Superlega 2023

Second half of SuperLega regular season starts on Friday

Watch the 12th leg of Italian SuperLega matches live on VBTV

Published 08:13, 29 Dec 2023

Ivan Zaytsev in attack during the season’s first encounter between Lube and Vero Volley (source: legavolley.it)

Ivan Zaytsev in attack during the season’s first encounter between Lube and Vero Volley

Just three days after the excitement around the end of the first half of the 2023-2024 SuperLega Credem Banca regular season, which determined the participants and the seeding in the men’s Del Monte Coppa Italia tournament, the second half will get underway on Friday, and in the next 11 legs of matches, the race will be completely focused on getting better positions ahead of the playoffs or avoiding relegation. The 12th-leg programme offers one game on Friday, staring at 19:00 local time (18:00 UTC), and another five on Saturday at 18:00 (17:00) to wrap up the 2023 calendar year with a bang.

  • Watch Italy’s SuperLega Credem Banca live and on demand on VBTV.

In the most interesting fixture of the leg, Mint Vero Volley Monza will host Cucine Lube Civitanova on Saturday, just four days before the same two teams meet at the same venue, the Opiquad Arena, again, this time in a Coppa Italia quarterfinal. The team around Canadian internationals Stephen Maar, Eric Loeppky and Arthur Szwarc, Japanese star Ran Takahashi and Brazilian playmaker Fernando Kreling is fourth in the current standings on 20 points and a 7-4 win-loss record. Their visitors from Civitanova, with the likes of Argentinean setter Luciano De Cecco, Turkish scoring machine Adis Lagumdzija, Bulgarian rising star Aleksandar Nikolov, Italian legend Ivan Zaytsev and French Olympic champion middle blocker Barthelemy Chinenyeze among a number of other top-calibre players on their stellar squad, are fifth on the same win-loss record, but a point below the home team.

Both sides suffered upsets at the hands of lower-placed opponents in their last games on Tuesday and will be looking for a rebound. If Lube take home the victory, they will overtake Vero Volley into the fourth place, but should they lose, they run the risk of being overtaken by one of the two teams below them in the standings.

This will be the 24th encounter between the two clubs. Lube have won 19 of the previous 23 meetings, but the most recent three went Vero Volley’s way. In the first leg of the current regular season on October 22, the squad from Monza mastered a 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-22) shutout of Lube in Civitanova.

“Two tough games await us in Monza. We will have to focus on one match at a time. The team is ready. We have been training well. Now what matters is going there with the right head and fighting the way we know, in order to bring home the victory. What gives us a lot of extra motivation is the defeat we suffered against Monza at the start of the season. We want to make up for it and we have the potential to achieve that feat. We know what to do to find our rhythm again and we feel ready for the next challenges.” Marlon Yant, outside hitter of Cucine Lube Civitanova

Civitanova vs. Monza | Highlights | Superlega | 1a Giornata

The 12th leg will start on Friday with a game between Rana Verona and Gioiella Prisma Taranto. Both teams achieved victories on Tuesday and will try to build upon them with another success at the start of the second half of the regular season. For Rana Verona, that win meant a spot in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals as they improved to 14 points and 5-6 to confirm their eighth place in the table. For the club from Taranto, on the other hand, it was the first win of the season, with which they collected nine points in 11th place and widened the distance from the relegation zone.

Another exciting match on Saturday will offer a clash between sixth-placed Allianz Milan (18, 6-5) and seventh-placed Valsa Group Modena (17, 7-4). October’s first match between these two teams in Modena produced a five-set thriller ending in favour of the home team.

Defending champions and table leaders Itas Trentino Trento (28, 10-1) also needed five sets to overcome their hosts Cisterna Volley (10, 3-8) in the first leg of the season, but will now have the home-court advantage against the team placed 10th in the current standings.

Reigning club world champions and Supercoppa Italiana laureates Sir Susa Vim Perugia, standing second in the SuperLega on 25 points and 8-3, will travel to bottom-of-the-table rookies Farmitalia Catania (4, 1-10), while third-placed Coppa Italia trophy-holders Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza (24, 7-4) take a trip to ninth-placed Pallavolo Padova Padua (10, 4-7) on Saturday evening.

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024 12th leg:
Dec 29, 19:00 local (18:00 UTC): Rana Verona v Gioiella Prisma Taranto
Dec 30, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Farmitalia Catania v Sir Susa Vim Perugia
Dec 30, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Itas Trentino Trento v Cisterna Volley
Dec 30, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Pallavolo Padova Padua v Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza
Dec 30, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Mint Vero Volley Monza v Cucine Lube Civitanova
Dec 30, 18:00 local (17:00 UTC): Allianz Milan v Valsa Group Modena

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024: full schedule and results

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