A lot of tight games in the mid-week round 4 but at the same time differences are being underlined, starting with Civitanova escaping at the top.
In round 5, Latina face a tough challenge against Modena. Latina has only one point in the table but with a game in hand to be played on October 27 with Trento. As for the Italian champions, they stand one point behind the leaders following a victory on Wednesday, which they made look easier than it really was.
Padova will be home against Molfetta. Padova did ok against the Italian champs and they know not many will grab any points in Modena. They face an easier task against Molfetta, who wants to bounce back from the game against Piacenza in which they let their opponent come back from 2-0 down.
Ravenna is coming off a defeat in Perugia after a come-back that was not completed in the tie-break. They will play host to Verona, who boasts 9 points following their victory over Monza, though they could have sealed it before the tie-break. Djuric scored 26 points and Kovacevic 21. This will be Baranowicz’s 200th appearance.
Sora is still without a point, though they registered their first set in the SuperLega on Wednesday night against Civitanova. A little step forward that will give confidence to the team led by spiker Mattia Rosso who showed no problems to adapt to the top level. Sora will take on Monza, who will try to do well in spite of having Nikola Jovovic supsended three games. Peter verhess could make it 500 spikes.
Vibo Valentia obtained its first victory on its year back in the elite. It was on the road in five tight sets against Milan. Filip Rejlek was on fire as he exploded for 29 points. The opponent of the day will be Perugia, who failed to join Civitanova at the top in spite of a 2-0 lead against Ravenna.
After the early three points taken in Molfetta, there were two losses against Modena and in the derby versus Monza followed for Milan. The mid-week game was meant to be the opportunity to turn things around but Vibo ruined it all in the tie-break. They will face a Civitanova team that is on a five-game winning streak. After the third place won in the SuperCup against trento, wins over Monza, Piacenza, Latina and Sora followed. Overall, that was 12 points and only 2 sets conceded.
SuperLega UnipolSai round 5
Sunday 23 October at 6pm
Top Volley Latina – Azimut Modena Live on Lega Volley Channel
Kioene Padova – Exprivia Molfetta Live on Lega Volley Channel
Bunge Ravenna – Calzedonia Verona Live on Lega Volley Channel
Biosì Indexa Sora – Gi Group Monza Live on Lega Volley Channel
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia – Sir Safety Conad Perugia Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sunday 23 October at 6.10pm
Revivre Milano – Cucine Lube Civitanova Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
SuperLega UnipolSai round 4 postponed game
Thursday 27 October at 8.30pm
Diatec Trentino – Top Volley Latina Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
SuperLega UnipolSai Round 5 postponed game
Thursday 17 November at 8.30pm
LPR Piacenza – Diatec Trentino Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
League table
Cucine Lube Civitanova 12, Azimut Modena 11, Sir Safety Conad Perugia 11, Calzedonia Verona 9, Diatec Trentino 8, Gi Group Monza 7, LPR Piacenza 4, Kioene Padova 4, Bunge Ravenna 4, Exprivia Molfetta 4, Revivre Milano 4, Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia 2, Top Volley Latina 1, Biosì Indexa Sora 0.
1 game in hand: Diatec Trentino, Top Volley Latina.
Top Volley Latina – Azimut Modena
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 31 (21-10 Modena)
Kevin Klinkenberg (Top Volley Latina): “We’ll be up against Modena, which is an exellent team. We have a good mix of young and experience players who want to show their quality. We have to do as well as against Civitanova last Sunday in order to make it hard for a strong team against Modena ».
Roberto Piazza (coach Azimut Modena): “We’ve been working very hard in the past couple of weeks but we have to continue like thatbecause we’ll start to play the top teams. What I like most is that everybody is contributing. I liked the improvement in the blocking. Latina is a good team, they have a couple of very dangerous players. Sottile is the second setter of the Italian national team, everybody knows how good he is. Fei started off on the bench because of a physical problem but once he was back to fitness he had two big games. It’s tough to win in Latina. We’ll need more energy than against Ravenna or Padova.
Kioene Padova – Exprivia Molfetta
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 8 (5-3 Molfetta)
Nicola Baldon (Ass coach Kioene Padova): “Compared to recent games, this one against Molfetta could look easier. But let’s not forget that they’re coming off a good game against Piacenza in which they gathered a point from the tie-break. We’ll have to start from simple things, we must handle better certain difficulties that inevitably appear during the game ».
