Del Monte® Italian A2 Cup
The statements of captains and coaches two days before the Final Four in Cuneo
There are less than forty-eight hours left until the official start of the Final Four in Cuneo which will award Del Monte® Italian Serie A2 Cup, the first trophy of the season for the category. From 5.00 pm on Saturday 11 May, in fact, the four teams participating in the Final Four (Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina, Consar Ravenna, Consoli Sferc Brescia and Delta Group Porto Viro) will be competing on the tricolor taraflex of the Cuneo Palasport to win the 27th edition of the event. Tomorrow evening, however, inside the educational center “Il Rondò dei Talenti”, located in via Luigi Gallo 1 in Cuneo, the official press conference of the event will be held, with the presence of the authorities, captains and coaches of the four teams semi-finalists. Meanwhile, here are the first statements, full of enthusiasm and emotion, from the coaches and captains, two days before the start of the event.
Riccardo Vecchi (Captain Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina): “We come from a fantastic period, in which the club and the whole team have fulfilled a dream of an entire territory, the Fermo area, which for the first time in its history will have a team in the Super League. We want to use Del Monte® Italian Cup to try to confirm everything we have done in the championship, but we will find three other super competitive teams to try to lift a much coveted cup to the skies. We arrive at this Final Four full of energy and can’t wait to take the field in Cuneo. We will face Ravenna again in the Semi-final, they gave us a lot of trouble in the Play Offs, we know it will be a challenge until the last point. We will try to gather all the strength we have left after this very long championship to try to bring this Cup that we want so much to Grottazzolina.”
Massimiliano Ortenzi (Coach Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina): “Certainly arriving at this event after the Final against Siena, and having reached the quarter-finals against Cantù, is something quite strange, because you have to rediscover the right concentration and emotion to play high-level matches after having reached the peak highest in the league. It was complicated to start again with Cantù, but the team did it in the best possible way so we will go to play this final with the awareness that in recent periods we have been playing good volleyball, and we are doing it with whoever took to the pitch. We will go to play strong in our certainties, but also aware that in this type of event it is always very difficult to win, there is never a favorite and everything is played on very few details. We will do it against Ravenna, Porto Viro and Brescia which are all top-level teams; we will immediately have Ravenna’s turn, against whom we put on some splendid battles in the Play Off Semi-final, the last of which was truly of the highest level. We will have to be willing to suffer their game, made up of great pressure on serve and great quality in attack, a young team that arrives with an important freshness. However, we are keen to do well, having reached the Final Four is an excellent result but we will go and play it with a free mind and without too many burdens on our shoulders.”
Riccardo Goi (Captain Consar Ravenna): “Ready to face this Final Four, in which we are obviously happy to be there. We will enjoy the prestigious context and do everything we can to raise the trophy to the sky. Grottazzolina awaits us. After the 5 matches this season, three of which were very tough in the Play Offs, I would say that we know each other well and we know very well what type of challenge awaits us. We will need our best volleyball and we will have to be good at taking advantage of the opportunities they give us.”
Marco Bonitta (Coach Consar Ravenna): “The three Play Off matches against Grottazzolina were those in which we expressed our highest level, our best volleyball because we managed to play on equal terms with the team that then won the Final quite clearly. It won’t be a revenge for us: let’s face this Del Monte® Italian Serie A2 Cup obviously to try to win but without changing the coherent thought that has accompanied our journey in the Cup up to today, that is to say letting those who earned this Final Four play.”
Simone Tiberti (Captain Consuls Sferc Brescia): “We are happy that something we were missing in an otherwise positive season has finally arrived. The Final Four was a goal and we achieved it by beating one of the strongest teams in the championship. This gives us morale to face Porto Viro, who is in excellent shape and knows the Cuneo arena well, where he has won a lot lately. Getting to the Final would be the icing on the cake: the team is in a good moment and has confidence. After the defeat in Reggio Emilia we faced the series with Siena with a completely different attitude and we want to end the year with good memories: this team has always been able to fight. It’s a group that has moved us more for better than for worse and we want to continue fighting, one step at a time, towards a grand finale.”
Roberto Zambonardi (Coach Consoli Sferc Brescia): “Let’s go back to play a final phase of Del Monte® Italian Serie A2 Cup after four years with unchanged enthusiasm and joy. It is a prestigious goal, placed among the objectives at the start of the championship, but never taken for granted, given the level of the A2 series. Having arrived there after the bitterness of being excluded from the Play Offs and struggling in the Round of 16, confirms that this group has character and will. Together we wanted to go and get a Finale that would remind us that Brescia never gave up. I would like the solidity of this team of champions who know how to overcome difficulties by continuing to work on the details, preparing for an opportunity that cannot be missed, to be rewarded. I’m sure that my athletes will be able to excite the Cuneo public by facing Porto Viro with the courage and desire to have fun.”
Fernando Gabriel Garnica (Captain Delta Group Porto Viro): “This Final Four Del Monte® Coppa Italia Serie A2 is the result of a year of intense work, shared between all the people who are part of Delta Volleyball. Everyone gave their contribution, from the top management down to us players: the group made a constant growth journey during the season and as captain I’m really proud of it. I also don’t want to forget the support of our wonderful audience, who has always been at our side. I’m very excited because this time my wife and children will be in the stands, when I played the Final with Reggio two years ago they weren’t there. I’m someone who likes to dream, I hope I can get to play Sunday’s match, it would be my fourth final in six years. It won’t be easy because Brescia is playing very well, led by a “kid” born in 1980 like me.”
Daniele Morato (Coach Delta Group Porto Viro): “We are very happy and proud to have reached this Final Four, a goal that is anything but obvious given that in the quarter-finals we had to sweat out the fateful seven shirts against Cuneo, one of the favourites. We achieved a great feat by giving ourselves a historic result for the club, at the moment there is a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of desire to do well, but at the same time light-heartedness, and even though we are at the end of the season I see a team still on the ball. Who knows, maybe these are the right ingredients to play a great match on Saturday and reach the final, it would be an even more sensational result. In all this let’s not forget Brescia, who beat Siena to get here with two very solid performances. They are a team similar to us, they have a fluid ball exchange thanks to three high-level lateral attackers and two very strong first-half players. Furthermore, we will have to be good at containing their hitters, both Abrahan, Cominetti and Klapwijk hit very hard. We are focused and willing, then, as always, whoever plays best will win.”
Ticket office – Del Monte® Italian Cup Serie A2
https://www.legavolley.it/2024/del-monte-coppa-italia-a2-al-via-la-prevendita-per-la-final-four/
Press Kit 27a Del Monte® Italian Cup Serie A2
https://www.legavolley.it/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Cartella-Stampa-Cuneo-2024.pdf
The television programming of 27° Del Monte® Italian Cup Serie A2
https://www.legavolley.it/2024/del-monte-coppa-italia-serie-a2-la-programmazione-su-sky-e-vbtv/
