SuperLega on Boxing day
Intense week for the top guns of the SuperLega who have just played in Europe and will be back in action this Monday 26 December.
Civitanova, who’s coming off a 3-0 home win over Liberec, is still top of the league with a three-point advantage on its followers following the 3-1 road victory against Piacenza. They will take on Latina, who had the better of Ravenna in the last round. Thanks to this win, Latina went from bottom to 11th in the table.
Trentino, who could train regularly as it will begin its European camapign in the CEV Cup on January 5, will entertain Padova. The latter conceded a fifth consecutive defeat in the last round in four sets against Perugia. They also lost in the Italian Cup 8th of finals which would make it six losses in a row.
Modena lost ground on Civitanova in the last encounter but it could have gone worse. In the end, Ngapeth and co managed to clinch a tie-break victory in spite of trailing 2-0 against Milan. On Tuesday, they overcame the challenge of Belchatow in Poland, while they will play Ravenna this Monday. Ravenna is coming off a four-set loss against Latina.
Verona welcomed new head coach Nikola Grbic, who took over Andrea Giani. Knocked out of the cup by Sora, Grbic immediately tried to get some positive thinking back into his group ahead of the clash against Piacenza, beaten home by Civitanova last week. Piacenza bounced back in Europe with a 3-1 win in Byelorussia that got them into the CEV Cup 16th of finals.
Perugia is having a lot of fun both in Italy and Europe. Bernardi’s men registered a come-back 3-1 win in Padova in spite of Zaytsev’s injury, while they had a spectacular win over the Belgium side of Roeselare in the Champions League. They will face newly promoted Sora, who wants to put behind the loss against the Champions of Modena and the defeat against Trentino. However, in between, they pulled off a breakthrough in the Italian Cup 8th of finals against Verona.
Molfetta bounce back from defeats in the cup in Piacenza and in the league away against Milan with a home win over Molfetta which got the club’s ambitions back on track. Sabbi and co will play host to Vibo Valentia, who’s become a threat for any team daring to challenge. This will the appearance number 100 in the league for outside hitter Michalovic.
On the one hand, Milan could feel disappointed not to have won in Modena in spite of a 2-0 lead, on the other taking a point is already a breakthrough. They will play the derby home against Monza. Falasca’s men obtained its best ever position in the SuperLega at Christmas, seventh, following a 3-1 win over Vibo. However, the news of middle blocker Forni’s poor conduct and his sacking ruined the positive Christmas spirit there was.
SuperLega UnipolSai round 16
Monday 26 December at 6pm
Cucine Lube Civitanova – Top Volley Latina Live on Lega Volley Channel
Diatec Trentino – Kioene Padova Live on Lega Volley Channel
Azimut Modena – Bunge Ravenna Live on Lega Volley Channel
Calzedonia Verona – LPR Piacenza Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sir Safety Conad Perugia – Biosì Indexa Sora Live on Lega Volley Channel
Exprivia Molfetta – Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia Live on Lega Volley Channel
6.30pm
Revivre Milano – Gi Group Monza Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
League table
Cucine Lube Civitanova 38, Azimut Modena 35, Diatec Trentino 35, Sir Safety Conad Perugia 34, Calzedonia Verona 25, LPR Piacenza 24, Gi Group Monza 22, Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia 18, Bunge Ravenna 16, Exprivia Molfetta 15, Top Volley Latina 14, Kioene Padova 14, Revivre Milano 13, Biosì Indexa Sora 12
Cucine Lube Civitanova – Top Volley Latina
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 46 (38-8 Civitanova)
Klemen Cebulj (Cucine Lube Civitanova): “Tuesday’s victory in the Champions League gave us a big boost for the last games of 2016. The next one is home against Latina, I’m sure there will be a special atmosphere at the arena. We cannot afford to lower our guards, we must jeep chasing our goals with determination and try to win every game we play, starting with this one on Monday ».
Daniele Sottile (Top Volley Latina): “This will be a difficult trip, but we have to try our best. We have done pretty well of late, we’re trying to take points wherever we can. They have a superb team but we’ll have a go ».
Diatec Trentino – Kioene Padova
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 25 (21-4 Trento)
Massimo Colaci (Diatec Trentino): “The SuperLega is a really tough league. Any team can beat anyone. We have to remember this on Monday when we face Padova, which i think could be a similar game than the one against Sora. They will have nothing to lose, so this will be up to us to impose ourselves and take the three points to keep making progress ».
