Trento, 20 January 2019

The remake of the Finals of World Club Cup 2018 at the BLM Group Arena on Sunday

The eighteenth round of regular season of SuperLega Credem Banca 2018/19, the fifth of the going round will take place during this weekend. Itas Trentino will take part in this big match against Cucine Lube Civitanova (remake of the recent Finals of World Club Cup 2018) at the BLM Group Arena on Sunday 20th January. The beginning of the match is set for 6 pm: live on RAI Sport + HD channel and Radio Dolomiti.
HERE ITAS TRENTINO Forty-eight days after winning the World Cup in Czestochowa, Giannelli and his teammates are now about to face again their opponents from Marche, trying to protect their position at the top of the rankings and at the same time their invincibility during home matches. Lorenzetti’s team is reaching this appointment, with some excellent achievement behind them, a long row of twenty-one consecutive wins shows, wins in Championship, World Cup and in CEV Cup and also twelve victories in home matches. Both rows of wins started after a loss against Lube, the most recent loss of Itas Trentino (on 4th November, going match) Civitanova also won at the BLM Group Arena on 12th April 2018, in the returning match of Playoffs 6 of Champions League.
“It is going to be a difficult match for sure - stated the coach Angelo Lorenzetti, presenting the match - because it is important in various ways. Cucine Lube won against Kedzierzyn-Kozle in Poland on Tuesday, showing to have grown a lot in the last period and have reached the perfect condition that was easy to foresee even at the beginning of the season. We know exactly what kind of team we are facing and we must try our best but at the same we mustn’t forget our conviction and peace of mind. I wish we will serve good memory of this experience anyway, but not before we have shown our agonism on the court, our key to be ready in the difficult times we will encounter. Civitanova service knows how to put its opponents in a difficult spot on a regular basis, we must technically try our best in reception”.
The coach can count on the whole roster, thirteen players, who will complete their preparation with some training sessions at the BLM Group Arena today in the afternoon and tomorrow in the morning. This will be the 792nd match of Trentino Volley history, they will try and win for the 553rd time, enough to deflect the assault of the first ranked Perugia (engaged in a match in Siena): it has won 287 times in home matches and 264 in away ones.
THE OPPONENTS The 3-1 loss against Perugia has separated Civitanova from the top position by six points, also the third position is not sure now even though they managed to keep it thanks to the loss of Modena against Milano. That is another reason why Civitanova is coming to Trento aiming to win to gain ground and at least to confirm the +2 advantage on Azimut Leo Shoes. In spite of the roster they had for the World Club Cup, the team can now count also on Kovar (really useful to help Leal on the first or second line), on the coach Ferdinando De Giorgi, who came back from Poland after some years, to substitute Medei after the loss in Busto Arsizio on 9th December 2018. The strong points of Cucine Lube are still the service (on average 1,83 aces per set) and high-balls attacks. In those two fundamentals the best players are the ex Juantorena and Sokolov, who get along well with the brazilian setter Bruno. On away matches Civitanova has already collected sixteen of the total twenty-four points, losing in just two circumstances out of eight.
PREVIOUS MATCHES The 63rd match between the two teams will be played on Sunday, the sixth in the last twelve months keeping in mind that Itas Trentino and Cucine Lube faced each other also in the Playoffs 6 of Champions League last season. Only Modena (71 matches) has been faced more in official matches. The analysis is 31-31, thanks to the victory for 3-1 (sets of 20-25, 25-22, 20-25, 18-25) obtained on the 2nd December 2018 in Czestochowa in the Final of World Club Cup, that stopped a series of nine consecutive victories by Cucine Lube in the face-off. The most recent success of Itas Trentino dates back to 13th November 2016 (3-1); in the next three occasions Cucine Lube has always won against Trento. In the going match, played at the Eurosuole Forum, Cucine Lube won at the tie break, with score of 22-25, 25-14, 22-25, 25-20, 15-13 and Leal (21 points) mvp.
THE REFEREES The match will be directed by Roberto Boris (from Vigevano – Pavia, in Series A from 1997 and international from 2010) and Armando Simbari (from Milan, in the A Serie from 2007 and international from 2016), that are back at arbitrating together at the BLM Group Arena after Easter day 2018 (1st April) during the match 2 of semi final Play Off Scudetto won by Trento for 3-2 on Perugia. Only one seasonal match for Boris, at the tenth match in SuperLega Credem Banca 2018/19, with Itas Trentino (ko in Perugia on 28th October), while for Simbari the closest appointment with Itas Trentino dates back to the final of Supercoppa 2018, won by Modena on Trento at the tie break (7th October).
TV, RADIO AND INTERNET The match will be a global media event and it will be broadcasted simultaneously on every kind of media. It will in fact be broadcasted by RAI Sport + HD, channel available on both digital terrestrial platform (number 57 in HD, 58 in sd) and on Sky number 227, with report by Maurizio Colantoni and Andrea Lucchetta; the images will also be broadcasted on the internet , streaming video-audio on www.raisport.rai.it. As usual the live and complete report will be available on Radio Dolomiti, radio partner of Trentino Volley, starting from 5.55 p.m.. All the frequencies to tune in to the regional network are available on www.radiodolomiti.com, where it’s also possible to listen to the report on streaming, entering the “On Air” section. The complete pre-recording will be broadcasted on tv on Monday 21st January at 9.50 p.m. on RTTR – tv partner of Trentino Volley. Lastly, on the internet, the updates step by step will be controlled by Lega Pallavolo Serie A’s website (www.legavolley.it) and by www.trentinovolley.it and will always be active on Itas Trentino’s social networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook  and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).
BLM GROUP ARENA “SOLD OUT” The BLM Group Arena has already registered “sold out”, for the third seasonal time after the matches against Modena and Perugia. Therefore on Sunday the registers of the BLM Group Arena will be active just for the tickets pickup starting from 4.30 p.m. while the entrance will be open at 4.55 p.m.. Inside, behind the platform on the long north side, the fans will find at their disposal the merchandising spot of Itas Trentino; a very wide variety of Trentino Volley products will be on sale.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office