After over a month of break, the teams of Serie A1 return on court. Coaches and players talk about their preparations and expectations for the second part of the championship.
Radostin Stoytchev (coach of Itas Diatec Trentino): “We are interested only in victories”
“During the break for the World Cup we have not done what we wanted to do. We had many players out of the team: Bari, Birarelli and Zygadlo in the World Cup in Japan, Stokr and Djuric were fighting for the Olympic qualification in France, two other players followed a different way of training, so we had no possibility to work well. We worked on the physical side and the result of this work will be seen later.
Vibo Valentia is a team that had an opportunity to work well during the break. They play very well at home and I expect a very complicated match, also because we have no rhythm of game. We will see how the other teams made use of this break. Those who do not have many national players certainly are up ahead us, but mustn’t lose our heads if the others play better than us.”
Dragan Travica (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “It will be a strange match”
On Thursday Macerata will play against Andreoli Latina. Dragan Travica, the setter of Macerata and the Italian national team, has already come back from the World Cup in Japan, where he gained the 4th place. He said: “The match of Thursday will be like another beginning of the championship, considering that practically we have not trained together for over a month. But it will be also very important for the standings, so we must win at all costs. Latina is a strong team and to win over them we must find and use our strong points: the service and the attack. Five players from our team came back from a long tournament, there is a tiredness, but we have to recover quickly and concentrate on the match.”
Daniele Bagnoli (coach of Casa Modena): “I am not contented of the work we made”
Before the match against San Giustino, Bagnoli said: “We did our best from what we could do and the players did well, too. We had injuries and absences, for a little while we have been also without the setters. It seems to be a new beginning of the season. San Giustino? It will be a very complicated match, also because they are hungry for the points. On Thursday we have to start playing good volleyball at once.
I watched the games on the World Cup: Russia deserved to win, Poland is a team that made a huge impression on me and I got to know the quality of Iran. For Italy it was a perfect tournament, they were a little step away from the qualification.”
Andrea Giani (coach of M.Roma Volley): “We have an excellent team”
“Verona will be an extremely important opponent for us. The team from Veneto, that did not give their players to the national teams, could be more “trained” than us, but from our side there is a desire not to lose decisive points for the playoffs of the Cup. I am happy to count also on Bjelica that guarantee performance on the highest level, especially when we have to fight.”
Emanuele Zanini (coach of Acqua Paradiso Monza Brianza): “To regain the rhythm and recompose the team”
To the team from Monza came back six players, that had their duties in the national teams: Buti, De Cecco, Rooney and Nikic was taking part in the World Cup in Japan, Shumov and Zhukouski were playing in Croatia for the Olympic qualification. The preparations were difficult: “With the players that remained here during the break for the World Cup we have done good work, either analytical and technical. But without whole team the difficulty for the players will be to regain the rhythm of the match that can be gained only playing the official matches. Another problem will be to recompose the team, because we have one or two trainings before the first meeting.”
photo: trentinovolley.it