Valerio Baldovin (coach Kioene Padova): “We’re coming off a good game in Perugia, in which we played excellent volleyball for 50 minutes. We know we’ll be up against a strong team that has no fear like Trento, who has the serve as its main strength. Our goal is to find more consistency and try to turn things around after a negative December ».
Azimut Modena – Bunge Ravenna
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 73 (59-14 Modena)
Roberto Piazza (Coach Azimut Modena): “We’re coming off a long trip and an important win in Poland, but we need to focus right back on the league with this encounter against Ravenna. We need maximum concentration as Soli’s men will come here to hit the ball hard. They have quality players like Bossi and Torres just to make a couple of exemples. We need to play good volleyball to take the three points. Playing the 26 is not a problem, on the contrary, there will be a fantastic atmosphere and we don’t want the fans to be disappointed ».
Fabio Soli (Coach Bunge Ravenna): “This might be the toughest game of the season, but this is a great one to play. We will go all out even if we know that when Modena steps its foot on the pedal it becomes very difficult. We’ll try to stay close and hope for an opportunity. We’ll need to stay composed and be courageous. We had been severely defeated in the first meeting. They have experience and they won’t underestimate us. My boys are in good shape, they put the two road losses behind them. And to tell the truth, we had not played badly. They will play knowing they have nothing to lose. If we can play loose, as we did a couple of times in past encounters, then we’ll be able to be at our best and maybe get a positive result ».
Calzedonia Verona – LPR Piacenza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 27 (19-8 Piacenza)
Michele Baranowicz (Calzedonia Verona): “This is a new beginning for us with the arrival of Nikola grbic. We all got along very well from day one. We’ll have to work hard, we’ll do our best to prepare this coming game against Piacenza in which we want to take points ».
Aimone Alletti (LPR Piacenza): “We know it will be tough. They will celebrate the debut of their new coach, Grbic, and they’ll be keen to prove their recent results do not reflect the real worth of the group. We’ll be up against a strong team but we know we can play good volleyball, testimony our performances against Civitanova and Minsk. There will be big points for the fifth place at stake ».
Sir Safety Conad Perugia – Biosì Indexa Sora
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 5 (3-2 Perugia)
Aleksandar Atanasijevic (Sir Safety Conad Perugia): “We need to play at our best to beat Sora because this is a very tough team, and they proved it in the italian cup too in which they knocked out Verona. We want to keep our winning streak going, we had seven in a row but the next one becomes the most important of all thus far ».
Matteo Sperandio (Biosì Indexa Sora): “Perugia is one of the strongest teams in the league, you just have to take a look at their roster to understand they belong to the highest level. They’re extremely strong in attack, almost unstoppbale, and their setter does a great job of varying the game with fast balls. Besides, they will be home, but the first thing to worry about is the quality they have on court. This will be physically tough too. We had a whole week to rest and train so we’ll be ready to play our game. We’ll have nothing to lose once again, so we’ll hit the serve hard and then we’ll see what happens ».
Exprivia Molfetta – Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 5 (3-2 Vibo Valentia)
Joao Rafael de Barros Ferreira (Exprivia Molfetta): “The team is in good spirit after the win over Verona. They played fairly well but we did a good job at the end of sets. This is something we had not been too good in previous encounters, we worked on it and we are now more consistent. This is an important game in the race for the playoffs, but we shouldn’t think about the table or the results of other games. We must focus on ending this 2016 as well as we can in front of our marvellous fans ».
Davide Marra (Tonno Callipo Calabria Vibo Valentia): “The last game against Monza must teach us that we have to play with more determination. In order to be competitive, we cannot afford to have lapses. The match against Molfetta will be an important test for us in a heated atmosphere. We want to play hard, humble but determined, until the very last play ».
Revivre Milano – Gi Group Monza
PAST ENCOUNTERS: 8 (4 each)
Alessandro Tondo (Revivre Milano): “Useless to say a lot is expected of this game. It’s the derby, it’s normal. If we look at the table, we might think there’s a big difference between the two teams, but we’ve been doing well of late. Our last two victories gave us a big boost and will to win some more. Besides we finally have everyone fit. We will be up against a motivated and well-organised team, who express some excellent volleyball when they play loose. It will be up to us not to make them gain too much confidence ».
Claudio Bonati (Sport director Gi Group Monza): “The derby is always a special game. Milan is in great shape, they’re coming off excellent performances, the latest against Modena, in which they gave them a hard time. This will definitely be a tough game, we’ll need our best volleyball and maintain a high level of intensity to try to get all the points ».
