Italy- Superlega 2018/2019

    Milano 3:1 Siena

    Marouf played bad in set 4. Siena struggled with their poor reception and unforced errors.

    Perugia 3:0 Grotte


    Finally, Leon could rest and sit out the whole game. Hoag and Lanza are starters. Lanza's serve looks normal recently.

    Grotte's reception was awful. They're short of connection between the setter and OHs/OPP as well.

    Lube 3:0 Modena (25-17/25-14/25-19)

    The game was a slaughter. Ironically, even Sokolov's serve is back to normal when playing against Modena. ^^

    Modena's reception and serve were horrible. Another bad game from Zaytsev. He's was on the downhill this season.

    Lorenzetti made grave errors with his substitution(using van Garderen and keeping Vettori) while Verona especially Spirito played very well. I don't know if Codarin's lacking experience the biggest factor but Spirito made use of it by exploiting single blocks that made it hard for Trento to defend. Codarin still played good for a replacement for Lisinac but when a setter is in the zone, the MBs have to be take over the game.

    Favorite players: M: Maxim Mikhaylov, Murilo, Serginho, Aaron Russell, Otavio, Simone Giannelli, Ivan Zaytsev, Tsvetan Sokolov, Michał Kubiak, Mariusz Wlazly, Pawel Zagummy W: Sheilla, Zhu Ting, Natalia, Fe Garay, Fofao, Gabi, Thaisa, Foluke Akinradewo, Wei Qiuyue, Ding Xia, Carli Lloyd, Fabi, Natalia Goncharova, Yuko Sano, Saoris Kimura and Sakoda


    #FreeBritney

    Verona 3:2 Trentino


    A good win for Verona to pick up their confidence. Verona has two key blocks in set 5.

    Aaron played a bad game and struggled with reception and attacking.

    Quote from YavorD

    First win in the campaign for Castellana Grotte with Aidan Zingel playing opposite!

    Yes. it was. It's such a long journey for BCC to take the first win of the season. Congrats to BCC although they're doomed to relegation next season.

    There are four rounds left in the regular season. Literally, Perugia will lock the No.1 spot considering their last four opponents are Ravenna, Padova, Sora and Milano. None of them is strong enough to challenge Perugia. So Perugia will guarantee the CL qualification for next season.

    Quote from kyle7in1

    There are four rounds left in the regular season. Literally, Perugia will lock the No.1 spot considering their last four opponents are Ravenna, Padova, Sora and Milano. None of them is strong enough to challenge Perugia. So Perugia will guarantee the CL qualification for next season.

    Technically speaking, Milano are perfectly capable of giving Perugia a fight. But until then the regular season might have been decided already and some teams may either rest players or "choose" play-offs opponents. But you are right, Perugia are out of the equation. Much more interesting will be the battles for the 2nd, 4th, 7th, and 8th place.


    Perugia's next season CL participation was never really in danger, I believe. They would have gotten there one way or another. What is more intriguing to know is the psychological/physical/tactical state of Lube for the semifinal and eventual final play-offs. Just because I see them as slight favourites against Trentino that is and perhaps because they are the only team to really challenge Leon Perugia for the title.

    Quote from YavorD

    Technically speaking, Milano are perfectly capable of giving Perugia a fight. But until then the regular season might have been decided already and some teams may either rest players or "choose" play-offs opponents. But you are right, Perugia are out of the equation. Much more interesting will be the battles for the 2nd, 4th, 7th, and 8th place.


    Perugia's next season CL participation was never really in danger, I believe. They would have gotten there one way or another. What is more intriguing to know is the psychological/physical/tactical state of Lube for the semifinal and eventual final play-offs. Just because I see them as slight favourites against Trentino that is and perhaps because they are the only team to really challenge Leon Perugia for the title.

    From Milano's last several games I've seen, I don't think they have capacity to challenge Perugia. Milano's reception is not reliable. Clevenot and Maar's reception is just so so. Their libero Pesaresi is a loophole. Pergugia have two world-class serve monsters - Leon and

    Atanasijevic. They will cause a big trouble on Milano's reception.


    Lube are slightly on a top dog position if they play against Trento in playoff. Lube always have faith in dealing with any team in Superlega except Perugia.

    Clevenot used to be a very good receiver and Milano is making a good run. Him partnering with Cebulj now that his season in China is over could probably make some good splash. Cebulj is not new to Milano so the adjustment shouldn't be that bad.

    Favorite players: M: Maxim Mikhaylov, Murilo, Serginho, Aaron Russell, Otavio, Simone Giannelli, Ivan Zaytsev, Tsvetan Sokolov, Michał Kubiak, Mariusz Wlazly, Pawel Zagummy W: Sheilla, Zhu Ting, Natalia, Fe Garay, Fofao, Gabi, Thaisa, Foluke Akinradewo, Wei Qiuyue, Ding Xia, Carli Lloyd, Fabi, Natalia Goncharova, Yuko Sano, Saoris Kimura and Sakoda


    #FreeBritney

    Tillie will be joining Modena this week. Good player but I'm not sure he's the type of difference-maker they need to have a legitimate shot at the title. At least we won't have to watch Kaliberda anymore.

    Quote from Bahkawdi

    Tillie will be joining Modena this week. Good player but I'm not sure he's the type of difference-maker they need to have a legitimate shot at the title. At least we won't have to watch Kaliberda anymore.

    Tillie's best option at Superlega is to join Lube with very strong hitters but crappy reception. Modena is the second best choice I think - their reception is also very shaky. However, Modena does not have super hitters at both wings, and Zaytsev's shape is worrisome. Their weak link in reception is Bednorz, whose offensive power is however very important for the team. Who can Tillie replace? He'll likely be positioned as a back-row specialist for both starting OHs. If he's to start, a possibility I could think of is to let him play opposite Urnaut, and move Bednorz, who's arguably the strongest hitter for Modena at the moment, to OPP. This way, Modena may achieve better balance at both the offensive and defensive ends.

    Castellana won 3-2 against Siena, but is mathematically relegated in A2. Siena lost another important match and the society is furious, so they decided to leave the players in retirement in Bari, without giving any further official statement.

    Quote from Diesse14

    Castellana won 3-2 against Siena, but is mathematically relegated in A2. Siena lost another important match and the society is furious, so they decided to leave the players in retirement in Bari, without giving any further official statement.

    What does that mean?

    I don't understand Siena at all. They have good players (Marouf, Ishikawa, Maruotti, Hernandez, Gladyr), who often do well stats-wise, and yet they always lose. They even have 9 tie-break losses, which is insane.

    The final ranking of the top 4 teams after regular season is almost there - Perugia, Trento, Lube and Modena.

    Milano has the same points as Modena, But in the last three rounds,

    Miano will face Lube, Valentia, and and Perugia,

    while Modena will play with Siena, Trento and Verona.

    So the chances of Milano ranking higher than Modena are slim.

    Quote from saishuu

    I don't understand Siena at all. They have good players (Marouf, Ishikawa, Maruotti, Hernandez, Gladyr), who often do well stats-wise, and yet they always lose. They even have 9 tie-break losses, which is insane.

    Good players can not guarantee the win. Siena are short of the chemistry among their players. Hernandez is an error king who always made unforced errors in crucial time. That's why they lost many games at 2:3. Maruotti and Savani's offense and reception are shaky too.