Trento, 01 April 2023

Play Off Scudetto, new trip to Brianza on Sunday for game 4 of quarterfinals

Game 4 of Play Off Scudetto SuperLega Credem Banca 2023 quarterfinals will be played on Sunday, April 2 at the Arena of Monza. For the third time this season, Itas Trentino will descend on Brianza, searching for a victory that will allow it to gain access to the semifinals, being ahead 2-1 in the series, which is set at the best of five games. Kickoff scheduled for 8:30 p.m.: live Radio Dolomiti broadcast and live streaming on the OTT Volleyball World Tv platform.
HERE ITAS TRENTINO The 3-1 success in Game 3 put Kaziyski and his teammates back ahead in the series, offering two chances to close it out. The first one on Sunday is undoubtedly the most tempting, because it would then consequently offer a rather long period (eleven days) to prepare for the next match (possibly not scheduled until April 13).
However, Angelo Lorenzetti is rather cautious in presenting the important appointment: "Last Saturday's 3-1 absolutely does not change the situation of the confrontation, which remains balanced and uncertain - explains the coach of ItasTrentino, at his 15th personal participation in the Play Off Scudetto - . Monza is a team that knows how to put us in difficulty and in its own arena always plays its best volleyball, often finding excellent rotations on serve. We will have to approach the challenge with great attention and concentration, but above all with the desire and the need to be protagonists from the beginning. Having had an entire week to prepare for the match was very important, also with a view to completing the physical and technical recovery of the players who were not at their best in game 3 and had gritted their teeth in that circumstance to achieve success".
The Trentino lineup will reappear in Lombardy as early as this evening, after having held their full-evening training session at the BLM Group Arena. Game 4 of the quarterfinals will be the 136th match in the Play Off Scudetto for Trentino Volley: the balance is 79 wins and 56 defeats. In the quarterfinals alone, the Via Trener club has already played 60 matches, with 40 wins and 20 losses. At the Monza Arena, the yellow-blue club has already played fourteen official matches, winning eleven of them.
ONE WIN AND THREE LOSSES IN THE PREVIOUS "RACE 4" OF THE FINAL QUARTERFINALS In the past, Trentino Volley has already played a Game 4 of the Scudetto Play Off Quarterfinals four times (out of nineteen previous participations in total), picking up one win and three losses. The only affirmation is related to the 3-2 imposed in Trento against Modena in the 2003 series (the one of the absolute debut in this phase), while the knockouts refer to the 0-3 in the 2004 series with Perugia, the 2-3 home match with Piacenza in the 2005 series and the 1-3 in Molfetta in the 2016 series.
THE OPPONENTS  Sunday night's one to be played at home will be the first "game 4" of the Play Off in Volley Monza's history; never before in four previous appearances in the draw that awards the men's scudetto, the Brianza club had in fact come to support the fourth act of a series, closing in two games the experience in the 2017 and 2022 quarterfinals and in three challenges the 2019 and 2021 quarterfinals and the 2021 semifinals (the only occasion in which it had managed to get past the first round). In front of its own public, Eccheli's team will try to confirm the result obtained ten days earlier in Game 2 to have the opportunity to return to the BLM Group Arena for the fourth time in 2023 and possibly play the third playoff ever out of five quarterfinal appearances. To do so, he will likely rely again on the Kreling-Grozer setter-opponent diagonal, which had ended Game 3 on the bench, thus relying heavily on the German's scoring ability (best scorer in the series with 56 points) and on the quality of his block of the entire sextet, in which Captain Beretta is clearly the most prolific (10 winning blocks in thirteen sets played).
THE BACKGROUND On record the two clubs boast twenty-seven official meetings, with the balance clearly in favor of Trentino Volley (24-3), which has won nine of the last ten matches played, including four of the five played this season; in addition to game 1 and game 3, also the two regular season matches: 3-0 in Monza on November 6 with scores of 25-22, 25-20 and 30-28 and 3-0 at the BLM Group Arena on January 29 with scores of 25-15, 25-18, 30-28. The only victories of the Brianzoli, besides game 2 last March 22, are related to two tiebreaks, both won in Lombardy: on March 4, 2018 and October 25, 2020. The challenge that, by far, has reserved more emotions is dated December 23, 2018, the sixth-last previous match between the two teams in Monza: tie break success for the yellow-blue after 165' minutes of play in what is still the longest match in the history of the two clubs. Six other Trentino victories were then reported in Brianza. Only two precedents in the Play Off Scudetto at the home of Vero Volley: March 8, 2017, 3-0 victory, and March 22, 2023, both in game 2 of the quarterfinals of the respective editions.
THE SERIE Itas Trentino ahead 2-1 in the quarterfinal series that is played at the best of five games, by virtue of the 3-2 accrued at the BLM Group Arena in game 1 last March 19 with partials of 25-16, 25-21, 13-25, 18-25, 15-13, the defeat suffered in Brianza by 1-3 (21-25, 16-25, 25-23, 18-25) on March 22 and the 3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-19) obtained in Trento on March 25. Game 4 in Monza on Sunday, which could effectively be the last only in the event of a win for the Yellow-Blue. Should Vero Volley prevail, a playoff Game 5 will be necessary - possibly scheduled for Sunday, April 9 or Monday, April 10 at the BLM Group Arena (6 p.m.). Whoever passes the round will find the winner of the Modena-Piacenza quarterfinal, which sees the Geminians ahead 2-1 (game 4 at PalaBanca on Sunday), in the semifinals (this series will also be best-of-five games, kicking off on Thursday, April 13). Game 4 Milan-Perugia is also played on the same day, while Verona and Civitanova (2-1 for the Scaligeri) take the court tonight.
THE REFEREES Game 4 will be directed by Mauro Goitre (of Turin, in the top flight since 2008 and international since 2016) and Rossella Piana (of Carpi - Modena, on the roster since 2006 and international since 2014). The two referees are in their 16th and 13th SuperLega matches of the season, respectively. The last precedent with Trentino Volley for Goitre is related to the 3-0 home win over Modena on March 12, while for Piana the most recent intersection is the Italian Cup semifinal on February 25, won in a tie break over Milan and refereed by the Emilia-based whistle right along with Goitre.
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 live radio commentary in streaming.
Live video streaming on the OTT platform "Volleyball World TV" is also planned; there is a fee for the service. More information on the enjoyment of the same can be found at www.welcome.volleyballworld.tv/faq-it.
On TV, the match summary will be aired on RTTR, TV partner of the Society of via Trener, on Monday, April 3, at 9:40 p.m. On the Internet, finally, point-to-point updates will be taken care of by the website of the Volleyball League Serie A (www.legavolley.it), by the same www.trentinovolley.it and will also be active on the Yellow-blue social networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook, www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office