seen in building the points, but we can surely continue to be determined. As I’ve said before, there are not many games left so we have to try to get points in every game we play”.
