SuperLega UnipolSai
Round 18
The SuperLega comes back on Saturday night with Città di Castello taking on Latina. The rest of the games will take place on Sunday, day of the Serie A2 cup final.
SuperLega UnipolSai Round 18
Saturday February 7 at 5.30pm
Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro – Top Volley Latina Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
(Piana-Bartolini)
Sunday February 8 at 6pm
Copra Piacenza – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Simbari-Satanassi)
Calzedonia Verona – Sir Safety Perugia Live on Lega Volley Channel
(La Micela-Sobrero)
Revivre Milano – Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Pol-Cappello)
CMC Ravenna – Vero Volley Monza Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Sampaolo-Saltalippi)
Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta – Tonazzo Padova Live on Lega Volley Channel
(Goitre-Boris)
Rested: Modena Volley
League table
Modena Volley 42, Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino 40, Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia 34, Sir Safety Perugia 32, Calzedonia Verona 31, Top Volley Latina 27, CMC Ravenna 25, Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta 21, Copra Piacenza 19, Vero Volley Monza 12, Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro 10, Tonazzo Padova 7, Revivre Milano 6
1 game in hand: Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia, Vero Volley Monza, Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro, Revivre Milano
Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro – Top Volley Latina
Coach Fausto Polidori obtained three points in his first two games as new Castello head coach. That was the result of two tie-breaks on the road, one won in Piacenza last weekend. That helped the club keep Padova and Milan at a safe distance behind. Polidori will therefore make his home debut on Saturday against Latina, currently sixth in the table. Blengini’s men are coming off a convincing win over Molfetta. Starovic and Urnaut shined again in attack while Van De Voorde has been as dominant as ever at the net (7 blocks in the last game, 67 all together).
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 5 (4-1 Latina)
Luigi Randazzo (Altotevere Città di Castello-Sansepolcro): “The game in Piacenza must be a motivation for us to play at a high level on our come-back at home three weeks after our last game. We managed to get a point in the first meeting there, many others couldn’t do it. We have to build on this and the work done during the week to add to last Sunday’s win”.
Andrea Rossi (Top Volley Latina): “I think this will be a tough game. They’ve played two excellent games, they changed coach and took points. That was a boost for them. They did not seem to be able to get it going a few weeks ago but got reorganized. That’s why we have to play as well as against Molfetta, execute the simple things and impose our game. If we can do that, we’ll be able to take the three points”.
Copra Piacenza – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia
Piacenza’s troubles in the league do not seem to end. Five losses on the bounce (the last one home against Città di Castello, without Poey and with setter Tavares not hundred percent) is starting to be worrying for Radici’s men who are facing a tough month of February. They will meet Treia, Modena and Perugia, as well as Kazan in the Champions League playoffs 12. The first up are the Italian Champions of Treia, who will also be on duty in Europe this month. Coach Giuliani is getting all his players back bit by bit as Kovar is on his way to full recovery after his cup semi-final injury.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 38 (20-18 Treia)
Hristo Zlatanov (Copra Piacenza): “Our only goal for Sunday’s game against Treia is to stay calm and play loose. We don’t have any pressure and we’re not the favorite, we just have to focus on playing volleyball”.
Konstantin Shumov (Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia): “We’re travelling to Piacenza aiming to get more points. We’ll need maximum focus obviously, because it’s always difficult in their PalaBanca arena. Besides, they’re eager to get back on track after a few league defeats. We can’t afford to get it wrong, we need the win. That would also be good ahead of the Champions League game to play next Wenesday in Civitanova”.
Calzedonia Verona – Sir Safety Perugia
Fourth spot at stake. This would be a first ever win against Perugia for Verona after seven consecutive defeats. Two of them occurred this season, one in the league and one in the cup quarter-finals. Verona lost against Trento last week, which interrupted a run of nine consecutive games taking points. Perugia moved above their opponents of the day thanks to a win over Padova. They will try to create a gap and make some progress in their game before the important double header against the Polish side of Jastrzebski Wegiel.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 7 (Perugia won them all)
Andrea Giani (coach Calzedonia Verona): “Important game. We really want the win given that the outcome both in league and cup play has been negative. We also want to bounce back from our defeat in Trento. This will be a top level game, with top players and a big crowd”.
