Trento, 21 March 2023

Play Off Scudetto, game 2 of the Quarter Finals on Wednesday in Monza

Game 2 of the Play Off Scudetto SuperLega Credem Banca 2023 quarterfinals will be played on Wednesday, March 22nd at the Arena di Monza. Itas Trentino will go for the second time this season in Brianza in the search for a new victory, which would bring them closer to qualifying for the semifinals, being ahead 1-0 in the series, which is structured at the best-of-five matches. The kickoff is scheduled at 8:30 p.m.. Live on RAI Sport HD, Radio Dolomiti and live streaming on the OTT Volleyball World Tv platform.
HERE ITAS TRENTINO Sunday night's fifth-set victory at the BLM Group Arena allowed the yellow-blue team to start their Playoffs on the right foot and therefore look with more confidence to the midweek away game with Monza, where Kaziyski and his teammates will try to grant another victory to further “direct” the competition. "Sunday's Game 1 has already shown how undefined, well-balanced and especially difficult the series with Monza can be” stressed coach Angelo Lorenzetti; “even more so on Wednesday night, taking into account that in this case the home advantage will be in favor of our opponents and we will find ourselves playing the third match in a matter of six days. We must be able to gather the mental and physical energies to try to achieve the result; the efforts of the last period are certainly being felt, but the team has already shown throughout this season to have great resilience and especially sheer determination in any situation."
The Trentino Itas lineup will arrive in Monza in the evening today, after having held in the early afternoon a technical session at the BLM Group Arena. Game 2 of the quarterfinals of the Play Off Scudetto will be Trentino Volley's 41st match of the season: the tally is of 28 victories (three of them conquered against Monza) and 12 defeats. The one in Brianza will also be the 134’s match in the yellow-blue team history in the Play Off Scudetto (78 wins and 54 defeats), the 59th ever in the quarterfinals. In the previous nineteen participants in the first round of the draw, Trentino Volley has won eleven times the second game of the series; last time in Piacenza on March 14th, 2021.
THE OPPONENTS The comeback from 2-0 to 2-2 in Game 1 confirmed all the good things Vero Volley Monza has already been able to do in the SuperLega return round, ending as the third team able to score more points in the rankings (21 points in eleven games). Eccheli's lineup, awaits the visit of Itas Trentino,  knowing that it can relay on an extra pawn, who has proved, in Trento on Sunday, to have perfectly settled into its part: the Brazilian setter Kreling (nicknamed "Cachopa"), who entered the starting six from the second set and starred in all the following sets, in which he showed an increasingly incisive understanding not only with Grozer (best scorer with 29 points) but also with the others strikers.Monza will once again rely on its opposite German player and its hitter Maar to try to use in their favor the home advantage and thus ensure another home match in the series (Game 4, potentially scheduled for April 2nd).
THE BACKGROUND On record, the two clubs boast twenty-five official games, with the tally clearly in favor of Trentino Volley (23-2), which has won the last eight matches, including all those of the current season; besides Game 1 on Sunday, the two matches of the regular season as well: 3-0 victory in Monza on November 6th with scores of 25-22, 25-20 and 30-28; and 3-0 win at the BLM Group Arena on January 29th with scores of 25-15, 25-18, 30-28. The only victories of the Brianzoli players concern two tiebreaks, both won in Lombardy: on March 4th, 2018 and October 25th, 2020. The most exciting match, by far, dates back to December 23rd, 2018, the fifth from the last previous match between the two teams in Monza: tie break victory for the yellow-blue team after 165' minutes of play in what is still to this day the longest match in the history of the two clubs. Itas Trentino can boast six other victories in Brianza, four of which came in just three sets. Only one previous match in the Play Off Scudetto at Vero Volley’s home: March 8th, 2017, a 3-0 victory precisely in Game 2 of the quarterfinals.
THE SERIE Itas Trentino ahead 1-0 in the quarterfinal series, which will be played at the best-of-five matches, as result of the 3-2 victory conquered at the BLM Group Arena during the Game 1 last March 19th with sets of 25-16, 25-21, 13-25, 18-25 and 15-13. On wednesday there will be the Game 2, which could be the only one played in Monza, only in the event of two more victories by Lorenzetti's team between this match and the next one (Game 3) on Saturday, March 25th in Trento (at 8:30 p.m.). In case of Vero Volley’s victory in at least one of the next two matches, Game 4 will also be necessary, which will in fact be played again in Lombardy on Sunday, April 2nd, at 6 p.m. Whoever passes the round will find in the semifinals (also this series will be best-of-five matches and will kick off on Thursday, April 13th) the winner of the Modena-Piacenza quarterfinal, which sees the Emilian players ahead 1-0 (Game 2 in Emilia on Wednesday). Also Game 2 of the quarterfinals of the top of the scoreboard will be played that day: Milan-Perugia (0-1) and Verona-Civitanova (1-0).
THE REFEREES The match will be managed by Gianluca Cappello (from Sortino - Syracuse, in Serie A since 2004) and Luca Saltalippi (from Torgiano - Perugia, in the highest category since 2011) in their eleventh and ninth matches of the season in SuperLega championship, respectively. Cappello’s last previous match with Trentino Volley dates back to March 19th (home tie-break defeat with Perugia), while for Saltalippi, the most recent match dates back to more than a year ago (March 2nd, 2022, three-set victory over Vibo).
RADIO, TV AND INTERNET The match will be a global media event, enjoying simultaneous live coverage on television, radio and the Internet. On the small screen it will be broadcast by RAI Sport+, a channel present on the digital terrestrial platform at number 58 with coverage entrusted to Maurizio Colantoni and Andrea Lucchetta. Live coverage is planned on 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 on the OTT platform "Volleyball World Tv” is also confirmed, the service is for a fee. For more in-depth information on the use of the same consult the site www.welcome.volleyballworld.tv/faq-it .
On TV the match recap will be aired on Monday, March 27th at 9:40 p.m., on RTTR - partner TV of Trentino Volley. Eventually, on the Internet point-to-point updates will be edited by the website of the Italian Volley League Serie A (www.legavolley.it) and 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).

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office