Conegliano returns to Palaverde after a two-week stop Santarelli: “Broken rhythm, let’s get back to the thread”
/ CONEGLIANO
A negative streak and a positive streak cross today at Palaverde. The fourth return day pits Prosecco Doc Imoco, fresh from six consecutive victories after second place in the World Championship, and Trasporti Pesanti Casalmaggiore, which instead scored as many defeats between December and January, collecting only one point in the tiebreak lost in home against Rome. They are currently in ninth place with 13 points, having only one game to catch up. «The race is certainly difficult – says the scoutman from Casalmaggiore Alessandro Bianciardi – even if it is not the best Conegliano, but it is certainly a team of really high power. However, it will be a good test for us that will also give us the opportunity to let the team run a bit, giving more space to those who perhaps usually have less, offering them an opportunity to face and test themselves against a team of the highest level. We have to start again from the good things shown in the last two races, but try to fix those that did not run perfectly. We must show that the defeat against Rome gave us the right shock to improve and face the rest of the championship in the best possible way, with the cynicism necessary to win at least a few games to put salvation under lock and key ».
Temporarily in second place with 34 points behind Monza, but with three games to recover, Conegliano returns to play two weeks after his last match. After the victory over Rome, the postponement and the 3-0 at table in the Champions League against the Hungarians of Fatum Nyiregyhaza followed each other and then the big match was moved to Novara (March 3, 8 pm). It was the infections that revolutionized the calendar and preparation with some athletes and staff members forced to stop due to positivity at Covid 19. Three days for everyone of individual work and a week’s return to the gym were not good news for coach Daniele Santarelli. «After the Coppa Italia for various problems related to Covid, first for the opponents and then for us, we only played one game. This forced us to change the programming not only of the matches, but also of the training sessions and it broke the rhythm at a time when we had reached an excellent level of play. Luckily now we are full again and we go back to playing, we have to pick up the thread, especially in terms of the game rather than the results and we will use these two close matches with Casalmaggiore and Zok in the Champions League to get back to our pace and our game ” .
The watchword, now more than ever with only one Wednesday free between now and the end of March, will be turnover. At the return of Fahr there is still a month to go, for all the others there is an expenditure of energy and athletic loads to manage, in order to have the top condition in the spring. «As regards today’s match – adds Santarelli – we know that Casalmaggiore is not going through a great period, but for this very reason he will arrive at Palaverde with the desire to score points. He will be able to do it without any particular pressure as we are the favorites. It will take a determined approach to the match, immediately offering a good level of play ».
The capacity is still 35% and spectators will be able to buy the book “Bagherball: 50 exercises for the most controversial activity of volleyball” at the Palaverde store, written jointly by assistant coach Valerio Lionetti and assistant Tommaso Barbato. –