About the Club
basic information
Club name: Mint Vero Volley Monza
Founded: 1999
Hometown: Monza
League: Serie A Superlegga (2000/01-2002/03, 2014/15-)
Home arena: Monza Arena (4,500 capacity)
Best result
League: Runner-up (2000/01)
Coppa Italia: Top 8 (2015/16-2021/22)
Supercoppa: Runner-up (2021/22)
CEV Cup: Winner (2021/22)
CEV Challenge Cup: Runner-up (2018/19)
Results for the last three seasons
2022/23
League: 5th place
2021/22
League: 7th place
Coppa Italia: quarterfinals
Supercoppa: Runners-up
CEV Cup: Winner
2020/21
League: 4th place
Coppa Italia: quarterfinals
Club Features
Vero Valley is a club team based in Monza, a city near Milan. They are a mid-level club in the Superlegaga, and almost always participate in the Coppa Italia and league playoffs, which are open to teams ranked 8th or higher in the league, but they have had difficulty making it into the top four. However, they have been producing results in short-term competitions in recent years, such as finishing as runners-up in the Supercoppa in the 21/22 season, winning the CEV Cup, and winning the 5th place match in the 22/23 season.
Polish international Kurek, who currently plays for Wolfdogs Nagoya in Japan, also played here in the 2019/20 season.
Perhaps due to budgetary constraints, they rarely have multiple so-called star players. However, they are keen to discover young players, and almost every year they welcome promising young players from countries whose senior national teams are not that strong, who have achieved results in under-category tournaments, to their team. Plotnitsky (Ukraine), who currently plays for the powerful Perugia, is one of those players discovered by Monza. This season, as always, they acquired 18-year-old Korean Lee, who won an individual award at the U-19 World Championships.
Velo Volley also has a women's team (Velo Volley Milano), but unlike the men's team, this team has a large budget and is one of the strongest teams in the women's Serie A. Therefore, the popularity and ability to attract spectators is stronger for the women's team than for the men's team.
2023/24 season squad
director
Massimo Eccheri
Nationality: Italian
Date of birth: 1966/01/29
4th season (2020/21~)
Player list
#1 Petar Visic S/198/1998
#4 Eric Lepke★ OH/197/1998
#6 Francesco Compaloni MB/203/1996
#7 Stephen Marr OH/199/1994
10 Flavio Morazzini★ L/184/2005
11 Gianluca Galassi MB/201/1997
12 Ai Takahashi★ OH/188/2001
13 Thomas Beretta (C) MB/205/1990
14 Ferdinand Krölling S/185/1996
18 Gabriele DiMartino MB/199/1997
20 Marco Gaggini★ L/184/2002
31 Arthur Schwartz OP/207/1995
- Lee Woo-jin★ OH/196/2005
★・・・New member
#1 Petar Visic
Petar Visić
Nationality: Croatian
Date of birth: 1998/02/11
Height: 198cm
Second season
Setter for the Croatian national team. So far, she has mainly been on the court as a relief server. The challenge is to see how much she can show off in the limited opportunities she has. Her younger sister, Maja, is also a volleyball player.
#4 Eric Lepke
Eric Loeppky
Outside hitter
Nationality: Canadian
Date of birth: 1998/08/01
Height: 197cm
New member (←Taranto (Italy))
He played an active role as a starter for the Canadian national team, and made a major contribution to the team's qualification for the Paris Olympics. He played a central role in Taranto last season, but will mainly be on the bench at Monza. Not only is he a well-balanced outside hitter on both offense and defense, but he can also play opposite, supporting the team as a super sub. He and Ai Takahashi were teammates at Padua two seasons ago and are good friends.
#6 Francesco Compaloni
Francesco Comparoni
Middle Blocker
Nationality: Italian
Date of birth: 2001/06/22
Height: 204cm
Returned from loan (←Ravenna (Italy))
A next-generation middle blocker returning from a two-season loan spell. Last season he was named best middle blocker in the A2 League, one level below the rest of the league, and was also named best middle blocker at the 2022 U-22 European Championships. However, he will likely only get limited playing time at Monza, as he will be the fourth-string middle blocker.
#7 Stephen Ma
Stephen Maar
Outside hitter
Nationality: Canadian
Date of birth: 1994/12/06
Height: 199cm
Second season
He is the captain of the charge who leads the team with his powerful and spectacular play. The spikes and serves that come from his sturdy body are amazing to hear. He also has good compatibility with the speedy and sharp Takahashi. In the 20/21 season, he was also teammates with Ishikawa at Milan. Incidentally, this is the first time in his eighth professional season that he has stayed at Monza for two consecutive seasons.
10 Flavio Morazzini
Flavio Morazzini
Libero
Nationality: Italian
Date of birth: 2005/05/10
Height: 184cm
New signing (←Roma (Seria B))
He is the next generation libero and a member of the team that will win the U18 and U20 European Championships in 2022. At just 18 years old, he is the youngest on the team along with Li, who will be mentioned later. His perm makes him look like an Italian boy.
