Sebastian Solé spikes during a 2015 CEV Cup

Ph. Trabalza

Trento, March 23rd, 2015

On Tuesday, March 24th, in Poland commences the first leg of the 2015 CEV Cup semifinals. After eliminating Novi Sad for the sixteenths, in Tel Aviv on the second round, and Craiova in the quarterfinals and Roeselare in Challenge Round, the ENERGY TI Diatec Trentino faces the ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle in the second last double round of matches in the European competition. Kick-off is scheduled at 8:30pm in Azoty Arena in Kedzierzyn-Kozle, with live streaming on Radio Dolomiti and via the Internet at www.laola1.tv.
The lead in the successful standings is owed to the Super League game with 3-1 that took place on Saturday in Modena. Birarelli and his team mates will return to devote a week only to reach the final stage in the continental tournament.
Between Tuesday and Saturday, Trento will challenge twice the latest winners of the Cup of Poland in 2014; to have a better outlook for the next round, Radostin Stoytchevs team must absolutely get a positive result on the way. "We must put aside the success against the PalaPanini in order to concentrate our precision and determination to achieve this important engagement - explained the Bulgarian coach -  only we can embarrass the Zaksa, the team which in my view has surprisingly left the Polish title match . It is in fact a talented team, with offering many alternatives; the recovery of Zagumny Ruciak, and the experience they can offer in the field, along with Kooy rise , are definitely dangerous weapons that we have watch out for. We must achieve 120% in our game because the alternative is not simple or obvious. It will be a battle that will start tomorrow but will be divided to the last play by the second match".
The Bulgarian coach brought twelve players in Poland , leaving behind Their in Trento ; the match of PalaPanini demonstrated how Lanza and Solé, struggling with similar injuries to their left hands and fingers , which fully recovered, is why the ENERGY TI Diatec Trentino should start from the same starting six players proposed in Emilia. Before the first leg the Yellow-Blues, arrived in Poland on Sunday evening, and had two training sessions: one in the evening and another concluding on Wednesday morning.
TRENTINO VOLLEY in the Polish FIELD for the 9th time: Trentino team 9th trip in Poland having their third in four years with Kedzierzyn-Kozle, where yellow-blues played December 22nd, 2011, winning 3-0 and November 21st, 2012 (3-1, last precedent in this country). The premiere dates back to March 4th, 2009, when the team Stoytchev beat Czestochowa 3-1 in the first leg of the quarter-finals in its first participation for the CEV Champions League. Poland has claimed the yellow-blues colors in six out of eight circumstances; with last defeat on 24th of November 2010, after the Belchatow prevailed with 3-0 at the Atlas Arena in Lodz and 17th of March 2012, when Zenit Kazan won in the semifinals, also in Lodz, for the European hegemony of yellow-blues in the Champions League. The Trentino Volley on this occasion played their 79th game in the European competition (with 62 Champions League, three in Top Teams and 13 in CEV), the 108th International (with 89 wins and 17 defeats), going for the 60th win outside the national borders. The only previous participation in the CEV Cup (2005 edition), for the yellow-blues was stopped short in the second round after a double 3-1 defeat by Halkbank Ankara.
THE FORMULA AND OTHER GATHERINGS The 2015 CEV Cup provides six double shifts (round trip) matches (Round - played in November -, Eight - played in December - Quarter-finals - played in January - Challenge Round, Semifinals and Final) knockout: The team exceeding the tournaments over the two matches gets the most points, as assigned in the league: 3 for the win 3-0 or 3- 1, 2 for the tie-break, one to defeat the tie-break (golden set to 15 in the case of equal points - the same system of 12 Playoffs CEV Champions League). The Challenge Round of the qualified teams face the second worst ranked and the  third best ranked team of the seven rounds of the Main Phase of 2015 CEV Champions League, with  DenizBank entering the competition just at that last moment.
PREVIOUSLY Trentino Volley and Kedzierzyn-Kozle has had four official games in their history: the previous dates back to 2012 and 2013 editions of the CEV Champions League. The outlook is favorable to the yellow-blues for 3-1, thanks to their achievements in Poland on December 22nd, 2011 (3-0) and November 21st, 2012 (3-1 last year) and the PalaTrento 3-0 on November 14th, 2012. The only success of the Poles was played in Italy on December 14th, 2011, and won by Zaksa 3-2 . Comparing to two and a half years ago, the ten players still present are : Kaziyski, Birarelli, Colaci, Lanza and Burgsthaler on one hand; Ruciak, Zagumny, Gladyr, Wictzak and Zaplacki other.
REFEREES The competition will be arbitrated by the Czech Dusan Rychlik, the first referee from Prague, and the Frenchman Loic These, a referee from Heillecourt. The only referee who has encountered the Trentino Volley is Rychlik, who twice led in the yellow-blues Championships with Maaseik vs.Trent 0-3 (January 31st 2012) and Trent vs. Red Star Belgrade 3-0 (October 25th, 2012).
RADIO AND INTERNET The match will be broadcast live from Radio Dolomiti, which are partners of Trentino Volley, with the first broadcast at approximately 8:25pm. www.radiodolomiti.com offers all frequencies of the regional network and live streams the full match.
To follow the game development, point to point, you can visit the official website of the CEV at http://cevlive.cev.lu/DV_LiveScore.aspx?ID=26822  which will provide live score, or that of Trentino Volley www.trentinovolley.it which will offer the report, set by set,  few minutes after the conclusion of each single partial. Updates will remain active on yellow-blues social networks  (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter). 

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office

2015 CEV Cup, SEMIFINAL SCHEDUL