Trento, 27 October 2023

On Saturday the home debut in SuperLega 2023/24

The second round of the regular season of SuperLega Credem Banca 2023/24 will be played in the upcoming weekend. For Itas Trentino it’s also this season’s home debut: at the ilT quotidiano Arena in Trento, the Italian champions will be challenged by Gioiella Prisma Taranto in one of the two matches scheduled for Saturday (the other is Verona-Modena). Kick-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 28: live coverage on Radio Dolomiti and streaming on Volleyball Tv.
ITAS TRENTINO A little more than five months after winning the fifth scudetto in its history, the yellow-blue team returns to play an official match in its own arena. The goal is to continue the championship run that started on the right foot last Sunday in Cisterna di Latina with the comeback success in the tie break.
"We’re all very excited for our home debut - explained Fabio Soli, at his first home match as Trento’s coach -. We are still feeling good after our match last weekend in Cisterna, where we overcame the challenge with the help of our group. These four extra days of training with the whole team allowed us to add some ideas to our gameplan for this match. We need the exact same fighting spirit showed in Lazio and we need more consistency, especially in terms of focus. Taranto has many quality players on its roster; we have to take over the reins of the match right away to prevent them from playing their game.”
Trento’s coach will have Berger back at his disposal and can therefore count on the entire roster. In eighteen out of the twenty-three previous seasons of the highest national championship Trentino Volley men's team won its first home match. The only five defeats are: in the 2004/05 season (Trento-Perugia 1-3), 2006/07 (Trento-Taranto 2-3), 2012/13 (Trento-Vibo 1-3), 2017/18 (Trento-Milano 2-3) and 2020/21 (Trento-Verona 0-3). Sunday's will be the official match number 998 for the Club from via Trener, the 457th at home, where so far it has collected 360 wins and has not lost since Feb. 12 (2-3 with Perugia) in the regular season.
THE OPPONENTS Gioiella Prisma Taranto began its third consecutive season in SuperLega with a 1-3 loss last Sunday at home against Verona. Therefore, it’s coming to Trento over the weekend looking to gain its first championship points. Compared to the last regular season, in which it clinched salvation on the last day, Taranto’s team had many changes, keeping only a couple of pawns (middle hitter Alletti and libero Rizzo) of the starting lineup, and entrusting the new course to Apulian coach Vincenzo Mastrangelo (already in the top league a few years earlier as Assistant Coach of Vibo Valentia, Gioia del Colle and Taranto itself). At his disposal he has an international roster, in which stand out the Americans Russell (opposite hitter) and Jendryk (middle hitter, who already played against Trento in the Champions League with Berlin), the Cuban Gutierrez (former Cisterna player), the Spaniard Trinidad De Haro (setter, already played in Italy for Vibo Valentia, ten years earlier) and the Swede Ekstrand (setter, in his second season). The most anticipated players, however, are Italians: opposite hitter Sala (former Modena, scored 14 points in his debut) and especially Filippo Lanza, who was Trentino Volley's spiker between 2011 and 2018. With the yellow-blue team he won two Club World Championships, two Scudetti, two Italian Cups, a Supercup and a Junior League, totalling 300 appearances (150 as captain) and 2,877 personal points (he is still the second-best scorer in the Gialloblù's history). His return to the SuperLega after the season in Poland with Belchatow was by far the biggest catch of the red-blue's summer market.
THE PREVIOUS MATCHES Prisma Taranto and Trentino Volleyball last faced each other in the 2021/22 season, after almost twelve years. Between 2000 and 2010 the two Clubs faced each other fourteen times, exclusively in regular season matches of the then known Serie A1 championship. After eighteen matches the record sees the yellow-blue Club ahead 11-7. Half of those matches where in Trento, with seven going the way of local team and two going to the guest team (both times at the tie break: September 10, 2006 and December 21, 2008).
THE REFEREES The match will be directed by the duo of Ilaria Vagni (of Perugia, in Serie A since 2003 and internationally since 2014) and Alessandro Rossi (of Ventimiglia - Imperia, tenured since 2016).
RADIO, INTERNET, AND TV The match will be reported live on Radio Dolomiti, media partner of Trentino Volleyball. Frequencies to listen to the regional network can be found at www.radiodolomiti.com, where it will also be possible to follow the live play-by-play on streaming.
Also confirmed is the live video streaming on the OTT platform "Volleyball TV” (paid service). For additional information consult https://it.volleyballworld.com/volleyball-tv-it.
On television, the highlights of the match will be aired on Wednesday, Oct. 30, at 10:00 p.m., on RTTR - Trentino Volleyball's media partner.
On the Internet, there will be live updates on the Volleyball League's Serie A website (www.legavolley.it) and on www.trentinovolley.it; updates will always be available on yellow-blue social networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook, www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office