Round 6 preview
Intense period coming up for the teams taking part in this 72nd championship of Italy’s top division. They will face three games in just a few days.
While Modena and Vibo will play the Friday night game, Civitanova will try to stay top of the table as it takes on Padova. The leaders have collected five three-point wins so far, the latest away against Milan. They’ve conceded only two sets thus far. As for Padova, they’re coming off a home win in straight sets against Molfetta behind 14 points from Fedrizzi and 59% in attack for the team.
Monza has not won in the past three games and is hoping to bounce back when they take on Latina, who’s facing a second consecutive road game. While Monza was dominated in Sora, with Jovovic suspended, Latina was defeated in three sets on Thursday night in Trento in a postponed game.
Trentino is feeling good following the three-set victory over Latina and the superb performance of young Gabriele Nelli. Still with a game in hand, they are hoping to remain unbeaten after the big game of the weekend against Perugia. Third with 13 points, two above Trento, Perugia is looking for a big performance to erase from its memory an unconvincing beginning of match against Vibo, in which they had to fight back from 2-0 down.
Fourth with 12 points, with four wins and one defeat, Verona is back home after its four-set win in Ravenna. Except for a tie-break loss in Piacenza, Verona’s beginning of season has been excellent, testimony the 18 points from Djuric and the 9 blocks from the team in the last outing. They will take on Sora, who has just registered its first historical victory in the SuperLega (3-0 versus Monza).
Molfetta does not find itself in an ideal situation with only four points, but a home win could get them on track in this hundredth appearance in the league for Pier Paolo Partenio. In its last encounter, the team could not get a set in Padova. Only one win so far in Vibo for them as they get ready to challenge Ravenna, who counts four points too. They’re coming off a home loss against Verona but they did extremely well to snatch a point against Modena as well as against Perugia on the road.
Among the four teams with four points, there is also Piacenza, who is coming off two tie-break battles, home against Verona and away in Molfetta. Four points as well for the opponent of the day, Milan, who has lost various players through injury. Milan’s only victory came in Molfetta but then came a lot of disappointment before taking a point in the tie-break loss against Vibo Valentia in the fouth round.
SuperLega UnipolSai Round 6
Friday 28 October at 6.45pm
Azimut Modena – Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
Saturday 29 October at 6pm
Cucine Lube Civitanova – Kioene Padova Live on Lega Volley Channel
Gi Group Monza – Top Volley Latina Live on Lega Volley Channel
Saturday 29 October at 6.15
Diatec Trentino – Sir Safety Conad Perugia Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
Saturday 29 October at 8.30pm
Calzedonia Verona – Biosì Indexa Sora Live on Lega Volley Channel
Exprivia Molfetta – Bunge Ravenna Live on Lega Volley Channel
LPR Piacenza – Revivre Milano Live on Lega Volley Channel
League table
Cucine Lube Civitanova 15, Azimut Modena 14, Sir Safety Conad Perugia 13, Calzedonia Verona 12, Diatec Trentino 11, Kioene Padova 7, Gi Group Monza 7, LPR Piacenza 4, Bunge Ravenna 4, Exprivia Molfetta 4, Revivre Milano 4, Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia 3, Biosì Indexa Sora 3, Top Volley Latina 1
1 game in hand: Diatec Trentino, LPR Piacenza
Cucine Lube Civitanova – Kioene Padova
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 39 (33-6 Civitanova)
Dragan Stankovic (Cucine Lube Civitanova): “We’ll need maximum focus against Padova. You just need to look at their performances till now, even against top teams they managed to give them a game. So let’s focus on our game, and let’s try to play our best volleyball. The fans will give us a hand, and that is another important factor to take into consideration ».
Stefano Giannotti (Kioene Padova): “We’re up against a team that has shown all its quality, as individual and as a team. It’s obvious they will be favourites, but we’ll definitely go there to make it hard for them. We’ll have to focus on our game and try to be as consistent as possible in order to be able to give it a good fight ».
Gi Group Monza – Top Volley Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 4 (3-1 Latina)
Davide Brunetti (Gi Group Monza): “This will surely be an interesting game against Latina. Both of us are looking for useful points to get back on track after last week’s defeats. We’re extremely motivated, we want to bounce back from our loss against Sora. We have worked well in the gym this week, we focused on the things that did not go well. We have three tricky games in a week so this is a crucial moment even if I think that we learnt to handle those moments because there were many mid-week games last season ».
