21/01/2014 14:34
Second round of Italian derby coming up in Piacenza
2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League - Men
Piacenza, Italy, January 21, 2014. On Thursday night the Palabanca will be hosting the second act of the Italian derby featuring the likes of Copra Elior PIACENZA and Lube Banca Marche MACERATA. This will be the third time these teams cross their ways in about two weeks; shortly after the Christmas break PIACENZA had edged MACERATA at the tie-break in a match whereby the national league had resumed after the season’s holidays before last week MACERATA got their revenge cruising to a straight victory in the first round of the Playoffs 12. This means that PIACENZA will have to win 3:0 or 3:1 in order to call for the golden set and remain in contention for a spot in the Playoffs 6 of the 2014 CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Men.
Lube Banca Marche MACERATA currently tops the charts in the national league with Copra Elior following in second place, lagging five points behind the provisional leaders.
These teams have both claimed their respective matches last weekend with MACERATA edging Andreoli LATINA 3:1 while PIACENZA got the upper hand at the end of a very close game with Tonno Callipo VIBO VALENTIA (3:1). Copra Elior is the only team so far this season to have stopped the triumphal march of MACERATA in Italy’s Serie A1.
“We do believe that we still stand a chance even though last week we lost in straight sets” says middle-blocker Luca Tencati. “We have already showed that we can beat MACERATA. However, with this game we will start from zero. We know that at home we can play a totally different game than we did last week in Macerata. They are almost impossible to beat at the Palasport Fontescodella but I think we can do the same here at the Palabanca. If we impose our tempo right from the go, I think we can win the game and go for the golden set to play there for a spot in the Playoffs 6” he concludes.
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