Simone Buti (Sir Safety Perugia): “That will be a very tough road game. Verona has lost only once at home in the league, and all the top teams have lost there. In the two previous games against them, we proved we could do well, we have to try to do the same again, even if they are stronger at home. Verona is excellent on the break, they have quality servers and they block very well, so we’ll need to play our game at a good level. We have been training all week without any mid-week games so we’re in good shape, ready for this important game in which there will be the fourth place at stake”.
Revivre Milano – Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino
Beaten by the leaders last week, Milan now faces the second in the table, Trento. Milan will play its second game of the season in the Mediolanum forum, the first had attracted nearly 6000 fans against Modena on November 2. Maranesi’s men have been bottom of the table since the start of the return games as they conceded five consecutive defeats. As for Trento, they chase Modena and the first place.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 1 (Trento)
Marco Maranesi (coach Revivre Milano): “We need confidence right now, a good game against Trento, and why not take a set could be enough. The fans of the Mediolanum Forum could help us to achieve that. In Modena we proved we had their level on the break, while there was an evident gap for the rest, but not impossible to close. We need to pull together and have patience”.
Emanuele Birarelli (Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino): “In February we’ll only play one game a week given that the CEV Cup will resume in March. We therefore have to take advantage of the time at our disposal to train well and prepare carefully the important matches we’ll have ahead. Sunday’s game might seem easy when you look at the table, but we know for sure it won’t be. Despite our position, we don’t underestimate anyone, Milan has had a hard time of late, they’ll want to bounce back against a big crowd in the forum. So we’ll need maximum focus and determination”.
CMC Ravenna – Vero Volley Monza
In The last round, that was the first game of this second half of season without a point for Ravenna, beaten 3-1 by Treia. Kantor’s men will be back home where they won twice in 2015 against Piacenza and Città di Castello. Monza was rested last week. Padura Diaz and co will want to start where they had left off, having put together a series of victories that was only interrupted by Modena on January 25, and they had played an excellent game despite the negative outcome.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 3 (2-1 Ravenna)
Waldo Kantor (coach CMC Ravenna): “The team is in good shape, we had a good training week with our full squad, which will help us make progress. Having said that, if we want to beat Monza, we’ll need to be focused at all time and avoid the kind of lapses we had in some games, and not only against top opponents like Treia. We obviously want to win even if Monza has been playing brilliantly in the return game, they’ll surely be a tough opposition”.
Oreste Vacondio (coach Vero Volley Monza): “I think we got some confidence out of the loss against Modena. When you compare the two games against Modena, you realize the progress we’ve made. Besides, the result was harsh given that we always reached 24 points before them. That’s why I don’t think my boys suffered from that 3-0 defeat. Ravenna is a very competitive team but different from the one we met earlier this season. They lost Toniutti, a top player, and a lack of continuity has hurt them. We’ll go there without fear, to play our game. In recent outings, besides the work done in the gym, it is our character that allowed us to take big points. From now till the end, every game becomes important. I hope that we will enjoy ourselves”.
Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta – Tonazzo Padova
Molfetta was left bitter following their 3-0 loss in Latina. They had had the better start, the first set seemed to be sealed and the game on the right track but instead Latina came back, snatched the set and the game. So there’s a feeling of revenge as they face Padova, last from bottom in the table. After meeting the top four in the first four return games, they want to start winning again. They have not won since December 21, that was at home against Piacenza. Despite the losses, Baldovin’s men managed to make it hard for the big teams of the SuperLega. This game will be an opportunity to show how the group has grown.
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 5 (3-2 Molfetta)
Giancarlo D’Amico (Ass.coach Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta): “The defeat in Latina could have been dangerous because it stopped a fantastic run of wins. But we got back in the gym humble, ready to put ourselves to the test again, but without forgetting our strength on which we have to work further, day after day. The secret of our recent run is the quality of Torres and Hierrezuelo, who allowed us to consolidate what was already a perfectly coherent group. We have improved our game compared to the first half of season, we have been extremely professional and shown abnegation, both in training and in games. This is that mental strength that we need in Padova for this tricky game that we need to face without fear”.
Valerio Baldovin (coach Tonazzo Padova): “We’re facing a long trip to take on an in-form team. It won’t be an easy game by any means, but we have to do our best to win it. We have worked a lot and extremely hard this week, we have a few games ahead in which we need to take as many points as possible. We need to turn all the good work done in recent weeks into points”. <SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Trebuchet MS','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-f
