SuperLega UnipolSai
Round 12 on Boxing day
Special day of volleyball on Boxing Day with the derby from Umbria between Città di Castello and Perugia and all the other games.
SuperLega UnipolSai round 12
Friday December 26 at 6pm
Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro – Sir Safety Perugia Differed on RAI Sport 2 at 8.30pm
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Saltalippi-Vagni)
Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Simbari-Puecher)
Top Volley Latina – Tonazzo Padova Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Longo-Cesare)
Copra Piacenza – Revivre Milano Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Zucca-Satanassi)
Vero Volley Monza – Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Pol-Bartolini)
Modena Volley – Calzedonia Verona Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Boris-Gnani)
Rested: CMC Ravenna
League table
Modena Volley 27, Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia 25, Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino 24, Sir Safety Perugia 21, Calzedonia Verona 18, Top Volley Latina 18, CMC Ravenna 16, Copra Piacenza 15, Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta 11, Tonazzo Padova 7, Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro 7, Revivre Milano 6, Vero Volley Monza 3
1 more game: Top Volley Latina, CMC Ravenna
Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro – Sir Safety Perugia
No better way for the fans to spend the holiday season than the 8th derby between the two clubs. Both played five sets in their last round. Montagnani’s men could not go over the hump in Milan, while Grbic and co had to work hard to overcome Monza. Perugia must defend its fourth place from Verona’s assault.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 7 (5-2 Città di Castello)
Paolo Montagnani (coach Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro): “The derby will be a special game even if there is definitely a difference of level. Hopefully, we’ll be able to reduce it thanks to the importance of the game. I would like everybody to stay tuned at the same level. We’re still looking for a game in which everyone manages to do what we tried in practice”.
Gabriele Maruotti (Sir Safety Perugia): “A very tricky period starts on Friday, and with many big games. We have to make the most out of it because it’s important to feel good as we get into the Italian cup at the start of January and to stay on the right track. The boys are confident, they’re motivated and they’re working hard. We’ll go to Sansepolcro to play a good game. And it’s a derby, always a special game to decipher against a difficult opponent that will definitely be ready to play. Given that it’s on boxing day, I am sure there will be a lot of people coming to watch it, hopefully we’ll play a good game for them”.
Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia
Molfetta came back from Forlì with two points thanks to great teamwork (four players in double figures). Coach Di Pinto welcomes back Rolando Despaigne, who had already played at the club last season. They will try to recover from the four point deficit they have on the 8th place in two games. Tough task because the fixtures are not easy by any means, Treia and Perugia are coming next. But there has been plenty of surprises of late, with Treia losing two in a row, the last one in the league against Latina. Treia needs a win to defend its second place and try to chase Modena (2 points up) before the big clash of the last round on December 28.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 2 (Both for Treia)
Francesco Del Vecchio (Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta): “The win in Ravenna gave us confidence and belief in our ability. As long as we’ll be in it mathematically we’ll try to get as many points as possible in the remaining games. We’ll face two top quality teams but in volleyball nothing can be taken for granted. We’ll play our game. Among the spikers, we have Despaigne back, who will help us to improve our game and make it hard for our opponents both on the serve and at the net”.
Dragan Stankovic (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “We have to immediately get back on our feet after the home loss against Latina, which did not allow us to take advantage of Modena’s defeat to go back on top. We have two games left, so the one against Molfetta is extremely important to get a good position for the cup quarters. We’ve been going through a tough spell but we want to bounce back and win on Friday before focusing on Sunday’s game against Modena”.
Top Volley Latina – Tonazzo Padova
Last game of the year for Latina, who will be rested in the last round. The group showed all its quality in the stunning win over Treia which secured a spot in the cup. Padova interrupted a four game losing streak with a splendid performance against Piacenza. Padova had a special display from Rosso and Quiroga, who scored 22 points each.
PRECEDENTI: 16 (8 successi per parte)
Gianlorenzo Blengini (coach Top Volley Latina): “I am extremely satisfied with the win in Macerata, we’re moving up the table and we had an excellent performance. It would become even more valuable if we faced Padova with a good attitude. Padova is getting better and they proved it against Piacenza. This is an in-form team that lives off the excitement of being back in the top division”.