Daniele De Pandis (Exprivia Molfetta): “We resumed training to prepare the coming game. We were disappointed that we could not take all points against Piacenza, but extremely satisfied that we were all eager to play better and bounce back. From what I’ve seen, Padova collected excellent results in those first few games. They have some interesting youngsters too, like Maar and Shaw. There is everything here for another good game. We will try to take all three points as we always do ».
Bunge Ravenna – Calzedonia Verona
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 15 (9-6 Ravenna)
Fabio Soli (coach Bunge Ravenna): “In just a few days we managed to make it tough for Modena as well as Peurgia. We played face to face with them and grabbed two points. This has to become a habit and I hope to see the same will and attitude against Verona. We have further margin for improvement. Our gola will be to maintain oursleves at this level and try to get better. Verona has built a roster to aim high. They have man y stars and a lot of alternatives in the squad. If we play as composed and focused as on Thursday night, we’ll be able to have another good game ».
Andrea Giani (coach Calzedonia Verona): “There are no easy games, Wednesday’s against Monza and Sunday’s match against Ravenna are games against quality teams. We need maximum focus. These games are useful to us to sort out a few things. We were a bit nervous against Monza and we did not play as well as we’d have liked. We will try to improve on that on Sunday ».
Biosì Indexa Sora – Gi Group Monza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 10 (7-3 Sora)
Bruno Bagnoli (coach Biosì Indexa Sora): “Monza is a well-built team, they brought in two world class players in Hirsch and Fromm. And Monza showed all its quality in its last game against Verona, losing by the minimum margin. As for us, we have been improving with consistency, we have been attacking rather fine, but we have to get used to a certain rhythm on the serve. We have a difficult game ahead of us, psychologically tough to handle, though a little easier physically and technically. I’d like the boys to be aggressive in front of our fans who really helped us in our last home game ».
Miguel Àngel Falasca (coach Gi Group Monza): “I hope we will react as a team to Jovovic’s suspension. Difficulties, when you take them with the right spirit, can make you grow and get stronger. I think being able to line up Daldello can be a plus for us, given that they don’t know his game too much with this team. Unfortunately, in modern volleyball tactics do not count that much, so priority will be on playing with determination and motivation, first against Sora, and then against Latina and Padova. We really improved after the match against Civitanova, we are more aware of our strengths, we could see that against Vibo and Milan. I liked the character the boys showed in the second and fourth set in Verona. We’ll build on this on Sunday ».
Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia – Sir Safety Conad Perugia
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 4 (2 each)
Ugo Buzzelli (Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia): “I expect it to be a very tough game, in which details can make the difference. We’ll need consistency because with the servers they have our goal will be not to let them get momentum. And we’ll need to hit it strong ourselves in order to move De Cecco as much as we can, and we’ll need to be organised in our rebuilding. We’ll have to play each rally as it was a match point. It will be tough, we’ll need to fight for every point ».
Simone Buti (Sir Safety Conad Perugia): “After yesterday’s five-set battle, we’re going to Vibo where I have many friends, I’m really happy to go back there. There will be a heated atmosphere and a feisty opponent. This will be another battle, we’ll have to fight one point after another to try to bring the victory home ».
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 4 (All Civitanova)
Dante Boninfante (Revivre Milano): “This is a complicated moment for us. We’re still looking for our identity given that we have Skrimov and Sbertoli out. We need more time to work with Dennis on the schemes of the team. But we won’t put our heads down, we keep working hard in the gym. We’re up against one of the top teams of this league, it won’t be easy by any means. But we look ahead with optimism and confidence : hopefully there will be a good crowd, like against Modena ».
Nicola Pesaresi (Cucine Lube Civitanova): “We’ll face a difficult task given that we’re away from home and Milan is coming off a negative run. They’ll want to bounce back in front of their fans. They have a good team, but they need to get reorganised following the loss of Skrimov and the addition of Dennis. But they remain a dangerous team, we know we’ll need our best volleyball if we want to win it. Being sole leader gives us a little satisfaction but it’s only the very beginning of the season, we just have to keep going, thinking one game at a time. Every game counts the same three points even when it is not against a team standing at the top of the table ».
The third round is coming and games are already becoming crucial for the standings of the two groups.
3-1 winners over Potenza Picena and then Ortona, Santa Croce dreams of a hat-trick against Castellana Grotte to be sole leader of the group. Castellana has maximum points too thanks to a 3-0 win over Lagonegro and 3-1 against Aversa thanks to a superb Cazzaniga.
Tuscania is just one point from the leaders thanks to their 3-2 win over Aversa and 3-1 victory against Club Italia. Montagnani’s men have a little difficulty to settle in games but once they do they show all their quality. They’ll take on Lagonegro, newly promoted side full of enthusiasm but still without a point because of losses in Castellana and home against Siena.
