Trento, 09 March 2022

Champions League, on Thursday at the BLM Group Arena the first leg match of the quarter

The quarter-finals of the 2022 CEV Champions League are starting. After the preliminary rounds and the Main Phase, the top continental club competition continues with the first (of two) double act that will lead to the Final on May 22nd (location still to be defined). For the second year in a row, Trentino Itas will face the German team Berlin Recycling Volleys in this phase of the draw; the first leg match will be played on Thursday 10th March at the BLM Group Arena in Trento. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:30 PM; live coverage by RAI Sport +, Radio Dolomiti and discovery+.
HERE TRENTINO ITAS Four days after the Coppa Italia Final Four in Bologna, the yellow-blue team begins its journey in a new final phase of one of the five competitions it's entered in this season. In this case there is no direct elimination possibility, at the end of a single game, but to try to go to Germany with a chance of accessing the semifinals a great performance will be needed already in Thursday night's match.
"Berlin has already shown all its qualities in the group stage, winning Pool D and beating Zenit St Petersburg at home - said coach Angelo Lorenzetti to present the match - . Moreover, we will play the second leg match away from home, in a very warm environment that, as already happened in the past, is able to drag its lineup. We have to get a good result in the first match if we want to pass the round, showing our fans that we are not inferior to our opponents, in order to play in Germany with a chance to pass the round".
Trentino Itas arrives at the appointment with four victories out of six matches in the competition and twelve wins out of sixteen official matches played in 2022. The team will complete the preparation for the appointment with tonight's training and Thursday morning's training and will prepare to play its 929th match in its history (balance: 648 victories and 280 defeats).
TRENTINO VOLLEY'S NUMBERS IN EUROPE In the previous ten participations in the Champions League, Trentino Volleyball has always managed to enter, as in this case, the final draw of the event, qualifying for the quarter-finals in nine cases (until the 2018 edition, the round of 16 were expected too). In the 2013 edition, the only previous event in which the club's path stopped in the round of 16, when it was eliminated by Dinamo Moscow at the Golden Set. On six occasions out of nine, Itas Trentino has passed the quarter-finals, thus reaching the semi-finals: 2009, 2010, 2011 (all three ended with the final victory of the trophy), 2012 (third place), 2016 (second place), 2021 (second place). Taking into account all the European competitions played, Trentino Volleyball has so far taken part in 150 official matches: the balance is 120 victories (61 in Trento, 59 away) and 30 defeats (24 in the Champions League, 5 in CEV and 1 in the Top Teams Cup). The most frequently obtained result is the 3-0, resorted to in 49.3% of the cases (74 matches, 44 of them home matches); the one that occurred the least number of times is the 0-3 defeat (seven times).
THE OPPONENTS With Friedrichshafen already out of the group stage, Berlin Recycling Volleys will once again represent Germany in the final phase of the 2022 CEV Champions League. The team from the capital city qualified thanks to the victory of Pool C, closed without defeats and with sixteen of the eighteen available points, among which four against the quoted St. Petersburg; confirming itself among the best teams in Europe and the victory of the third Supercup ever (won in October overcoming Frankfurt 3-0 in the Final) are surely the most important results of a season marked by the recent elimination in the semifinals of the German Cup (2-3 against Friedrichsafen). In the Bundesleague, the team currently occupies the first place in the rankings, without having recorded any defeat (14 consecutive victories); a roster that allows them to have a ten-point advantage on the first pursuer Duren. In the orange team's palmares there are eleven German titles (the last one won less than twelve months ago), five National Cups and a CEV Cup, won in 2016 when Roberto Serniotti was on the bench. In the Champions League the best result ever is the third place, recorded in the 2015 edition, when it organised the Final Four at home. The roster led by Frenchman Enard can count on very well known names in the international volleyball scene: the opposite player is the American Patch (formerly in Vibo), the setter is the Russian Grankin (formerly in Dinamo Moscow), but also the attackers Tuia and Carle (last year in Vibo) are from France; in the middle there is room for the American Jendryk and the Australian Mote, while the libero is the Argentinian Danani (formerly in Padova). The only german player in the orange team's line-up is the side hitter Schott (formerly in Milan). Berlin Recycling Volleys' roster: 1. Adam Kowalski (l), 3. Ruben Schott (s), 4. Jeffrey Jendryk II (c), 5. Nehemiah Mote (c), 6. Sergey Grankin (p), 7. Georg Klein (c), 8. Timothée Carle (s), 10. Santiago Danani (l), 11. Cody Kessel (s), 12. Samuele Tuia (s), 13. Bejamin Patch (o), 15. Matt West (L), 17. Marek Sotola (o). Coach Cedric Enard.
