Trento, 23 December 2021

SuperLega in the court on Saint Stephen’s day for the first match of the second round

According to the tradition, SuperLega doesn’t stop during Christmas holiday and the first game of second round of regular season 2021/22 occurs on Saint Stephen’s Day and it will be the 14th. During this event, Itas Trentino will be busy in an away game at Verona Volley’s court for the traditional derby of Adige. The starting whistle is at 18 at l’AGSM Forum in Verona on 26 December; live on Radio Dolomiti and live streaming on OTT Volleyball World Tv.
HERE ITAS TRENTINO The yellow-blue line up is ready to face the shortest away game of its season (just 90 kilometres travelled by bus on Christmas evening) in a period full of appointments but also of uncertainties connected to the schedule, waiting to know its path at the turn of the new year. The match on 29 December against Vibo and the quarter final of Coppa Italia on 2 January could be put off in order to allow other matches to be played in the same days.
“Apart from the opponent that we’ll face in the next weeks, it is important for us to keep a certain level of game and to give a continuity to our performances in order to stay at the top of the ranking - said the coach of Trentino Volley Angelo Lorenzetti -. Particularly, the appointment on Saint Stephen’s Day in Verona is important and hard at the same time, because it is an away game against a hardened line up that prove to be able to play a good volleyball, as shown by the point gained last Sunday in Monza. We’ll have to show them that we have taken advantage of the week without matches to improve our situation and our game, without losing determination and pace.”
Itas Trentino will complete its match training in the next hours, with a ball session on Christmas Eve afternoon and on Christmas Day; the yellow-blue coach can count on the whole array of players at his disposal.
THE 11th MATCH ON SAINT STEPHEN’S DAY IN THE HISTORY OF ITAS TRENTINO Playing on Saint Stephen’s Day has become a pleasant tradition for Trentino Volley through the years, that had already played 10th times in this day in the last 21 seasons of its activity; the report of played matches is positive for eight matches: 3-1 on Verona in 2005, 3-0 on Treviso in 2010, 3-1 in Belluno in 2011, 3-1 against Perugia in 2012, 3-0 in Monza in 2014, 3-1 against Padova in 2016, 3-1 against Monza in 2017 e 3-1 in Siena in 2018. The only two defeats in away game: 1-3 in Modena in 2006 and in Treviso in 2007. In one occasion, Trento played even on Christmas Day: home victory 3-1 against Ravenna on Christmas Day in 2019. This will be the 911^ official match for Trentino Volley, that will look for its 379^ victory in regular season and 636^ of its history.
THE OPPONENTS After a start with the handbrake on due to game understanding and mechanisms to be built, Verona Volley proved that is able to travel with an appropriate pace to maintain the category in the second half of the first round. From the fifth day on, the team trained by Radostin Stoytchev (one of the four ex on duty with his vice Simoni and the players Cortesia and Raphael) has gained eleven points, obtaining three domestic victories (with Taranto, Vibo, Ravenna and Piacenza) and gaining a point in Monza last Sunday. Such track record has allowed them to overhead Vibo in the penultimate position in the ranking and also allowed them to play all their cards to save their position, that will inevitably be in Rok Mozic’s hands. The young Slovene talent, born in 2002, is one the greatest surprises of the championship and he has quickly become a certainty for Verona’s team (second middle blocker of all in the tournament). Many players turn around him, considering that the setters Raphael and Spirito, but also the middle blockers Aguenier and Nikolic, the hitter spikers Magalini and Asparuhov and even the opposite spikers Jensen and Qafarena take turns for as regulars in the sextet.
PREVIOUS MATCHES Trentino Volley and Verona have already confronted each other in official matches 41 times: six in the Play Off Scudetto (2010 and 2018), thirty-four in regular season and one in Coppa Italia 2019. Verona Volley will reach Perugia and Top Volley at 42 with Sunday match, and it will become the fifth club to have faced more times the yellow-blue team. The report is in favour of the yellow-blue team with 36 victories, but Verona team has won two times in the last five matches played. Moreover, Verona has always forced Trento in the tie break in the last three domestic derbies of Adige, winning on 17 March 2018 in the match 2 of the final quarter of Play Off and on 18 February 2019 in regular season and losing on 5 December 2020 (the most recent previous match in Verona Volley court). The away game in Veneto was good for the yellow-blued team in 12 out of 18 matches. The match of the first round, played on 18 October, ended up 3-0 for Trento, with set of 25-16, 29-27, 25-23 and the ex Kaziyski mvp (18 points and 53% in attack with three blocks and four aces).
THE REFEREES The match will be directed by Andrea Peucher (from Rubano – Padua, in Serie a since 2003 and international since 2013) and Dominga Lot (from Santa Lucia di Piave – Treviso, of role since 2010 and international since 2017), respectively at their seventh and sixth game of their season in SuperLega. For Puecher, the last previous match with Trentino Volley dates back to 14 November (home win in four sets with Monza), while for Lot dates back to 6 February (home win against Ravenna, 3-1).
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’s 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 Monday 27 December at 21.45, on RTTR - tv partner of Trentino Volley.
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, www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office