Trento, 15 April 2019

The semifinal of Play Off Scudetto 2019 will start on Tuesday at the BLM Group Arena

Play Off Scudetto Credem Banca 2019 will start on Tuesday 16th April. Ranked second, Itas Trentino will face Cucine Lube Civitanova, ranked third in the regular season in a challenge to win best of five matches. Match 1 will be played at 8.30 pm at the BLM Group Arena: live on Radio Dolomiti and live streaming on Lega Volley Channel at the link www.elevensports.it/superlega.
Here Itas Trentino Thanks the 3-0 win against Padova the World Champions have managed to get access to the last but one round of the Semifinals of the Championship and also this time they will try to make good use of the home court advantage. Giannelli and his teammates are about to play the first match of the series motivated and with the confidence that comes from a row of eight consecutive wins on home matches, in regular season, European cups and in the play off. All in all sixteen wins out of the last nineteen matches.
“When a series like the one with Cucine Lube starts, you always hope it will last long and be balanced, but the truth is that we must focus on one match at a time - explained the coach Angelo Lorenzetti by presenting the match - . We want to be under the spotlight but at the same time we now how strong our opponent is. Lately it has got even stronger in the side-out phase and above all in the break point one. Having the chance to play three of the five matches at home sure is nice, but we shouldn’t forget that Civitanova has already proved in this season that it can win also in Trento“.
The coach can count on the whole roster of thirteen players and should confirm that the first team will be the same that was on the court on occasion of match 3 on Saturday. There will still be two training sessions before the match: one today in the afternoon and one tomorrow in the morning before the match. Just for three players this will be the debut in a Semifinal of an Italian Championship (Codarin, Lisinac and Daldello); Giannelli is the player who taken part in more (all in all 17 matches in four previous semifinal series).
Twelfth Semifinal of Scudetto for Trentino Volley The twelfth Semifinal of Scudetto out of seventeen participations will start on Tuesday evening, the eleventh of the last twelve years. Trentino Volley has made it to the final eight times: it has failed just on occasion of the fist and antepenultimate and last semifinal: the one of the 2005/06 season against Sisley Treviso (1-3), the one of the 2015/16 against Modena (1-3) and the one of the 2017/18 season against Perugia (2-3). For each of the eleven series Trentino Volley won at least one match. Trento has taken part in 144 matches of Play Off all in all, it has won 69 times (of these 22 on away matches) and lost 45 times (32 on away matches). The player with the more presences in this phase is Emanuele Birarelli with his 60 presences reached during the 2014/15 season (out of these 21 during semifinals of Scudetto). The one of the current roster is Giannelli: 39 presences.
The opponents It has already been a finalist on the last edition of Play Of but had eventually lost to Perugia. Now Cucine Lube Civitanova reaches Trento for the first match aiming to get access to the final, a result that it has obtained four times in the last seven editions. This beginning of series coincides with a time when the team is in excellent physical condition: behind them they have a row of fourteen consecutive wins in SuperLega, Play Off, Champions League and some other that allowed it to obtain the qualification  for the Final of CEV Champions League - set for 18th May in Berlin against Kazan. The last ko is dated more than two months ago: on 10th February in Bologna against Perugia to win Coppa Italia 2019. Without De Giorgi on the court (substituted Medei starting from 16th December 2018), the team has lost just another match (always against Sir Safety Conad, during the regular season).
Previous matches With already sixty-four matches played against it, Cucine Lube Civitanova is the second most challenged opponent of Trentino Volley: before it just Modena (72) and after it Piacenza (54). The opponents seem to be favourite 33-31, above all because of the ten wins in the last eleven matches. Itas Trentino’s last result was winning 3-1 the Final of World Club Cup 2018 on 2th December, in Czestochowa (Poland). In the previous three matches of the season, Lube has always won: 3-2 on 4th November in Civitanova and on 9th February in Bologna and 3-1 on 20th January in Trento. The last home match Trento has won has been on 13th November 2016; after that 3-1 win Cucine Lube has won four times in a row.
The series The semifinals, just like the finals are played best of five. The serie is potentially divided in twelve days: after match 1, the teams will move to Civitanova to play match 2 on Friday, 19th April at 8.30 pm, whereas match 3 will be played once again at the BLM Group Arena, on 22th April at 6 or 6.30 pm. The eventual match 4 and 5 will be played respectively on 25th April in Civitanova (4 or 6 pm) and on Sunday 28th April in Trento (6 pm). Whoever wins will face the winning team between Perugia and Modena (series will start on Tuesday at 8.30 pm in Perugia) in the finals.
The referees The match will be directed by Armando Simbari (first referee from Milan) and Mauro Goitre, second referee from Turin. For Simbari, active from 2007 and internationally from 2016, this is the fifteenth seasonal match in SuperLega; one of these refers exactly to a match Trento vs Civitanova: won by Lube for 3-1 in the match of regular season on 20th January 2019. Also for Goitre, in Serie A from 2008 and international from 2016, will be the fifteenth seasonal match; three of these had Trento as a protagonist: won by Trento for 3-0 on Padua on 23rd February, one lost for 3-2 in Monza on 23rd December and lost at the tie break exactly in Civitanova on 4th November.
Radio, TV and Internet The complete match will be told live by Radio Dolomiti, network partner of Trentino Volley. The connections with the BLM Group Arena will take place inside “Campioni di Sport”, sport show of Radio Dolomiti. The frequencies to listen to the regional network can be consulted on www.radiodolomiti.com, where it will also be possible to follow the live radio update on streaming. It is also scheduled the live on streaming video on the web space “Lega Volley Channel”, on www.elevensports.it/superlega (subscriptions service). The complete pre-recording will be broadcasted on tv on Wednesday 17th April at
9.30 p.m. on RTTR, Itas Trentino’s tv partner, and on replay at midnight of the same day. Lastly, on the internet the updates point to point 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 social networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).
Tickets and “Itas Day” The pre-sale of the tickets for match 1 is active until Tuesday at 4.00 p.m. at the headquarters of Trentino Volley, in via Trener 2 in Trento, until 7.00 p.m. at the offices of Promoevent, in via Suffragio 10 in Trento, and at any time on the internet on www.vivaticket.it/ita/event/play-off-semifinale-gara-1-itas-trentino/129786. The tickets will also be available on Tuesday at the registers at the BLM Group Arena, active starting from 7.30 p.m.; the same time at which the gates will be opened to the entrances to the arena. It will be time to celebrate the second seasonal “Itas Day” at the BLM Group Arena; Gruppo Itas will be on the front line to celebrate the long-standing partnership with the spectators and it will bring many of its employees to the arena to whom Trentino Volley has saved seats in the galleries of the arena and created many special initiatives for the fans. Also the best player award is sponsored by Itas, chosen thanks to the votes of the journalists present in the press box.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office