11 Gianluca Galassi
Gianluca Galassi
Middle Blocker
Nationality: Italian
Date of birth: 1997/07/24
Height: 201cm
5th season
The only active member of the Italian national team. At 201cm, he is not big for a middle blocker, but he is very mobile and demonstrates great ability in all aspects of his play, including spiking, blocking, and serving. His appearance even exudes a veteran vibe. He is the face of the team.
12 Ai Takahashi
Ran Takahashi
Outside hitter
Nationality: Japanese
Date of birth: 2001/09/02
Height: 188cm
New member (← Padua (Italy))
You may know Ran Takahashi from Japan. Last season, he made his first full-fledged appearance in the Italian league, and shocked the Italian volleyball world with his high level of ability and the stability of his play. His receiving ability is particularly among the best in the Italian league, even including liberos. His attacks and serves are also diverse and difficult to deal with. This season, he has already become an indispensable member of the team, bringing a sense of security to the floor. From this season, he has changed his jersey name to "RAN" and number 12, just like the national team. It seems that he got his driver's license during the national team season this year, so we will be able to easily go and see Ishikawa in Milan this season.
13 Thomas Beretta (C)
Thomas Beretta
Middle Blocker
Nationality: Italian
Date of birth: 1990/04/18
Height: 205cm
9th season
The captain of Monza, who is in his 9th consecutive season with the club and his 11th season in total. A former Italian national team player, he is a typical middle-back with a reputation for blocking. In recent years, he has often been on the bench, but having a veteran like him on the bench gives a great sense of security.
14 Fernand Kreling
Fernando Kreling
Setter
Nationality: Brazilian
Date of birth: 1996/01/13
Height: 185cm
Second season
A Brazilian setter known by the nickname "Cachopa". His appeal is his good tempo setting that doesn't narrow down the target. He has not had many opportunities to play for the Brazilian national team because he is overshadowed by Bruno, but he led his former club Sada Cruzeiro (Brazil) to victory in the World Club Championship as a starting setter. Last season, he was forced to take a long break from the game due to an injury before the start of the season. This season, he will fight to make up for his disappointment.
18 Gabriele DiMartino
Gabriele Di Martino
Middle Blocker
Nationality: Italian
Date of birth: 1997/07/20
Height: 199cm
Second season
A stable mid-level player. He is often not as noticeable as Galassi, but he supports the team with his dedicated play. He is the same age as Galassi, but he also has the presence of a veteran. He has a high break rate on floater serves.
20 Marco Gaggini
Marco Gaggini
Marco Gaggini
Nationality: Italian
Date of birth: 2002/04/07
Height: 184cm
Returned from loan transfer (← Verona (Italy))
Monza's starting libero. Despite being only 21 years old, he supports the team with his stable defense. Last season at Verona, both overhands were unstable in their serve reception, but this season, with Takahashi's presence, the burden has been reduced and he is showing higher quality play.
31 Arthur Schwartz
Arthur Szwarc
Opposite
Nationality: Canadian
Date of birth: 1995/03/30
Height: 207cm
Second season
Opposite for the Canadian team. Until the Tokyo Olympics, he played as a middle blocker wearing a headband, but he switched to opposite in earnest and showed his talent as an opposite last season. In addition to his high spikes, he also has blocks and powerful serves that make use of his experience as a middle blocker. And, above all, he is handsome.
- Lee Woo-jin
Woo-Jin Lee
Outside hitter
Nationality: South Korea
Date of birth: 2005/05/16
Height: 196cm
New member (←Kyungpook National University College of Education High School (Korea))
He is the next generation ace of Korea, who led the Korean national team to a bronze medal at the 2023 U-19 World Championship and won the Best Outside Hitter Award. In particular, he contributed greatly to the giant-killing by scoring 18 points, the most on his team, in the match against Italy at the U-19 World Championship. His opportunities to play at Monza will be limited, but he has the potential to grow rapidly from here.
Main starting lineup
OH: Ma, Takahashi
MB: Galassi, DiMartino
OP: Schwartz
S: Fernando
L: Gaggini
Average height (excluding libero): 196.5cm
This season, Monza has only two of their six starting players who are over 200cm tall, and two who are in the 180cm range, so they are inferior to other teams in terms of height, but I think they have formed a good team with good balance and stability.
The two outside hitters, Marr is an explosive offensive hitter (but his defense is also not bad), and Takahashi is a stable defensive hitter (but he also has plenty of offensive power), so they are very well balanced.
Both middle blockers are around 2 meters tall, but they are quick and can handle any play well. You can also expect breaks with either Galassi's jump serve or Di Martino's jump floater.
Opposite Schwartz not only has height and power, but he also concedes few points and makes a lot of digs.
Setter Fernando is able to use these powerful attackers in a balanced way, making it difficult for the opponent to focus on one player.
Libero Gaggini also conceded few goals and moved well.
Although there are no monster players in general, there are many players with well-balanced abilities and their performance is stable. In fact, they have won all their games except for Perugia so far, and even against Perugia, the game content was not that bad at all.
If they can further improve their teamwork from here, they will have a good chance of finishing in the top four or better in the league or Coppa Italia.
Photo: legavolley.it, author
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