Comunicato Stampa della Lega Pallavolo Serie A

Serie A1 – Playoffs quarter-finals

Game 1 on Thursday

The Playoff quarter-finals will kick off on Thursday March 27 at 8.30. Macerata, Piacenza, Perugia, Trento, Verona, Città di Castello, Cuneo and Modena begin their quest for the Italian league title 2014.

A1 quarter-finals: Game 1

Thursday March 27 at 8.30pm

Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata (1) – Calzedonia Verona (8)

(Bartolini-Vagni)  

Diatec Trentino (4) – Casa Modena (5)  Live on RAI Sport 2

Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it

(Puecher-Rapisarda)  

Copra Elior Piacenza (2) – Altotevere Città Castello (7)  Live on Sportube.tv

(La Micela-Braico)  

Sir Safety Perugia (3) – Bre Lannutti Cuneo (6)

(Cesare-Gnani)  

GAME 2

Sunday March 30 at 5.30pm

Bre Lannutti Cuneo (6) – Sir Safety Perugia (3)  Live on RAI Sport 1

Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it

(Sobrero-Boris)  

Sunday March 30 at 6pm

Casa Modena (5) – Diatec Trentino (4)

(Sampaolo-Pasquali)  

Altotevere Città Castello (7) – Copra Elior Piacenza (2)

(Pol-Tanasi) 

Sunday March 30 at 8.30pm

Calzedonia Verona (8) – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata (1)  Live on Sportube.tv

(Santi-Saltalippi)  

Game 1 

Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata – Calzedonia Verona

The regular season champion takes on the 8^th as Macerata regained its top spot in the very last game against Piacenza and qualified for next season’s Champions League at the same time. Verona eventually sneaked into the playoffs despite a last round loss against Trento which could have been costly. Their superb start to the season turned out to be extremely valuable as they hanged on for 8^th place. Eager to finish the season well, the club recently signed spiker Nikola Kovacevic.

Past encounters: 21 (18-3 Macerata

Regular season: 2 (Macerata won both 3-0).

In the playoffs: 1 quarter-final won by Macerata

Simone Parodi (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “A new championship begins, one that has nothing to do with the one that just finished. The league title is an important goal, this is the only one left for us, so we really want to go all the way. It’s crucial to start off well against Verona, a team we must respect, hopefully we’ll play as well as against Piacenza a few days ago, because this would mean that we’re really on the right track”.

Andrea Giani (Coach Calzedonia Verona): “We made it into playoffs after a difficult end to the season. But all the points taken in the first half of season paid off. Tomorrow’s encounter will be a great one. We’re preparing for this particular time in which emotions have a big influence on the game. We must have no mercy and take whatever opportunity this strong opponent allow us to have”.

Diatec Trentino – Casa Modena

Thrilling match-up between Trento, who had a difficult second half of season due to many injuries, and Modena, who is coming off four consecutive wins. Modena will try to win again in Trento, like they did in February. The last time they made it into a playoff semi-final was in 2011, defeated in the deciding game 5 by Trento.

PAST ENCOUNTERS: 45 (28-17 Trento).

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