Valerio Baldovin (coach Tonazzo Padova): “This will be a long trip and not an easy one either. They have done extremely well of late, this is a very effective team. They don’t make many mistakes, this is why we’ll have to count exclusively on ourselves. We proved we were making progress against Piacenza, we’ll need our best volleyball again if we want to get points out of this one”.
Copra Piacenza – Revivre Milano
Piacenza lost at the tie-break against Padova but did recover from an early 2-0 deficit to force a fifth set. And the point could be crucial for the cup qualification. Zlatanov and co have a four point advantage on Molfetta, its main follower. Milan eventually find the way to victory on home soil against Città di Castello. Maranesi’s men will try to make it three wins on the bounce and get the first one with maximum points.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: None
Samuele Papi (Copra Piacenza): “We have to consider this a tough game: Milan will come galvanized from its win over Città di Castello, while we’re coming off a sub-par performance in Padova. In these few days of preparation, we have to increase our rhythm of play before December 26, we need those three important points, that would do us good both in terms of standings and spirit”.
Marco Maranesi (coach Revivre Milano): “We have three tough encounters coming up between 2014 and 2015 against Piacenza, Ravenna and Molfetta. The one on Boxing day is probably the most complicated. Piacenza have top quality players like Zlatanov, Vermiglio, Papi and Kohut. They have only been a bit more inconsistent than the big teams of our league. As far as we’re concerned, we must keep progressing. Once again the serve will an important factor”.
Vero Volley Monza – Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino
Monza proved against Perugia it could give a game to anyone. Five players finished in double figures as Perugia was pushed to its limit before winning it at the tie-break. Back in the starting line-up, setter Jovovic gave a hard time to last year’s league finalists. The point will give confidence though Monza is still chasing that first victory. It won’t be easy against Kaziyski and co, who have been working on all cylinders of late. And they are extremely up for it after having inflicted the first defeat of the season to Modena. Trento is now just three points away from the leaders.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: None
Oreste Vacondio (coach Vero Volley Monza): “If we think positive, aware that all the good things we do is extra benefit, then we can get a good result against Trento to. Two main fundamentals have worked out fine against Perugia: serving and blocking. The team eventually regained confidence. If we can be consistent against Trento too, then we can hope for something good. They are a team that is very consistent on the serve, and they often hit it hard. Hopefully, our reception will hang on, and after two good performances against Milan and Perugia, we hope this could be the start of a second phase”.
Filippo Lanza (Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino): “Having gathered a superb result against Modena last Sunday, it would be wrong to unconsciously lower our guards and focus just because we face a team that is behind us in the table. We have to play in Monza with the same spirit as usual and try to be ready from the get-go to take important points for the Italian cup quarter-finals”.
Modena Volley – Calzedonia Verona
Sooner or later, it was always going to happen, but maybe Modena did not expect to fall that abruptly in its first loss of the season against Trento. But no panic in the Lorenzetti camp as they are still top with two games to go to the halfway point. They play host to former Modena player and coach, Andrea Giani who’s now on the Verona bench. The visitors were rested in the last round and they have not lost in four games. They are chasing Perugia’s fourth place, which would allow them to play the cup quarters at home.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 20 (16-4 Modena)
Angelo Lorenzetti (coach Modena Volley): “The 3-0 we conceded against Trento made the boys and myself reflect. We knew we would lose at one point or another, but now we have to start over, regain our self-confidence which should not be shattered by a single loss, though that was a severe one. Verona has a rather similar game to Trento, heavy serve, a good flow in the passing, we’ll definitely need our best”.
Sam Deroo (Calzedonia Verona): “Modena has been playing great volleyball. We have been resting last weekend so we’ll be physically ready for this game. We’ll be up for it and we’ll play without fear. Coming back to the PalaPanini arena will surely be a special emotion, I expect it to be packed”.
Serie A2 UnipolSai
Round 11<SPAN lang=EN-US style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; COLOR: #464646; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New