Gianrio Falivene (President Top Volley Latina): “Hopefully we won’t be as poor as we have against Trento. I did not like the attitude of the guys, the faces and the lack of courage in certain situations. We expect the group to redeem itself in Monza ».
Diatec Trentino – Sir Safety Conad Perugia
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 13 (10-3 Trento)
Gabriele Nelli (Diatec Trentino): “We’re right back on court after Thursday night’s win against Latina. Another difficult but important game for us. We’ll have the court advantage and we’ll have to make the most of playing in our PalaTrento arena in order to beat an opponent who has a lot of quality in its roster. It would have been a tough match even if we had had a whole week to train, let alone just one day ».
Dore Della Lunga (Sir Safety Conad Perugia): “It’s always a pleasure to come to Trento for me, and I’m sure it is the same for Birarelli and Bari. I made my first experience away from home there and I have so many great momeries, some not as good, it’s normal, but so far it’s been mu longest and most intense experience in my volleyball career. It’s my fifth year as opponent, so the feeling of the first year is gone. But this remains a very tough game against a very strong team. Three years ago with Perugia and last year with Ravenna I managed to win there, it’s always a great result. They have proved in the recent World Club Championships they are a top level team. But no matter what people say, we have to keep winning. We might need a little something more than in recent outings but what matters to me and all of us is to keep winning ».
Calzedonia Verona – Biosì Indexa Sora
PAST ENCOUNTERS: None
Andrea Giani (coach Calzedonia Verona): “We cannot take this game for granted. We cannot be presumptuous, we need a good attitude, play with our strengths and fundamentals to make the difference. Sora is newly promoted but they gave a hard time to all the teams they met so far and they won against Monza. We have to be careful ».
Svetoslav Gotsev (Biosì Indexa Sora): “Verona is one of the best teams in the SuperLega with quality players with experience like Djuric and Kovacevic. I would not underestimate anyone because this is a very strong team even if I think we might need to pay particular attention to the wings. On Sunday, we proved we were a top level side, we lack a little bit of experience and we have to get better but we’ll get on court to take risks. We might make a few mistakes but taking risks is the only way to face Verona ».
Exprivia Molfetta – Bunge Ravenna
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 6 (4-2 Molfetta)
Alberto Polo (Exprivia Molfetta): “This is an important game for us, we have to win at home to regain confidence in our game. We have been preparing well, we’re focused. We know we have to redeem oursleves from the poor display against Padova, we have to take as many points as possible. I will meet a lot of former teammates, from the national team too, even if once we’re on court we leave aside our friendships ».
Fabio Soli (coach Bunge Ravenna): “Even if the season is long, the game against Molfetta must be considered an important one. In this game, our ambition to get a positive result must be higher than in the recent matches played against top teams. This is a good test for us, especially for the mental side of things, I expect the boys to be up for it, eager to take points, ready to fight in a heated atmosphere. Our opponent become more effective in their fondamentals when they play at home. They are dangerous in every area, and they have Sabbi who always has great stats in attack. We’ll have to be aggressive from the get-go, we cannot let them play their game, we must put pressure on them ».
LPR Piacenza – Revivre Milano
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 5 (Piacenza won them all)
Aimone Alletti (LPR Piacenza): “Milan has lost some players through injury in the last games and it is difficult to evaluate who will be ready to play on Saturday. We should not count on players missing though, but focus exclusively on ourselves and try to take as many points as possible. Milan strengthened its squad a lot this summer, we’ll have to give it all because this will be a difficult game ».
Giorgio De Togni (Revivre Milano): “We have worked hard all week and improved our understanding on court with this new line-up that will face Piacenza on Saturday. We’ll be ready to fight and try to obtain the best possible result. We’ll try to make the best of opportunities they might give us. A lot will depend on our attitude, our will to come out of the tunnel in this unlucky period. We’ll need determination against a team built to finish in the top six this season. In spite of all our problems, we have been training very well and in good spirit. And this is this spirit we want to show on court on Saturday ».
We have reached round 4 and the white group has already got two teams dominating, Siena and Castellana Grotte. It’s much tighter in the blue group as all the teams have already had a taste of defeat.
