Trento, 11 October 2021

Start of the season 2021/22: the guide to Itas Trentino-Verona Volley

On Tuesday 12 October, it officially starts the twenty-second season of activity of Trentino Volley. The yellow-blue Company will inaugurate its SuperLega Credem Banca 2021/22 facing the Verona Volley in the postponed match of the first round of regular season at the BLM Group Arena in Trento (opened again to the fans). The kickoff is at 20.30: live coverage on Radio Dolomiti and live streaming on OTT Volleyball World Tv.
HERE ITAS TRENTINO After a long pre-championship preparation lasted fifty days (most of them without all the players), the yellow-blue are ready to start their journey with a team that has changed eight regulars out of thirteen and so that presents itself certainly renovated and, at the same time, with the play mechanisms still to be found.
Angelo Lorenzetti was in fact only able to do four trainings, including the one of this afternoon with the whole group, but he doesn’t search for justifications. “It’s true that we didn’t have much time to improve the teamwork, but, in any case, we have important weapons to use to win the debut at the BLM Group Arena – explained the yellow-blue coach - . We want to start our run in the best possible way, but we know that we will find ourselves in front of a very tough opponent. As a matter of fact, Verona has undergone a good pre-championship preparation and it’s surely more ahead in the development of its idea of play.”
The yellow-blue coach will decide only at the last what set up to use, considering that in the last test match, played on Saturday in Milan, he tried to use different types of formations that also foresee the use of three spikers simultaneously.
On this occasion, Trentino Volley takes the field for the 892nd official match and will hunt for the 623rd victory: for now, it has 326 at home and 297 away. This is going to be a special moment for Matey Kaziyski, who returns to play an official match with Trentino Volley’s jersey after five years and a half from the last time, wearing the captain’s band (left to Birarelli in 2013) against the team he played for until last April. The number one of Trento is already the record holder of points scored in yellow-blue: 4,945. In this season, he can also become the record holder for the attendances: he currently has 334, eleven fewer than Colaci and Birarelli who lead this particular ranking at 345.
WE START AT THE BLM GROUP ARENA FOR THE FIFTEENTH TIME Playing at home in the match valid for the first round of regular season is becoming a pleasant habit for Trentino Volley. In the past, it already happened to start the journey at the BLM Group Arena in Trento on fourteen occasions out of twenty-one previous participations: season 2002/03 (3-1 with Milan), 2004/05 (defeat by 1-3 with Perugia), 2005/06 (win by 3-0 on Padua),  2006/07 (defeat at the tie break with Taranto), 2008/09 (win by 3-0 on Forlì), 2009/10 (3-1 on Latina), 2010/11 (win by 3-0 on Castellana Grotte), 2011/12 (win by 3-0 on Monza), 2012/13 (defeat by 1-3 with Vibo), 2013/14 (win at the fifth set with Latina), 2014/15 (3-0 on Padua), 2016/17 (3-0 on Vibo), 2017/18 (2-3 with Milan), and 2018/19 (3-0 on Siena). The debut in the championship has given a smile to Trentino Volley on fourteen occasions; apart from the ten home wins already mentioned, there are other four wins: in Ravenna on 27 October 2013 and 20 October 2019 (double 0-3), in Monza on 28 October 2015 by 3-1, and in Padua on 27 September 2020 (3-0).
THE OPPONENTS In Verona of formers, which presents itself in Trento to start its new run (in summer it changed the corporate board and a good part of the players of the team), there is one that is inevitably more awaited than all the others: Raphael Vieira De Oliveira. The Brazilian spiker, in Trento between 2009 and 2013 – period in which he had 182 attendances, 300 personal points, and winning as protagonist 12 titles – is at his first match as opponent at the BLM Group Arena. Having already faced Trentino Volley during the World Cup per Club 2014 (when he wore Al Rayan’s jersey) and having found again the spirit of the PalaTrento during the same summer, when his Brazil played a friendly game against Italy. The match on Tuesday will have a different taste as compared to those circumstances, also because before the match the Club will pay homage to him for what he did in his seasons in Trento. Raphael is going to be one of the strong points of the opposing formation that can count on other famous faces like the one of the middle blocker Lorenzo Cortesia (loaned at the end of the market) and the couple of coaches Stoytchev and Simoni, but also on many players at the debut in the Italian championship, like the Slovenian spiker Mozic, the Serbian middle blocker Nikolic, and the Albanian opposite spiker Qafarena. The backbone of the team is composed of the libero Bonami, the middle blocker Aguenier, the opposite spiker Jensen, the setter Spirito, and the spiker Asparuhov.
PREVIOUS MATCHES This is going to be the forty-first official match between the two Companies; the derby of Adige was almost always in favour of Trento, which won twenty-nine previous matches. The most recent game has given greater balance: 6 December 2020, second day of the second round, with success by 3-2 (23-25, 24-26, 25-22, 25-20, 15-10) by Itas Trentino in Verona. Verona has won the most recent direct game at the BLM Group Arena (6 October 2020, success by 3-0) and, in the past was able to do it in three other circumstances. In the precedent twenty-one seasons of activity, Trentino Volley had never played the first championship match with Verona, which it had already been the opponent in the second day in two circumstances, winning both matches: season 2008/09 (3-2 at home at the PalaOlimpia) and in the last season.
THE REFEREES The match will be directed by Rocco Brancati (first referee of Città di Castello – Perugia, in Serie A from 2015) and Luca Saltalippi (from Torgiano – Perugia, in Serie A from 2011). For Brancati, the last previous match with Trentino Volley dates back to 27 December 2020 (success in four sets in Modena), for Saltalippi, it dates back three days after: Ravenna-Trento 1-3 of 30 December.
RADIO, INTERNET, AND TV The match will have a full live coverage by Radio Dolomiti, network partner of Trentino Volley. The frequencies can be found on www.radiodolomiti.com, where it will be possible to listen to the radio commentary in streaming.
There is also the live streaming on OTT "Volleyball World Tv" (paid service). For more information about the service: www.welcome.volleyballworld.tv/faq-it.
On TV, the recap of the match will be broadcasted on RTTR, tv partner of the Company, on Wednesday 13 October at 21.30.
On Internet, the point-by-point updates will be made by the website of Lega Pallavolo Serie A (www.legavolley.it), by www.trentinovolley.it, and by the yellow-blue Social Networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).
TICKETS AND ENTRY For this appointment, Trentino Volley can have a limited number of fans on the bleachers of the arena. Everyone has to have the Green Pass (EU digital COVID certificate), which must be properly valid, and wear the mask for the duration of the staying inside the arena. The match is included on the subscription; on the card, you find what entrance gate to use. The tickets’ presale is open until 12 of Tuesday in the offices of Trentino Volley on street Tener 2, the offices of Promoevent on street Suffragio 10 in Trento, and at every moment on Internet at https://trentinovolley.vivaticket.it/it/event/itas-trentino-verona-volley/165833. The box offices of the BLM Group Arena will be available from 19.15, the same moment at which the gates of the arena will open.
The methods of entry, exit, and the behaviour to have inside the arena, the Bar, and the box offices can be consulted in the special guidelines:
www.trentinovolley.it/images/news/Regolamento_pubblico_BLM_Group_Arena_2021-22.pdf.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office