Christmas round with few surprises and many certainties, and among these the clear feeling that this year too Piacenza is missing something to be able to live up to the top of the class. On the other hand, Civitanova starts again, while the matches in Trento, Perugia and Verona are normal. And if Modena continues to grind out points in its solitary fourth place, Milan wins without fully convincing, but gains a position against Piacenza. But let’s get to the month’s sextet and the report cards.
Dream Team of the day:
Giannelli (P), Buchegger (O), Sani (S), Nikolov (S), Nedeljkovic (C), Russo (C), Staforini (L).
VERONA – GROTTAZZOLINA 3-0
Space for Sani (score 7) and the usual peremptory Darlan (score 8) are enough to ferry Verona into an easy three-zero against the bottom of the Super League. With Mozic rested and Keita (rated 5) on half serve, the new signing Nedeljkovic (rated 8.5) takes the stage and scores 11 points in the centre. At home, with the serve pushing and the blocking working well, it has become truly unplayable.
Grottazzolina is now in free fall, with a deficient attack and a serve that is always light. Without a block and with only the positive Magalini (score 6) the challenge for Falaschi (score 5.5) to find a positive attacker is difficult… Golzadeh (score 5) tries, Fedrizzi (score 4.5) is far from the brilliant last season and the team sadly drags on without being able to make a breakthrough.
CISTERNA – PERUGIA 0-3
Complicated match for Cisterna, who however can finally enjoy the good performance of the young Barotto (score 7). For the rest Fanizza (score 5) tries to rotate his attackers, but without finding solutions of continuity. In the greyness of Lazio, Lanza is saved (score 6) thanks to an excellent performance in reception, but he lacks the power to worry the new world champions.
Perugia leaves aside the tiredness of the long trip to Brazil and immediately pushes on the accelerator with a devastating Ben Tara (rated 8) and the usual Giannelli (rated 8) who exalts Russo (rated 8) and also finds good responses from Ishikawa (rated 6.5). Plotnytskyi alone is subdued (score 5).
CIVITANOVA – PIACENZA 3-1
Lots of service, solid reception and an incisive attack are the weapons used by Lube to give Piacenza their third consecutive defeat. Loeppky (score 8) seems reborn in the last month, and Nikolov (score 8) also excels by providing a good performance in all the fundamentals, including reception. Bottolo also did well (score 6.5) while the contribution of one of the two central defenders is still missing to be able to fight for the top three positions again.
Vertical collapse for Piacenza, their third consecutive defeat and Simon’s absence is not enough to explain their difficulties. The reception goes off the rails with Bergmann (rated 5) targeted and a Porro (rated 7) who makes his team attack with 64% is not enough because Andringa (rated 5) also struggles a lot. And to think that Bovolenta (8.5 rating) finished with a mammoth 24 out of 31 in attack! But if in four sets you only block 5 times, everything becomes more complicated.
MODENA – CUNEO 3-0
One set was enough for Modena to crush Cuneo’s hopes, which were shattered by Buchegger’s excellent performance (rated 9, like his aces) who practically took home a set on his own. As always, Sanguinetti (rated 7) and Davyskiba (rated 7.5) did well, while for once Porro’s performance remained subdued (rated 5).
Fifteen aces conceded, only two blocks and 10 direct errors, these are the merciless numbers of a Cuneo that has Feral to thank (6.5 rating) for having faced Modena almost alone. Sedlacek (rated 4) and Zaytsev (rated 5) were supporting players who had never competed and Cavaccini (rated 4.5) sadly ended a match full of insecurities with 6 aces.
MILAN – PADUA 3-1
Milan wins but risks complicating things, which after two steamrolling sets falls asleep at the moment and risks reopening the match. Luckily the wall and the usual Reggers (8.5 rating) gave Milan the hard-fought final victory which earned them sixth place against Piacenza. Recine struggles in attack (rated 5.5) but his is still a test of character and Caneschi also gives a hand (rated 7) with his 10 points.
Padova is impalpable for two sets, then is good at reopening the match, but the 38% overall attack openly indicates Todorovic’s difficulties (score 5) in managing the attack. The Venetian side players are all underperforming, Orioli (rated 4.5) lasts two sets, Gardini (rated 5) doesn’t take off, and even Masulovic (rated 6) is unpresentable for two sets. In the end only Polo was saved (rating 7.5) which has definitely changed gear in the last few days.
MONZA – TRENTO 0-3
There are also many problems for Monza who against the league leaders are unable to go beyond a mediocre match in which only Padar (rated 7) consistently puts the ball down. Atanasov (score 4) fails yet another test and Rohrs (score 5) also demonstrates that he has not fully recovered from his latest ailments. Zimmermann also did poorly (rated 5) and showed little chemistry with Moscow (rated 5.5).
It doesn’t take much for Trento to take the entire prize, taking advantage of Ramon’s good day (7.5 rating) and the excellent reception of Michieletto (6.5 rating) who once emerged in attack. There is therefore space for the game in the center where Bartha (rated 7) is often a thorn in the side of the Monza wall.
By Paolo Cozzi
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