Siena is by no means unfazed by its status of favourite. They took maximum points so far thanks to excellent performances against Club Italia and Lagonegro. Six sets won, not one conceded. Tofoli’s men will try to continue like that when they entertain Ortona, who has gathered two points so far thanks to a difficult tie-break win in Tricase against Alessano. They were then defeated home in four sets by Santa Croce.
It’s been a roller coaster so far for Alessano. They started off with a home defeat at the tie-break against Ortona before registering another five-set loss in Potenza Picena in spite of being ahead on the scoreboard. They will take on Club Italia, the federal team with some of the best Italian prospects. They could do nothing however against Siena, while they did a little better against Tuscania but still surrendered in four sets.
Sigma Aversa will be home this week too as it chases a first victory. A tie-break loss against Tuscania was followed by a four-set defeat at home against Castellana Grotte. They will try to win and move above Potenza Picena, who’s coming off a four-set defeat in Santa Croce and the encouraging come-back win against Alessano. Simone Marcovecchio is still out.
Second fo the Blue Group, Cantù obtained a tie-break home win at the expense of Brescia before winning 3-1 away against Materdomini Castellana Grotte. Just one point from the top, they will face Civita Castellana, who wants to forget about the disappointing loss against Montecchio Maggiore ; Before that, they had come back from behind to win in Bergamo.
VBC Mondovì is looking to redeem itself from the four-set loss in Brescia, which dampened the happy mood of the first round five-set win over Spoleto. They face a tough task this weekend against Montecchio Maggiore, only team left with maximum points following a 3-1 home win, and an away victory against Civita Castellana.
Brescia counts four points out of a home win over Mondovì and a point snatched in Cantù. They will be looking to turn this good start into a memorable one as Cisolla is close to 400 aces in the Serie A. They’ll meet Grottazzolina who celebrated their return in the Serie A2 with a straight set victory over Castellana Grotte before going close to a breakthrough in Spoleto where they took one point.
Materdomini Castellana Grotte is bottom of the group and without a point following the debacle in Grottazzolina and the four-set home loss against Cantù. They’ll be looking for a first win against Reggio Emilia. The latter fell in the PalaBrendola arena before taking one point in Bergamo.
Bergamo is full of talented players but they still have to get used to the Serie A2. Coach graziosi has already conveyed all his competitive spirit, testimony the tie-break marathons played, the first lost home against Civita Castellana and the second won in Reggio. In a game between newly promoted teams, Spoleto will be eager to take more than it gathered thus far. They had a similar run than Bergamo, with a tie-break lost and a last-gasp win home against Grottazzolina.
Serie A2 UnipolSai Round 3 – WHITE GROUP
Saturday 22 October at 8.30pm
Kemas Lamipel Santa Croce – BCC Castellana Grotte Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sunday 23 at 12am
Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania – Basi Grafiche Geosat Lagonegro Live on Lega Volley Channel
4pm
Emma Villas Siena – Sieco Service Ortona Live on Lega Volley Channel
7.30pm
Aurispa Alessano – Club Italia Crai Roma Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sigma Aversa – GoldenPlast Potenza Picena Live on Lega Volley Channel
Stadings White group
Emma Villas Siena 6, BCC Castellana Grotte 6, Kemas Lamipel Santa Croce 6, Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania 5, Sieco Service Ortona 2, GoldenPlast Potenza Picena 2, Aurispa Alessano 2, Sigma Aversa 1, Club Italia Roma 0, Basi Grafiche Geosat Lagonegro 0
Serie A2 UnipolSai Round 3 – BLUE GROUP
Saturday 22 October at 8.30pm
Pool Libertas Cantù – Ceramica Globo Civita Castellana Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sunday 23 October at 6pm
VBC Mondovì – Sol Lucernari Montecchio Maggiore Live on Lega Volley Channel
Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia – Videx Grottazzolina Live on Lega Volley Channel
Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte – Conad Reggio Emilia Live on Lega Volley Channel
Caloni Agnelli Bergamo – Monini Spoleto Live on Lega Volley Channel
Standings blue group
Sol Lucernari Montecchio Maggiore 6, Pool Libertas Cantù 5, Videx Grottazzolina 4, Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia 4, Monini Spoleto 3, Caloni Agnelli Bergamo 3, VBC Mondovì 2, Ceramica Globo Civita Castellana 2, Conad Reggio Emilia 1, Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte 0
