Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic), 15 November 2022

Champions League, on Wednesday in Czech Republic the second match in Pool D

The 2023 CEV Champions League is back on the court between today and Thursday to undergo the second round of the Main Phase. On Wednesday, November 16th, Trentino Itas will play its first away continental appointment of the season in the Czech Republic, hosted by CEZ Karlovarsko. Kickoff is scheduled at 6 p.m. Italian time at the Sport Hall Indoor in Karlovy Vary: live on Radio Dolomiti and discovery+.
HERE TRENTINO ITAS Coming off three consecutive 3-0 victories, the yellow-blue lineup is looking for another positive result to take another important step in the Pool D rankings, on the eve of the SuperLega’s away match with Perugia. "Our season debut in the CEV Champions League was a winning one and quite easy, but we know that from now on it will not always be like that because we will play three out of the remaining five matches of group D away, where it is never easy to pick up points and victories.”, coach Angelo Lorenzetti stressed on the eve of the match, ”Wednesday’s match in the Czech Republic is important because Karlovarsko has already shown in the previous week in Poland that it is an uncomfortable opponent and I am sure they will play even better as they will have home court advantage. Our level of attention and determination will therefore have to be very high. Experience teaches us that in this competition, it is never the case to underestimate nothing or no one."
The Trentino Itas coach will have to do without Oreste Cavuto (who has anyway set off with the team this morning) and will use tonight's practice and the morning of the match day in the Czech Republic to get his team's benchmarks in relation to the Sport Hall Indoor.
PODRASCANIN ON HIS 100TH MATCH WITH TRENTINO VOLLEY From a statistical point of view, the match will highlight a particularly important moment for Marko Podrascanin. The Serbian middle-blocker will be marking his 100th official presence with the Trentino Volley jersey, precisely on this occasion. He is the 12th foreign player to reach triple digits and will join his counterpart Heller; having put together 45 matches in the 2020/21 season, 44 in the 2021/22 season, 10 in the current one. With the yellow-blue club, Potke has collected 742 points, averaging 7.4 points per game.
FOURTH AWAY GAME TO CZECH REPUBLIC IN YELLOW-BLUE TEAM HISTORY The one that kicked off this morning and will end on Thursday (the return to Trento is scheduled for the early afternoon of November 17th) is the fourth away game ever in the Czech Republic for Trentino Volley, a nation that will always hold a special place in the Club's history. Because it was exactly at the O2 Arena in Prague on April 5th, 2009 that Trentino Volley won its first Champions League, overcoming Thessaloniki 3-1 in the final. Since that triumph, the Trentino club has returned to the Czech Republic only twice, always to face Ceske Budejovice on their court, winning 3-1 on January 13th, 2010 and 3-2 on February 19th, 2022 in group stage matches of their respective editions. The game will represent the 157th European match in Trentino Volley's history, the 117th ever in the Champions League.
THE OPPONENTS The CEZ Karlovarsko, a club based in the city of Karlovy Vary in the northwest of the country, awaits the match with Trentino Itas with unique trepidation. Indeed, for the club founded only in 2014, this is one of the most important home matches in its recent history. Its palmarès already boasts two national titles (won in the last two seasons), but beyond all the achievements (the current one is in fact the eighth participation in a CEV tournament, the fourth ever in the Champions League), it is quite obvious that Trentino Volley's arrival at the Sport Indoor Hall has obviously created a lot of interest. The best continental result ever, for the CEZ, was its fifth place in the 2017 CEV Cup, won by Tours, which knocked off Karlovarsko in the quarterfinals. Last season it was eliminated in the third preliminary round of the Champions League (by Sporting Lisbon) and in the quarterfinals of the CEV Cup (once again by Tours). The shortlist entrusted again to Jiri Novak (head coach since 2017, after holding the position of assistant), can count on some new players who immediately showed their qualities, such as Polish opposite Sasak and Australian middle-blocker Weir. The hard core consists of libero Pfeffer, Dutch setter Keemink (former Modena player) and setter Wiese, already seen on court at the BLM Group Arena on December 2nd, 2020 during the group stage match won 3-1 by Trento. The yellow-black team comes to the match robust by their unbeaten record in the Czech Extraliga (ten victories in as many matches) and the four-set battle played only seven days earlier against defending champions Kedzierzyn-Kozle in Poland. CEZ Karlovarsko’s roster: 1. James Weir (middle-blocker), 3. Daniel Pfeffer (libero), 4. Patrik Lamanec (opposite), 5. Adam Zajicek (middle-blocker), 6. Martti Juhkami (outside-hitter), 8. Wessel Keemink (setter), 9. Kewin Sasak (opposite), 11. Jan Kasan (setter), 12. Matej Pastrnak (outside-hitter), 13. Lukasz Wiese (outside-hitter), 14. Vojtech Patocka (middle-blocker), 15 Jakub Ihnat (outside-hitter), 21. Martin Kocka (setter). Coach Jiri Novak.
STATE OF THE POOL D Two teams lead the group after the first match day with one success and three points; indeed, along with Trentino Itas, Groupa Azoty Kedzierzyn-Kozle is also in the lead thanks to the 3-1 victory in the opening round played against Karlovarsko in Poland. Two and a half hours after the kick-off of the match in the Czech Republic, the match between Menen and the defending champions (ZAKSA) will be played in Belgium (in Roeselare); the third match day that will close the first half of the season is scheduled at the end of the month (Trento-Kedzierzyn-Kozle will be played on November 29th at the BLM Group Arena).
BACKGROUND There are only two previous matches between the two teams, both related to the group stage at the 2021 edition of the Champions League. Due to the pandemic those matches were played within two pool phases: December 2nd, 2020 in Trento and February 10th, 2021 in Friedrichshafen; in both cases the yellow-blue team won 3-1. The total tally against teams of this nation is absolutely positive for Trentino Volley: 7 victories in as many official matches, taking into account also the four wins over Ceske Budejovice and one victory against Pribram in the qualifying phase of the CEV Cup 2005.
THE REFEREES The match will be managed by Peter Szabo, first referee from Budapest (Hungary), and by Erdal Akinci, second referee from Istanbul (Turkey). Only Akinci boasts previous matches with Trentino Volley, he managed three times between December 1st and December 3rd, during  Trento’s Champions League pool phase, which saw the yellow-blue team win 3-2 against Novosibirsk, 3-1 right with Karlovarsko and 3-0 against Friedrichshafen.
RADIO AND INTERNET The match will be broadcast live by Radio Dolomiti, media partner of Trentino Volley, from 6.00 p.m. Frequencies to listen to the regional network can be found at www.radiodolomiti.com, where it will also be possible to follow the radio report by live streaming. Even the live video streaming on “discovery +” platform is planned; buying the “Entertainment + Sport'' pass (monthly subscription is available for 7.99 euro a month). For more in-depth information on the usage thereof consult the site https://auth.discoveryplus.com/it/product.
On the internet, point-to-point updates will be treated on CEV website ( https://championsleague.cev.eu/en/match-centres/cev-champions-league-volley-2023/cev-champions-league-volley-2023-men/clvm-60-cez-karlovarsko-v-trentino-itas/), and by www.trentinovolley.it itself and will always be active on the yellow-blues team social networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook, www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office