Trento, 16 December 2018

Itas Trentino-Azimut Leo Shoes Modena 3-1, the match report

Report of the match: Both the starting sixs don’t show any surprise, confirming the line-ups of the eve; Lorenzetti fields Giannelli as setter, Vettori in the opposite role, Kovacevic and Russell as spikers, Lisinac and Candellaro as middle-blockers, Grebennikov in the libero role. Velasco fields his team with Christenson as setter, Zaytsev in the opposite role, Kaliberda and Urnaut as spikers, Holt and Anzani as middle-blockers and Rossini in the libero role. The first actions of the match are in favour of the opponents, who gets to + 2 (3-5) with Zaytsev’s services, Urnaut spikes and Holt’s blocks on Russell; the same Slovenian player scores another point (4-7) that forces the home team to ask for a time-out. A hand-out of Kovacevic and an ace of Russell fill the gap (7-7) but Modena restarts with Tine (8-11). Itas Trentino’s reaction is immediate thanks to Uros (10-11) and Vettori (12-11, time-out asked by Velasco). Both the teams start then to fight point-to-point to take the lead (15-14, 16-17) until Azimut Leo Shoes manages to get ahead again with Urnaut (block on Vettori for the 16-19 point). Giannelli and Kovacevic tries to still don’t give up (21-21) but then Modena wins the first set with a block of Christenson on Russell.
Itas Trentino tries to react at the start of the second set but the starting advantage of Lisinac (5-3) gets neutralized by the Emiliani, who block Kovacevic really well and try to run away (9-11, time-out asked by Lorenzetti). The World Champions find the drow with Giannelli on 11-11 and then gets to +2 (15-13) with two points scored by Candellaro (ace and block on Urnaut).
Velasco changes Kaliberda for Bednorz on 17-15 and this proves to be a good choice because the Polish player is useful from the second-line for his team that finds the draw on 17-17 and the advantage (19-21, block of Anzani on Kovacevic). A double strike of Vettori gets the home team to 22 and two aces of Kovacevic (24-22) help to turn the set in favour of Itas Trentino, which wins the second set on 25-23 (invasion of Zaytsev).
The home team gets boosted by their enthusiasm and start in a fantastic way in third set (5-3 and 9-5), working very well in service and block phases, countering the attacks of the opponent strikers. Velasco asks for three time-outs but it’s still show-time for Trento (13-8) with Russell, who starts performing as well as Kovacevic. Modena stumbles (17-10) but then manages to come back in the game getting the most of some mistakes of its opponents (19-16). Lorenzetti’s team senses danger already on 20-18, keep itself focused on the side-out phase (23-20) and then gets to 2-1 thanks to a hand-out performed by Russell (25-23).
Itas Trentino restarts owning in the fourth set as well, when it manages to immediately put the squeeze on their opponents; Velasco asks for a time-out on 7-4 already but without getting a real answer by his team (12-8). The World Champions make a lot of pressure with defense and blocks, forcing Modena to do a lot of mistakes (14-9). The final part of the set is well managed by the home team (20-15); the 3-1 comes quickly on 15-10, together with the noise of the more than 4000 spectators of BLM Group Arena.

Trentino Volley Srl
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