Panthers, round figure target: but Monza is tough

Prosecco Doc without De Gennaro on the hunt for consecutive victory no. 70. Coach Santarelli: “We work in perspective”

Mirco Cavallin / CONEGLIANO

Tonight’s opponent for Conegliano is, on paper, one of the best equipped to undermine the Gialloblù domination. The panthers still have a reworked squad, with two Italians out and limited rotations in the sextets: it will be less than the usual pull the cart to keep the top of the standings and aim for the seventieth victory in a row. The rosablùs led by the former Marco Gaspari, also with some ailments not completely recovered, finally aspire to raise a trophy in Italy, after winning the Challenge Cup in 2019, the Cev Cup in 2021 and conquering the qualification for the Champions League. Two opposites with a heavy arm like the Polish Stysiak and the Belgian Van Hecke, talented spikers like the blue Gennari and the Serbs Mihajlovic and Lazovic, expert centerpieces like Danesi and Candi, a free of value as a Parish and a setter in clear growth as Orro are the elements that make this challenge more uncertain than in the past (only one Monza victory out of sixteen races).

Vero Volley has 7 points in the ranking, after the victories over Chieri and Bergamo and the defeats against Busto and Novara, the last one in the tiebreak after a very long match. Coach Daniele Santarelli knows he still cannot push the engine to the maximum, but aims to smooth out the defects seen in this first month. «We are improving physically, we still need to have a little patience to let the ailments go back, but we are confident that the girls who have had physical problems will soon be fully recovered. However the team is growing both in training and in the game, there is still a lot of work to do obviously because we are only at the beginning. We are first after four days, but now the ranking is of little interest to me: we have our plans and our goals, it’s nice to be up there for the results, but in terms of play and continuity we need to improve and we are working towards this in perspective ». That Conegliano is not yet at its best and that the opponents have grown is shown by the scores of the sets, with often minimal gaps.

Although very young, the Brianza club has the numbers to do well against anyone. «Monza is a reality that is good for the movement, a solid and ambitious company, with a high-level technical project. It has a deep staff with many important players who have international experience and talent; the squad is wide, interchangeable, technically they are to be feared because they have both high ball attackers and those suited to fast play, they receive well and can also count on a high level wall-defense. From our side we will need an excellent match ». –