Currently bottom and without a point, Club Italia, coached by Michele Totire, has been defeated by Siena, Tuscania and Alessano. They will try to get on track against Ortona, who are coming off a 3-1 loss in Siena, which followed another defeat at home against Santa Croce 3-1.
Santa Croce will be home for the second consecutive weekend, hoping to bounce back from the debacle against the leaders of BBC. They will take on Siena in a derby. Tied at the top with BCC, Siena won all its game on a sweep, against Club Italia, Lagonegro and Ortona.
BCC Castellana Grotte had a dream start to their return in the Serie A2. They conceded only one set so far in the second round. On Sunday, they’ll play the derby against Alessano, who’s in good spirit following their straight set victory over Club Italia.
Potenza Picena, who is coming off a 3-2 road loss against Aversa, will play home against Tuscania. The latter counts seven points in the table thanks to tie-break wins at home against Aversa and Lagonegro and a four-set win away against Club Italia.
Lagonegro is excited about the news it will be able to play its home games in Lauria. The newly promoted side took a heroic point on the road against Tuscania but remains disppointed with the defeats against the top two teams of the group. They will try to make the most of being home against Aversa, who has registered its first Serie A victory in years against Potenza Picena.
Some ups and downs so far for Bergamo, beaten home in the last round against Spoleto. They will need to turn things around against Mondovì, who count five points thanks to a tie-break win on Spoleto and a 3-0 over Montecchio Maggiore. They lost once in Brescia.
On Sunday at noon, Spoleto will take on Materdomini Castellana Grotte in Michele Morelli’s 100th appearance in regular season. Second with six points, Spoleto is on the up : a tie-break loss in Mondovì was followed by a five-set win over Grottazzolina and a sweep over Bergamo. In the last round, Castellana Grotte managed to register its first win over Reggio Emilia at the tie-break following two losses in Grottazzolina and home versus Cantù. Giacomo Bellei will celebrate 200 games in regular season.
Reggio Emilia has only got two points and is still looking for win number one as they entertain Brescia, who counts seven points thanks to two four-set home win over Mondovì and Grottazzolina and a marathon lost in Cantù.
Montecchio Maggiore lost its first place because of a three-set loss in Mondovì. They want to bounce back straight away against Cantù, who’s coming off a home loss at the tie-break against Civita Castellana.
Grottazzolina wants to go back on track as they take on Civita Castellana. They had won their debut game in three sets against Castellana Grotte before losing in five sets in Spoleto and then in four sets away from home against the leaders, Brescia. Civita Castellana got four points out of two tie-breaks taken on the road in Bergamo and Cantù.
Serie A2 UnipolSai Round 4 – White Group
Saturday 29 October at 8.30pm
Club Italia Crai Roma – Sieco Service Ortona Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sunday 30 October at 4pm
Kemas Lamipel Santa Croce – Emma Villas Siena Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sunday 30 October at 6pm
BCC Castellana Grotte – Aurispa Alessano Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sunday 30 October at 7.30pm
GoldenPlast Potenza Picena – Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania Live on Lega Volley
Channel
In Lauria Basi Grafiche Geosat Lagonegro – Sigma Aversa Live on Lega Volley Channel
Standings White Group
Emma Villas Siena 9, BCC Castellana Grotte 9, Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania 7, Kemas Lamipel Santa Croce 6, Aurispa Alessano 5, Sigma Aversa 3, GoldenPlast Potenza Picena 3, Sieco Service Ortona 2, Basi Grafiche Geosat Lagonegro 1, Club Italia Crai Roma 0
Serie A2 UnipolSai Round 4 – Blue Group
Saturday 29 October at 8.30pm
Caloni Agnelli Bergamo – VBC Mondovì Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sunday 30 October at 12am
Monini Spoleto – Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sunday 30 October at 6pm
Conad Reggio Emilia – Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sol Lucernari Montecchio Maggiore – Pool Libertas Cantù Live on Lega Volley Channel
Videx Grottazzolina – Ceramica Globo Civita Castellana Live on Lega Volley Channel
Standings Blue group
Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia 7, Monini Spoleto 6, Pool Libertas Cantù 6, Sol Lucernari Montecchio Maggiore 6, VBC Mondovì 5, Ceramica Globo Civita Castellana 4, Videx Grottazzolina 4, Caloni Agnelli Bergamo 3, Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte 2, Conad Reggio Emilia 2