THE FORMULA AND THE OTHER MATCHES Thursday's match is valid as the first leg of the quarter-finals of the 2022 CEV Champions League; in the first round of the final table, four teams will take to the court to determine the names of the teams that will reach the semifinals (another double round, scheduled between the end of April and the beginning of May) Perugia and Kedzierzyn-Kozle (already qualified due to the exclusion from the tournament of the Russian teams against which they would have had to play). Only if the two teams have both won one match each in a tie break or if they have both won one match each in no more than four sets will the Golden set to 15 be played at the end of the second match.  The other quarter-final match Civitanova-Jastrzebski (played on Tuesday evening).
PREVIOUS MATCHES Trentino Volleyball and Berlin Recycling Volleys have slready played four official matches, all referring to the CEV Champions League. In the 2014 edition the two clubs played in Pool D (then won by Trento): the yellow-blue won 3-1 (25-20, 19-25, 29-27, 25-21) at the BLM Group Arena (back then still called PalaTrento); the Germans redeemed themselves in the home match on December 18th 2013, winning in three sets (16-25, 18-25, 19-25). In the last edition, Itas Trentino won twice in the quarter-finals: 3-1 (25-19, 25-23, 26-28, 25-17) in Berlin on 25 February, 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-14) in Trento on March 3rd. The total balance with the German teams, also taking into account the matches played with Friedrichshafen and Haching, is nine matches with seven victories and two defeats.
THE REFEREES The match will be refereed by French Oliver Guillet, first referee from Toulouse, and by Romanian Lucian-Vasile Nastase, second referee from Galati. Both have previous experience with Trentino Volley, refereed by Guillet on 9 February 2021 for Karlovarsko-Trento 1-3 and on 19 February 2020 in Ceske Budejovice (Czech Republic), in the tie break success.  Nastase instead directed Kedzierzyn-Kozle-Trento 3-2 on 20 December 2017, Trento-Fenerbahce 3-2 on 12 December 2019, Trento-Perugia 3-0 on 18 March 2021 and Trento-Fenerbahce 3-0 on 16 December 2021.
TV, RADIO AND INTERNET The challenge will be a global media event, enjoying simultaneous live coverage on TV, radio and internet. On the small screen it will be broadcast by RAI Sport +, a channel on the digital terrestrial platform (number 58), with commentary by Maurizio Colantoni and Fabio Vullo.
Radio Dolomiti, Trentino Volley's radio partner, will also broadcast live. The frequencies to listen to the regional network can be consulted on the website www.radiodolomiti.com, where it will also be possible to follow the live radio commentary in streaming.
Live video streaming is scheduled on the "Discovery+" platform, by purchasing the "Entertainment + Sport" package (annual subscription at the price of €69.90). For further information www.discoveryplus.it/myaccount/products.
Point-to-point updates will also be provided by the CEV website (https://cevlive.cev.eu/DV_LiveScore.aspx?ID=46077), by www.trentinovolley.it and will also be active on the yellow-blue team social networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook, www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).
TICKETS AND ENTRANCE METHODS For this match, Trentino Volleyball will  admit a limited number of spectators to the stands of the via Fersina arena (60% of the total capacity); everyone must have a SUPER GREEN PASS (Covid-19 green certification obtained through vaccination or recovery) and an ffp2 mask, to be worn at all times while inside the facility. The match is not included in the season ticket for the second half of the season. Ticket presale is active at any time on the internet by clicking https://trentinovolley.vivaticket.it/it/event/trentino-itas-berlin-recycling/177003. The BLM Group Arena ticket offices will be open from 7:15 PM, the same time that the arena entrances will open.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office