Rana Verona kicks off 2025: a week after qualifying for the Italian Cup Final Four, the team steps onto the court for their first match of the new calendar year, coinciding with the fourth round of the second phase of the Serie A1 championship. Before Verona's match against Cucine Lube Civitanova at the Eurosuole Forum, scheduled for today at 4:20 PM(the match can be watched live on MaxSport2 and recorded from 9 PM on MaxSport1 - editor's note), head coach Stoychev gave a press conference.
Here's what he shared: "The new year started immediately for us with a very important match. Civitanova showed good performances in the first phase, participated in the Club World Championship, and is a team I greatly respect because of their many successes in recent years. They make few errors in reception, only 7% of their serves are aces, and they are strong in attack with very fast play. They have a powerful serve, especially Lagumdzija with 45% efficiency and few errors, as well as Nikolov, Botolo, and Leoppky. As always,against strong teams, the match will depend on our reception and how we manage to distance them from the net, as they have equal percentages in rallies and counter-attacks.In the middle, Podrascanin and Sineneze provide security to Bonifante in distribution. We are working to compensate for Javoronok's absence, focusing on game variations to maintain a positive trend, although it's not easy without a player like him."
He then added: "The project's development is going very well. I agree that it doesn't depend on one match, but the results of various matches throughout the season influence its development because they bring enthusiasm and show whether we are heading in the right direction sportingly. From the club's perspective, thanks to new partners, the project is developing quickly. I am glad that in Civitanova we will have the support of over 60 partners. These are people who help us a lot both on and off the court, which I appreciate. As for the team, everyone is fine, there are some minor injuries, which is normal in this intense period, but I have all players available, except for Donovan. It's not easy to organize training without him, but we are working hard."
"The result in the Italian Cup was definitely positive, otherwise it would have been difficult to work," he emphasized. "For young players like ours, who are in the Final Four for the first time, this is a different motivation than that of a player who has won many trophies. The victory against a team like Piacenza showed us that we are on the right track. We need to take advantage of this period, but everything is also a matter of mentality. Victories help keep spirits high in training, but they shouldn't go to our heads, although I'm calm about that. Nobody thinks we've become strong, everyone is humble and working. Our problem might be insecurity after losses, so I try to avoid them."