Trento, 18 March 2023

The 2023 playoffs scudetto starts on Sunday at the BLM Group Arena (6 p.m.)

The Credem Banca 2023 SuperLega Playoffs kick off this weekend. In the quarterfinals (first round of the draw that awards the Italian title 2022/23) Itas Trentino will face Vero Volley Monza in the best-of-five matches that guarantee a pass to the semifinals. Game 1 will be played on Sunday, March 19th , at the BLM Group Arena in Trento: kickoff is scheduled at 6 p.m. Live broadcast on Radio Dolomiti and live streaming on the OTT Volleyball World Tv platform.
HERE ITAS TRENTINO The yellow-blue lineup begins its Scudetto run just three days after the six sets played on Thursday night in European championship, with the desire to turn the page, focusing all its energy on the important season finale that awaits it.
"The most beautiful phase for Italian club volleyball begins, in which everything is possible because the values that have emerged in the previous months are being shuffled again" stressed Angelo Lorenzetti as he presented the series with the Brianzoli’s team that will see him pull off his 15th personal participation in the Playoffs; “We come to it with the toxins accumulated on Thursday night and, at the same time, with the will to "stay vibrant" in the rhythm of the battle played in the Champions League. It was a regular season in which, with the exception of Perugia, the level of the other teams was always very close to each other, originating well-balanced matches. A situation that will certainly remain so in the Play Offs as well, annulling the ranking differences present at the end of the championship; of this, starting our challenge with Monza, we are fully aware. The Vero Volley in the return round has increased its game rhythm, elevating considerably the performance both in the sideout phase and break point phases.”
What kicks off will be the fourteenth Play Off for Marko Podrascanin, the player on the roster who has played the most of them (winning them in three instances), while it will be the tenth in a yellow-blue jersey for Captain Matey Kaziyski, the athlete who has made the most appearances (75) of anyone in a yellow-blue jersey at this stage of the season and who has scored the most by far (1,174). Four debutantes: libero Laurenzano and Pace, middle player Berger and setter Depalma. On Saturday, Trentino Volley will play the 982nd official match in its history, the 133rd in the Play Off Scudetto and will be seeking their 682nd win ever.
TRENTINO VOLLEY HISTORY IN THE PLAYOFFS SCUDETTO On Sunday at the BLM Group Arena Trentino Volley inaugurates its twentieth participation in the Playoffs Scudetto in twenty-three total seasons of activity; the yellow-blue club did not take part only in the 2000/01, 2001/02 and 2019/20 years (the latter due to the pandemic). In the nineteen previous games, in no less than fourteen circumstances Trento managed to pass the first round; the elimination that came in the quarters were those with Modena (2002/03 in five games and 2013/14 in two games), Perugia (2003/04 in four games, after winning the regular season), Piacenza (2004/05 in five matches) and Cuneo (2006/07, in three games). In this edition, Trener Street’s club will be able to seek a possible ninth final in the last 15 participations. If we exclude the unsuccessful presence of the 2013/14 season (two matches and two defeats), in every Play Off in which Trentino Volley has taken part it has always won at least one match; in sixteen out of nineteen cases already in the first match played, including the last occasion (3-0 home victory over Piacenza in the 2022 edition).
THE OPPONENTS Vero Volley Monza returns to Trento a little more than a month and a half after the last time (January 29th , regular season match) to inaugurate its fifth participation in the final draw that awards the Scudetto. Previously, only in the 2020/21 season did it make it past the first round and then play a historic semifinal (then lost in three games to Perugia), which still represents the best result for the Brianza club in SuperLega. The seventh place in the regular season, just one length behind Piacenza, should not be misleading; the team coached by Massimo Eccheli had an outstanding return leg, winning seven games out of eleven games played and a total of 21 points; only Perugia (32) and Trento itself (25) were able to do better. The statistics of the championship tell that the team from Lombardy is very effective at the block (2.39 per set average, only the yellow-blue team have a higher figure - 2.45) thanks to an excellent interpreter of the fundamental as the regional middle player Galassi (third blocker of the tournament with 47 points, grown in the Youth Sector of Trentino Volley, with which, however, he has never scored a first team presence), who is well matched with position 4 players such as Maar and Davyskiba (respectively second and third best setter on average). Vero Volley's game could gain further unpredictability with the addition of Brazilian setter Fernando Kreling "Cachopa," now fully recovered from the serious left knee injury suffered in the pre-season four-way competition in Biella that had kept him out for almost the entire regular season. The former Sada player has returned on court only in the last two games, playing just one part of the match he won in the tie break in Modena two weeks ago.
