Jan Stokr blocked Jiri Kovar during the round 1
ph. Trabalza
Trento, 3rd May 2017
After nine days of break for the Final Four of CEV Champions League, it resume the series of UnipolSai 2017 Championship Play Off Final between Diatec Trentino and Cucine Lube Civitanova. The Marches team lead the series 1-0 thanks to the victory in game 1 at Eurosuole Forum on the 25th of April; on Thursday 4th of May the second match. The start is scheduled for 8.30 p.m. at PalaTrento: live TV on RAI Sport + HD and Radio Dolomiti.
Here Diatec Trentino The yellow-blue team rely on the home court advantage and on the quality play they usually show at PalaTrento (unbeaten there since April 25th 2016 and 23 matches in a row) trying to get the point of the tie in the series and guarantee another match in front of their fans. After the 3-0 defeat in the first match eight days ago, Lanza and his teammates need to win this match.
“In game 1 there was a huge difference between the teams talking about play – explained on Tuesday afternoon during the press conference the coach Angelo Lorenzetti - ; we worked and we are still working in order to reduce this gap, trying to play more balanced sets. We must concentrate match by match, without create negative thoughts; that's not the moment. Perugia's win in the semifinal of Champions League against Lube shows that to win against such an opponent there is only one way: playing at the limit, trying to do more than the best possible. We can surely serve better, but it is not only a technical factor; we must be able to keep our level at the same as our opponents without changing it”.
For this match all the players are available for the yellow-blue coach.
Taboo Game 2 of Final to discredit On Thursday night Diatec Trentino will try to discredit also the taboo of game 2: in the series of Championship Finals played before, the Club of via Trener never won the second match of the series. The results are all in favour of the opponents, Trento was defeated three times in Piacenza (2-3 in 2008, 1-3 in 2009 and 2013) and once in Modena (in four set in 2015). Talking of figures, the one of Thursday will be the 55th seasonal match for the yellow-blue (40 victories and 14 defeats), the number 714 official match of all time, the number 102 in the Championship Play Off, where Trento won 63 times, 41 of them (in 53 games played) gained at PalaTrento.
The opponents Concluded the road in 2017 CEV Champions League with a third place last weekend in Rome, Cucine Lube Civitanova concentrates again on the series of Championship Final starting from the advantage gained in game 1. In order to try and get the point of 2-0, that will gave a big advantage and the possibility for the Marches team to end the series already on Sunday at their home, Blengini's team have to win at PalaTrento (where they never won in the last three seasons). The former Juantorena and Sokolov, who played well in game 1, will be the best weapons for the US-setter Christenson. Lube will come to Trento with the best block of the Championship Play Off; in seven matches played they made 80 blocks, thirty more than Diatec Trentino (50 in 8 matches).
The precedents 54 official matches already played, Cucine Lube Civitanova is the second most frequent opponent for Trentino Volley: at the first place there is Modena (66); at the third Piacenza (52). The outcome smiles to the yellow-blue 30-24, but in this season there were four victories for Civitanova (25th September tie break win in Modena for the 3rd place in Supercoppa, the 29th of January in Bologna for 3-1 in the Coppa Italia Final, the 15th of February three set home win in regular season and the 25th of April in game 1 of Final) against only one win for Trento (13th of November 3-1 win at PalaTrento). The challenge was already played in the 2012 Play Off Final, when the white-reds won 3-1 in the V-Day at the Forum di Assago (22nd April 2012). The two teams already played seven times against each other in the last match of a competition, remembering also the three Coppa Italia finals (2012, 2013 and 2017) and the three in Supercoppa Italiana (2008, 2012 and 2013) with three victories for the yellow-blue and four for the white-reds. This is the third challenge ever between the two teams in the Championship Play Off, remembering also the semifinal series of 2010, ended with a 3-1 win for Trentino Volley. Last Lube victory at PalaTrento was on the 10th of November 2013 (3-1 in regular season); after that win they always lost (3, two at tie break and the last for 3-1).
The series Cucine Lube Civitanova has an advantage in the series of Final (1-0), that is played at the best of five matches, thanks to the 3-0 victory at Eurosuole Forum last 25th of April (25-18, 25-20, 25-17). On Thursday game 2, that could be the only one played at PalaTrento only if the Marches team will win the next two matches, game 3 will be played on Sunday 7th of May at Civitanova Marche (at 4.30 p.m.). If Diatec Trentino wins one of the next two matches, there will also be game 4 that will be played again at PalaTrento on Wednesday 10th of May at 8.30 p.m.
The referees The match will be refereed by Fabrizio Saltalippi, first referee from Perugia, and Simone Santi, second referee from Città di Castello. Saltalippi, tenured since 1995 and international since 2001, will referee at PalaTrento for the 19th time in the ongoing championship of SuperLega; during this season he has already taken part in Ravenna-Trento 1-3 on November 1st, in the Final of Coppa Italia Civitanova-Trento 3-1 on January 29th in Bologna and Trento-Monza 3-0 (Match 1 of quarter-finals) of March 5th, alongside Santi. The second referee is in Serie A since 1994 and international Fivb since 2011; he will take part in his 20th seasonal match and he has already met Diatec Trentino also on the occasions of the 3-0 successes against Milano (at PalaTrento) and Latina and of the 0-3 defeats last February 12th in Civitanova.
TV, radio and internet The match will be broadcasted worldwide, live on TV, radio and internet. In particular, RAI Sport + HD will transmit the challenge: supporters can find this channel on the digital terrestrial platform and the digital platform of Sky (number 227). Maurizio Colantoni and Andrea Lucchetta will provide commentary of the match while Marco Fantasia will speak from the sideline; The match will be broadcasted on the internet too, in streaming audio and video at the link www.raisport.rai.it/dl/raisport/multimedia/diretta.html and can be watched at international level (in more than 30 countries) thanks to the live coverages programmed by Bandsports, Sportsklub, Sportsklub Poland, Fox Latin America, Sky Mexico, Sportsmax Caraibi, Sport Channel Israel, Saran, Telesports, Ote, Img and Perform. Dolomiti, radio partner of Trentino Volley, will provide live whole coverage of the game from 8.25 p.m. All frequencies to listen to the regional network are available on the home page of the website of Trentino Volley, www.trentinovolley.it, whereas on www.radiodolomiti.com supporters can listen to the radio commentary in streaming in the section “On Air”. On TV the whole deferred coverage will be available on Saturday May 6th at 9 p.m. on RTTR, partner TV of the sport club of via Trener. Moreover, on the internet supporters can find constant updates on the website of Lega Pallavolo serie A (www.legavolley.it) and www.trentinovolley.it. Trentino Volley will be active all the time on its yellow-blue social networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).
Tickets and merchandising Presale tickets are available until Thursday at 6 p.m. at Trentino Volley Point of via Trener 2 in Trento and at the offices of Promoevent, in via Suffragio 10 in Trento, and at any time on the internet clicking the link http://www.vivaticket.it/ita/event/diatec-trentino-play-off-finale-gara-2/96782. You can buy tickets at the ticket offices of PalaTrento, that will open on Thursday at 6.30 p.m.; From 7.15 p.m. supporters can get into the yellow-blue building. Ticket offices will close at the end of the second set, and from that moment people can no longer have access to PalaTrento and watch the remaining part of the match. Inside, behind the long stand on the north side, supporters can find the yellow-blue merchandising point; on sale a wide range of Trentino Vollley items.
Play Off Scudetto UnipolSai 2017, Final schedule
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