Serie A2 UnipolSai
Round 13 preview
Round 13 coming on Monday 26 December. Ortona will play host to the bottom team of the table, Club Italia Roma. However, Totire’s youngsters always play with fighting spirit and they obtained their first victory last Saturday against Alessano at the tie-break.
Third in the table, four points behind the leaders, Tuscania had a prestigious road win last week in Lagonegro. They will take on Potenza Picena, who’s coming off back to back wins over Alessano away and Aversa home.
The leaders of Siena are coming off a convincing four-set win in Ortona. They will play the Tuscan derby against Santa Croce, only played once in history and won by Siena. Santa Croce lost its last game in Castellana Grotte.
Aversa will keep the positive out of its tie-break loss on the road against Potenza Picena. They are fourth in the league with the point taken and ready to take on Lagonegro, defeated in four sets in the first meeting. They’s coming off a disappointing 3-0 defeat home against Tuscania.
Alessano was upset by the bottom side of Club Italia at the tie-break in the last round. In the games they had to win, they ended up on the losing end and that hurts. They will try to bounce back in the regional derby against BBC Castellana Grotte, just one point behind the leaders.
Mondovì lost its first place as it stumbled in Montecchio Maggiore at the tie-break in the last round. They will now be chasing Brescia and Spoleto, two points in front, when it plays host to Bergamo. The latter suffered a defeat against Spoleto that was difficult to take in but remains just two points from the playoffs zone.
Coach Zambonardi talks about being humble and staying up but Brescia will be defending first place this Monday against Reggio Emilia, fifth and hoping to keep Bergamo behind.
Cantù will try to make a double against Montecchio Maggiore this season. In its last round, Cantù gave it a fight for two sets but was defeated on the road against Civita Castellana. Montecchio is 8th and coming off a breakthrough against Mondovì.
Civita Castellana won it 3-1 against Grottazzolina in the first meeting but they know nobody can be underestimated even when it is without one of its top players. After a superb 3-0 over Cantù, they’re eager to get another special day. As for Grottazzolina, it fell to bottom. In spite of having a good roster, being without a top class player like Moretti has taken its toll.
Last from bottom after a sweep conceded in Reggio Emilia, Materdomini Castellana Grotte plays host to Spoleto, who will try to end an unforgettable 2016 on a high. Castellana has won 7 of the 9 past meetings between the two sides but Spoleto took six points out of its last two games and they’re a tough team to beat.
Serie A2 UnipolSai round 13 – WHITE GROUP
Monday 26 December at 4.30pm
Sieco Service Ortona – Club Italia Crai Roma Live on Lega Volley Channel
6pm
Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania – GoldenPlast Potenza Picena Live on Lega Volley Channel
Emma Villas Siena – Kemas Lamipel Santa Croce Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sigma Aversa – Basi Grafiche Geosat Lagonegro Live on Lega Volley Channel
7.30pm
Aurispa Alessano – BCC Castellana Grotte Live on Lega Volley Channel
Classifica Girone Bianco
Emma Villas Siena 30, BCC Castellana Grotte 29, Maury’s Italiana Assicurazioni Tuscania 26, Sigma Aversa 21, Kemas Lamipel Santa Croce 18, GoldenPlast Potenza Picena 16, Aurispa Alessano 14, Basi Grafiche Geosat Lagonegro 13, Sieco Service Ortona 11, Club Italia Crai Roma 2
Serie A2 UnipolSai round 13 – BLUE GROUP
Monday 26 December at 4.30pm
VBC Mondovì – Caloni Agnelli Bergamo Live on Lega Volley Channel
6pm
Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia – Conad Reggio Emilia Live on Lega Volley Channel
Pool Libertas Cantù – Sol Lucernari Montecchio Maggiore Live on Lega Volley Channel
Ceramica Globo Civita Castellana – Videx Grottazzolina Live on Lega Volley Channel
7.30pm
Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte – Monini Spoleto Live on Lega Volley Channel
Blue standings
Centrale del Latte McDonald’s Brescia 25, Monini Spoleto 25, VBC Mondovì 23, Ceramica Globo Civita Castellana 22, Conad Reggio Emilia 21, Caloni Agnelli Bergamo 19, Pool Libertas Cantù 13, Sol Lucernari Montecchio Maggiore 12, Materdominivolley.it Castellana Grotte 11, Videx Grottazzolina 9