THE BACKGROUND Twenty-four official games have already been played between the two clubs, the tally is clearly in favor of the yellow-blue team (22-2), who have won the last seven matches, including those of the just ended regular season: 3-0 in Monza on November 6th with sets of 25-22, 25-20 and 30-28 and 3-0 at the BLM Group Arena on January 29th with scores of 25-15, 25-18, 30-28. The Brianzoli team’s only victories are related to two tiebreaks, both won in Lombardy: on March 4th, 2018 and October 25th, 2020. At the BLM Group Arena, on the other hand, Trentino Volley has won always and only: thirteen times out of thirteen games, with Vero Volley winning just eight sets in these circumstances. Only one precedent match in the Play Off Scudetto: edition 2017 with a two-game victory for Trento thanks to a double 3-0 imposed in the span of three days (home win on March 5th, March 8th at Monza).
THE SERIES The quarter finals are played at the best-of-five games, as are the semifinals and Finals; the team that wins three in the series passes the turn. After Game 1, the duelists will return to the court in Monza for Game 2 on Wednesday, March 22th at 8:30 p.m. and will resume the defy at the BLM Group Arena on Saturday, March 25th at 8:30 p.m. for Game 3. The eventual Game 4 and Game 5 (if there is a need) will be scheduled on Sunday, April 2nd in Brianza and Saturday, April 8th in Trento (times to be determined), respectively. The team that continues its run will find the winner of Modena-Piacenza in the semifinals, a match that begins Sunday at PalaPanini. The other two quarterfinals at the top of the scoreboard are Perugia-Milan (on court already tonight) and Civitanova-Verona (Sunday).
THE REFEREES The Game 1 will be managed by Roberto Boris (from Vigevano - Pavia, in Serie A since 1997 and international one since 2010) and Rocco Brancati (from Città di Castello - Perugia, in Serie A since 2015), both in their eleventh match of the SuperLega season. The last match with Trentino Volley for Boris curiously dates back to the three-set victory in Monza on November 6th, 2022, while for Brancati comes back to the BLM Group Arena after the yellow-blue's four-set home defeat to Piacenza on January 8th. In the last season, the Umbrian referee had also managed as second referee in the Game 1 quarterfinals of the Trento-Piacenza Play Off (3-0).
RADIO, INTERNET AND TV The match will be reported live by Radio Dolomiti, media partner of Trentino Volley. 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 in live streaming.  The live video streaming will also be available on the OTT platform "Volleyball World TV”, the service is pay-per-view. For further information on the use of the same consult www.welcome.volleyballworld.tv/faq-it. On TV, the match recap will be aired on Monday, March 20th at 9:40 p.m., on RTTR - partner TV the Trener Street’s club. Eventually, on the Internet point-to-point updates will be edited by the website of the Italian Volley League Serie A (www.legavolley.it), by www.trentinovolley.it itself and will always be active on the yellow-blue’s team social networks ( www.trentinovolley.it/facebook, www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).
BOX OFFICE The match is included in both types of season tickets offered for this season by Trentino Volley (full and basic). It is still possible to purchase tickets for the single match at any time on the Internet by clicking https://trentinovolley.vivaticket.it/it/event/quarto-di-finale-play-off-q1/203484. The vouchers will be also available on Sunday at the BLM Group Arena ticket offices, which will be operative starting at 4:45 p.m., the same time the arena entrances will also open.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office