Comunicato Stampa della Lega Pallavolo Serie A

Playoffs SuperLega UnipolSai

Trento vs Molfetta on Wednesday

The playoffs quarter-finals began this weekend with victories for Verona, Latina and Modena. They will have a chance to seal their series and qualify this Sunday. In the meantime, Trento will take on Molfetta this Wednesday in a postponed game as Trento must recover from their CEV Cup final disappointment. They went indeed very close from a great come-back and lost the title in the golden set against Dinamo in Moscow.

Playoffs quarter-finals game 1 (postponed game)

Wednesday April 15 at 8.30pm

Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino (1) – Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta (8)  Live on RAI Sport 2

Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it

(Sobrero-Goitre)

Past encounters: 4 (3-1 Trento)

This season: 1-1 (Trento won 3-0 then Molfetta won 3-2)

In the playoffs: None

Massimo Colaci (Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino): “This quarter-final series won’t be easy in spite of the fact this is first against 8^th. One of our three regular season defeats came in Molfetta. It’s crucial to get off to a good start and get rid of the initial tension. In these games, it’s always the league leader who has to prove itself and has something to lose”.

Sergio Noda Blanco (Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta): “We’ll just go for it, like we always do. Trento is coming off two very tight games, but they are champions, I don’t think they feel any tired. They even strengthened their squad before the playoffs but that doesn’t change anything for us. They are physically strong, excellent in attack, especially on high ball. They have a great serve too. We’ll need to serve well and be patient. Team spirit will never be as important. I have been doing very well, I feel the faith of the team and the fans. I said it from the start, I love it when everyone pulls together and I feel this is exactly what happens in this club. I want to give more to the team, I am satisfied with what I’ve done but I know I can do even more. We can all do more. This team has the fighting spirit and character typical of South Americans. We are feisty and we never give up. Cuba is known to go through difficulties, and maybe this is something that makes us play with a lot of pride, and there are maybe similarities with Molfetta and the Apulia region. We represent a region, the south, which want to emerge and make people understand how strong it is. The bonding between the team and fans is special here too. The whole team, no matter the nationalities, thinks as a unit, as if it was just one and only person”.

Fixtures

Playoffs SuperLega UnipolSai – QUARTER-FINAL GAME 2

Sunday April 19 at 5pm

Exprivia Neldiritto Molfetta (8) – Energy T.I. Diatec Trentino (1)  Live on Lega Volley Channel

(Santi-Saltalippi)

Sunday April 19 at 5.30pm

CMC Ravenna (7) – Parmareggio Modena (2)  Live on RAI Sport 1

Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it

(Boris-Simbari)

Sunday April 19 at 6pm

Calzedonia Verona (5) – Sir Safety Perugia (4)  Live on Lega Volley Channel

(La Micela-Braico)

Sunday April 19 at 7pm

Top Volley Latina (6) – Cucine Lube Banca Marche Treia (3) Live on Lega Volley Channel

(Cipolla-Tanasi)

Game 3 on April 22 (If needed)

Playoffs Serie A2 UnipolSai

Semi-finals game 2 on Wednesday

Caffè Aiello Corigliano – Sieco Service Ortona. Corigliano had never beaten Ortona in six tries but it went totally against the odds in the house of the regular season champ to take game 1 of the semi-finals. Ortona had got off to a good start before struggling to deal with Corigliano’s powerful blocking (12 overall). Banderò was outstanding (21 points) but the other spikers Hrazdira and Mariano were not bad either (62 and 58% in attack). Middle blocker Calonico made his mark too with 9 points at 83%. As for Ortona, their main men Michalovic  and Cisolla had good percentages (50 and 48%) but they made a lot of mistakes as a team. Lanci and co will try to tie the series this Wednesday night because if they fell 2-0 down, Corigliano would have their first chance of qualification in game 3.

B-Chem Potenza Picena – Globo Banca Popolare del Frusinate Sora. In Game 1, Sora took revenge on a the only team they had not defeated during the regular season, Potenza Picena. Hirsch and Cala