Trento, 03 May 2023

2023 Scudetto Play Off, game 2 of the Final on thursday in Civitanova

Game 2 of the Credem Banca 2023 Scudetto Play Off Final will be played on Thursday, May 4th, at the Eurosuole Forum in Civitanova Marche. Itas Trentino will visit Cucine Lube, finding themselves ahead 1-0 in the series, which is a best-of-five match. Kickoff is scheduled at 8:30 p.m.: live coverage on RAI Sport HD, Radio Dolomiti and live streaming on the OTT Volleyball World Tv platforms.
HERE IS ITAS TRENTINO After the victory in Game 1, the yellow-blue lineup travels to the Marche region today to try to win once again, in order to take a double lead and look at the second part of the series with a better chance of a final victory.
"I believe that the real final has yet to begin; Game 1 was a competition filled with tension in which the two teams did not reasonably express their full potential yet: it was like a preparation for what we will see in the next ones" clarified coach Angelo Lorenzetti during the match presentation; he continues “from now on the level can indeed only increase; we must be ready, because in front of us we will have an opponent even more on the ball and which is already very talented at block and defense. In order to be able to be protagonists, we will need to maintain the same proactive attitude here as well, but also improve from a technical and tactical point of view. We need to be more pragmatic, especially in defense and, secondly, in the few counterattack opportunities that we will be able to create for ourselves."
The only lineup doubt for the Trentino coach concerns the effective employment of Srecko Lisinac, who had to leave the court during the second set of Game 1 due to low back pain; his natural replacement Wout D'Heer, however, has already shown that he can hold his rhythm perfectly despite the fact that the current one is only his first Scudetto Final of his career. The Trentino lineup completed its preparation for the match with today's midday training session. The one in the Marche region will be a special match from a statistical point of view for Riccardo Sbertoli, who on this very occasion will collect his 100th official presence with the Trentino Volley’s jersey.
GAME 2 FINALS, THE TABOO HAS TO BE DISPELLED On Thursday night, Itas Trentino will have one more reason to seek victory: dispel the taboo concerning Game 2. In the previous Scudetto Final series played, in fact, the Trener Street’s club has never won Game 2 of the series. The results speak only in favor of the opponents, with Trento defeated three times in Piacenza (2-3 in 2008, 1-3 in 2009 and 2013), on one occasion in Modena (in four sets in 2015) and in Civitanova (0-3 in 2017). Also in terms of numbers, Thursday's will be the 50th yellow-blue match of the season (tally 34 victories and 15 defeats), the 993rd official match ever, and the 143rd in the Playoffs Scudetto, in which Trentino Volley can boast 84 overall victories, of which 27 away matches (out of 68 matches played).
THE OPPONENTS Cucine Lube Civitanova is ready to host Itas Trentino for the second time this season at the Eurosuole Forum with the goal of getting the tie point in the series and guaranteeing itself another match of the season (in that case, however, the last) in front of its own public, pre-sale is already sold-out. Monday night's away match defeat confirmed the court factor and will force Blengini's team to do the same in order not to find themselves already on Sunday night back in Trento with a 0-2 situation. In these Playoffs players from Marche region have won four of the six home matches played so far and in particular the two "Game 5": 3-0 with Verona in the quarterfinals and 3-1 with Milan in the semifinals. Before the match Nikolov (best scorer of the Playoffs) will be awarded as MVP of the Semifinals.
THE BACKGROUND With 91 official matches already played, Cucine Lube is by far the opponent Trentino Volley has faced the most times; the tally is in favor of the players from Marche region by 51-40, but this season it was Trento that won two out of three, one of them at the Eurosuole Forum: by 1-3 on January 21st with sets of 19-25, 25-22, 19-25, 18-25 and Kaziyski MVP. In Civitanova Marche against the hosts Itas Trentino has lost eighteen of the twenty-one official matches played so far; nine of these refer to matches in the Playoffs Scudetto, a phase in which victory came in two circumstances: March 28th, 2021 (tie break win) and April 14th, 2022 (three set win).
THE SERIES Itas Trentino ahead 1-0 in the Finals series to be played at best-of-five match, by virtue of the 3-1 win conquered at the BLM Group Arena last May 1st with sets of 25-23, 23-25, 25-23, 25-17. Thursday's Game 2, which could be the only one to be played in the Marche region only in case of two more wins by the yellow-blue team between this match and the next one (Game 3) on Sunday, May 7th in Trento (at 6 p.m. or 9:05 p.m.). Whenever Cucine Lube wins either one of the next two matches, Game 4 will also be necessary, which will be played again at the Eurosuole Forum on Wednesday, May 10th at 6 p.m.
THE REFEREES The match will be managed by Ilaria Vagni, first referee from Perugia, and Marco Zavater, second referee from Rome. For Vagni, in Serie A since 2003 and international one since 2014, it will be the 18th match of the season in SuperLega; two of those are related to Trentino Volley: a victory in Civitanova Marche in four sets on January 21st and a defeat to Piacenza on April 22nd. For Zavater, in Serie A since 2008, 20th match of the season; three of these refer to a match between Trento and Piacenza: January 8th at BLM Group Arena (1-3), February 26th in Rome (0-3, Coppa Italia final) and April 16th at PalaBanca (1-3).
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 HD, a channel present on the digital terrestrial platform at number 58 and on RAI PLAY platform. 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 Saturday, May 6th at 9:00 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