Sebastian Solé
ph. Trabalza
Trento, 27th March 2017
On Tuesday 28th March, at PalaTrento Trentino Diatec will play the first match of 2017 CEV Cup semifinals; after defeating Loimaa and Sastamala and Piacenza during quarterfinals, Yellow-blues will face Turkish team Fenerbahce Sk Istanbul. First ball of the match is scheduled at 8:30pm with Radio Dolomiti live commentary and internet live streaming at www.laola1.tv.
HERE TRENTINO DIATEC Leaving the 2017 Play Off Scudetto UnipolSai series against Perugia on the side, the home team needs to take a first big step towards the last part of the competition by winning. The return match (and potential golden set) will take place in Turkey on April 1st, and forces Lanza and teammates to make the most out of the first of the two close matches.
“We want to play the final of CEV Cup and to do so we must fight on every ball - stated Angelo Lorenzetti -; CEV Cup is not the Champions League, but at this point of the competition there are no weak teams. In order to beat Fenerbahce in the two matches break-point phase needs to be our key. It’s no casualty that the Turkish team got so far in this competition: they have a good side-out game, very fast and well organized, which helped them many times. We must be careful and precise on every ball”.
Trentino Volley’s coach must do without spiker Oleg Antonov who suffered from a minor thigh injury last week; recovery is estimated to be about ten days and libero Chiappa will be lined-up as the fourth spiker. All the other players are available and will train today and tomorrow for the match.
50th INTERNATIONAL MATCH IN PALATRENTO PalaTrento will host, on Tuesday night, the 50th european home match in the history of Trentino Volley, the 22nd in CEV Cup, with 18 victories and three defeats (two against Ankara in 2005 and one against Moscow in 2015). Only two times before did a turkish team play in PalaTrento: 7th December 2005, 1-3 defeat against Halkbank Ankara during 2005 CEV Cup and 4th December 2013, 3-0 win on Izmir during the first part of 2014 CEV Champions League. The home club is at its 706th official match, 47th of the season, 134th international cap (112 wins and 21 defeats).
OPPONENT Fenerbahce is one of the most important Turkish team; from Istanbul (the most financial, cultural and industrial relevant city of the country), it belongs to most famous sport society of the country, with millions of fans all over the world and teams in most of the disciplines. The society is in volleyball regularly from 1976, after a long time when the team competed only intermittently (1927-1935, 1941, 1946-47, 1952-1971).
Especially in the last decade the society invested a lot, making sure to have many foreign players in their team, many coming from the italian championship. Hence, it is no wonder that the four national titles (along with the 9 Istanbul League titles) were won between 2008 and 2012.
In the palmares also three Turkish Cup, last one won this season (3-1 on Ankara). The team, under French coach Basic’s guide, won this year regular season with a three point gap on Ankara, with 22 wins during the season. Last Friday they lost against Ankara. In this CEV Cup, 3rd participation, the team only lost one set, with a double 3-0 against Mate-Asher Akko, Levski Sofia and Ajacco (3-1). The best moments for the society were during 2014 Challenge Cup, won against Latina, and the two victories in the Balcans Cup (2009 and 2013). The most famous players are slovenian spiker Sket (former Modena and Molfetta spiker), Pajenk (blocker, Verona and Lube), and french Quesque (Monza and Modena), Keskin (setter and captain) and Toy (opposite). Fenerbahce Sk Istanbul’s team: 1. Selcuk Keskin (p), 2. Alen Pajenk (c), 3. Sabit Karaagac (c), 4. Alperay Demirciler (l), 5. Alen Sket (s), 6. Guillaume Quesque (s), 7. Metehan Bas, (o), 8. Oguzhan Karasu (c), 9. Ediz Kaan Firincioglu (s), 10. Bati Kayhan (s), 11. Ibrahim Emet (c), 12. Bertug Ondes (s), 13. Anil Durgut (s), 14. Ismail Moalla (s), 15. Metin Toy (o), 16. Ogulcan Yatgin (p), 18. Mehmet Ozbek (l). Coach Veljko Basic.
FORMULA AND THE OTHER SEMIFINAL 2017 CEV Cup implies six double rounds (home and return) matches with a knockout format; the team that wins more sets across the two matches will access the next round. Points are assigned as in championship: 3 for the win, 2 for tie-break win and 1 for tie-break defeat (golden set at 15 points if points of the matches are tied). Tomorrow night at 8pm the other semifinal will take place: Tours Vb against Volleys Rheinmain. Return matches are scheduled on April 1st (3pm and 6pm for Trento).
PREVIOUS MATCHES It will be the first time the two clubs play against each other; for Trentino Volley it will be the third challenge against a turkish team, after Halkbank Ankara (2005 CEV Cup) and Arkas Izmir (first round of 2014 Champions). Two wins (both against Izmir) and two defeats (Ankara).
REFEREES The match will be refereed by Bulgarian Martin Yanakiev, first referee coming from Sofia, and by second referee Lars Rydland, from Oslo, Norway; the second referee already met Trentino Volley during 2015 CEV Cup in the match Roeselare-Trento 2-3 (11th January 2015).
RADIO AND INTERNET The match will be streamed live on Radio Dolomiti, radio partner of Trentino Volley, starting at 8:25pm. On the www.radiodolomiti.com websites all the frequencies are available as well as the “on air” section with the live streaming commentary.
On internet, www.laola1.tv will stream audio and video live broadcast of the match; in order to follow the match the link to click is http://www.laola1.tv/en-int/livestream/trentino-diatec-fenerbahce-sk-istanbul-len.
A point by point report of the match is also available on the CEV official website at http://cevlive.cev.lu/DV_LiveScore.aspx?ID=29232, with live scoring, as well as on www.trentinovolley.it. Live updates and commentary will be posted on the Yellow-blues networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).
TICKETS, PRESALE AND MERCHANDISING The match is not included in the 2016/2017 season pass. Season tickets holder were able to reserve their tickets until Thursday 23rd. Presale is now open from Wednesday at 4pm at the Trentino Volley (via Trener 2 Trento) and Promoevent, via Suffragio 10 Trento, or anytime on http://www.vivaticket.it/ita/event/2017-cev-cup-trentino-diatec-fenerbahce/95730.
Tickets will also be available on Tuesday at tickets office in PalaTrento, open from 19:30, when the doors of PalaTrento will be opened. Ticket office will be open until the end of second set, when it will not be anymore possible to access PalaTrento.
Inside the building, behind the north tribune, fans will find the merchandising shop, with a range of Trentino Volley gadgets.
Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office
2017 CEV Cup, the semifinal matches
