Trento, 02 April 2022

Play Off, on Sunday in Piacenza game #2 of the quarter finals

The game 2 of the quarterfinals of the Play Off Scudetto SuperLega Credem Banca 2022 will be played on Sunday, April 3rd at the PalaBanca in Piacenza. Itas Trentino will go to Emilia with the possibility, in case of victory, to gain access to the semifinals, being ahead 1-0 in the series that takes place in the best of three games. The starting bell is scheduled for 6 p.m.: live on RAI Sport +, Radio Dolomiti and live streaming on the OTT Volleyball World Tv platform.
HERE ITAS TRENTINO The 3-0 success obtained a week ago in game 1 played at the BLM Group Arena has given the team the first of two match ball to qualify for the semifinals for the thirteenth time in the last fourteen editions of the Play Off Scudetto. In Piacenza, Itas Trentino will try to close the deal, aware of the value of the opponent and of having played five intense sets in Perugia for the Champions League only four days before.
"Beyond the result of game 1, we know perfectly well how much this Gas Sales Bluenergy is worth and how difficult it will be to win at PalaBanca - underlined coach Angelo Lorenzetti - . Our opponents will give everything to win the chance to come back and play the third decisive match in Trento; that's the beauty of the Play Off and of being able to face them in such a high level Italian championship, where there are no obvious results. Wednesday's game in Umbria forced us to get to the limit of our strengths, but we are where we wanted and we know that, having reached this point, we have to be good and ready to repeat in a few days".
The Trentino lineup will arrive in Piacenza in the evening of today at full strength, after a training session with ball at the BLM Group Arena in the early afternoon.
Game 2 of the quarter finals of the Play Off Scudetto will be the 44th match of the season for Trentino Volley: the balance is of 30 victories (three of them obtained against Piacenza) and 13 defeats. The match at PalaBanca will also be the 126th match in the history of the Gialloblù in the Play Off Scudetto (74 wins and 51 losses), the 56th ever in the quarter finals. In the previous eighteen appearances in the first round of the draw, Trentino Volleyball has won the second game of the series eleven times, the last one right at PalaBanca on March 14, 2021.
THE OPPONENTS Gas Sales Bluenergy is getting ready to play the most important match of its season, having to win the match in order to avoid waving goodbye to its Italian title dreams on Sunday. The current one is in fact the second participation in the Play Off Scudetto for the new Emilian company that, as in the previous season, had access to it by finishing sixth in the regular season. To return to the BLM Group Arena for game 3, Lorenzo Bernardi's team will try to make the most of the opportunity to play the challenge within the friendly walls of the PalaBanca, where it has won three of the last four regular season games played. The Emilian team's fortunes will probably be in the hands of the opposite player Lagumdizija (best scorer in game 1, together with Michieletto with 15 points) and setter Brizard; the player on the Emilian roster who has played the highest number of Play Offs is the central player Cester (11), followed by the former player Antonov (10), two of the many precious elements of the red and white team.
THE BACKGROUND On Sunday, the sixty-fourth official match between Trento and Piacenza will be played, the fourth of the season; the balance is clearly in favor of the Gialloblù colors, winners in forty-five occasions, thanks to twenty-nine victories in the last thirty-three matches. The last home victory of the Emilians dates back to November 17, 2016; after that 3-1 in the regular season, only Gialloblù victories have come at PalaBanca (six, the last of which last March 27 for 3-1 with partials of 23-25, 25-15, 25-17, 25-14). Trentino Volley has often won in Piacenza, putting together seventeen wins out of twenty-nine matches played; in the nine matches played in Emilia during the Play Off Scudetto, the home court factor has been used in six circumstances. The last victory dates back to March 14, 2021 (3-1 in game 2 of the quarterfinals).
THE SERIES Itas Trentino is 1-0 ahead in the quarterfinal series, played at best of three games, thanks to the 3-0 victory at the BLM Group Arena on March 26th with scores of 27-25, 25-20, 25-16 in game 1. Game 2 will be played on Sunday in Piacenza, and it could be the last game if the team wins again. Game 3 will be played only if Gas Sales Bluenergy wins and it will be actually played in Trentino on Sunday, April 10, starting at 6 p.m. (time to be confirmed; for TV requirement, it could be anticipated or postponed). Whoever passes the round will find the winner of the Civitanova-Monza quarterfinal in the semifinals (a best-of-five series that kicks off on Thursday, March 14), which is now in its second act in Brianza (Lube is ahead 1-0). Also on Sunday, the second challenge between Cisterna and Perugia (0-1) and between Milan and Modena (0-1) will be played at the top of the table.
THE REFEREE The match will be directed by Massimo Florian (from Altivole - Treviso, in A series since 2007) and Ilaria Vagni (from Perugia, on the roster since 2003 and international since 2014). For Florian, at his fifteenth match of the season in SuperLega, the last encounter with Trentino Volleyball dates back to March 20 (defeat in three sets in Cisterna di Latina), while for Vagni, at her twelfth season direction in the league, the most recent precedent with the Gialloblù team dates back to March 5 (3-0 over Milan in the semifinal of the Italian Cup in Bologna).
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 broadcasted by RAI Sport +, channel present on the digital terrestrial platform at number 58 with commentary by Maurizio Colantoni and Andrea Lucchetta.
As always, there will be live coverage on Radio Dolomiti, media partner of Trentino Volleyball. 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 radio commentary in live streaming.
Also confirmed is the live streaming video on the OTT platform "Volleyball World TV"; the service is subject to payment. For further information on how to use the service, please consult www.welcome.volleyballworld.tv/faq-it.
On TV, a summary of the match will also be broadcast on Monday, April 4th at 9.45 pm on RTTR - Trentino Volley's partner TV.
On the Internet, point-to-point updates will be provided by the website of the Lega Pallavolo Serie A (www.legavolley.it) and by www.trentinovolley.it and will always be active on the Gialloblù social networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook, www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office