13/05/2019 13:58
San Marino announce preliminary rosters for GSSE
News from the National Federations
San Marino, May 13, 2019. San Marino’s Volleyball family looks with much anticipation forward to the upcoming Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE), which will start on May 27 in Montenegro.
The Sammarinese Volleyball national teams are currently working with an extended roster – before the respective coaching staff narrows the lists down to the 12 players that will eventually contest the GSSE.
The roster of the men’s national team includes:
Setters: Marco Rondelli, Matteo Lombardi
Middle Blockers: Giuliano Vanucci, Alessandro Peroni, Elia Lazzarini, Matteo Bernardi and Matteo Zamagni
Spikers: Andrea Lazzarini, Lorenzo Benvenuti, Nicolas Farinelli, Yan Kiva, Lorenzo Pancotti, Francesco De Luigi
Liberos: Davide Bacciocchi, Manuel Broccoli.
“Montenegro cannot afford any setback,” says San Marino head coach Stefano Mascetti. “I do not know whether they will be opting for their first, second or third team; they anyway remain the heavy favourites of the competition. They have a lot of experience and rank 21 in Europe. Our goal is to give everything we have with such a young team as ours – my players are just making one of their first experiences on the international stage. It is as if we were re-starting from scratch. This event will help us build our future.”
At this stage, the women’s group includes the following 17 players:
Setters: Valeria Benvenuti, Allegra Piscaglia
Middle Blockers: Elisa Vanucci, Rachele Stimac, Giulia Tomassucci, Federica Tura, Elena Podeschi
Spikers: Cristina Bacciocchi, Elisa Parenti, Chiara Parenti, Anita Magalotti, Elena Para, Angelica Simoncini and Sara Canuti
Liberos: Elisa Ridolfi, Alice Pasolini and Alice Petre-Paoloni.
“As far as the GSSE are concerned, there is just one favourite – Montenegro,” says San Marino head coach Loris Polo (pictured above). “As for the other teams, it all depends on what roster they will go for, if they will be including naturalised players. If they do the same as we have planned, meaning we only have Sammarinese players, the matches should be very close and even.”
Finally, Paolo Paganelli and Matteo Zonzini will represent San Marino in the Beach Volleyball competition. “All teams have become stronger since the last edition of the GSSE in 2017 and the level will be very high. We are not among the favourites and the potential medal contenders,” says the head coach of Team San Marino, Matteo Galli. “We finished fifth last time around on home sand but we have seen from other international events that the teams from Monaco and Cyprus, which did not enter the event in 2017, can be extremely competitive. There will be teams from Andorra and Liechtenstein that medalled two years ago – and Montenegro will compete as well. Paganelli and Zonzini have been working extremely hard but I expect a tough competition.”
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