Trento, 16 December 2023

SuperLega, Sunday's sold-out home summit clash

The tenth round of the SuperLega Credem Banca 2023/24 regular season is being played this weekend. After four consecutive away games, between the league and the Champions League, Itas Trentino will be back to play in front of their home crowd, hosting Sir Susa Vim Perugia on Sunday 17 December at ilT quotidiano Arena in Trento ("sold out" since Friday) in the top-of-the-table clash scheduled for 3.45 pm. Live coverage on RAI Play, Radio Dolomiti, live streaming on the OTT Volleyball World Tv platform, and from 4 p.m. also on RAI 2.
HERE ITAS TRENTINO The first home engagement of the month of December, lived up to now always with the suitcase in hand, is one for the yellow-blue team, who await the visit of the leader, right after having lost their supremacy and unbeaten record in the championship in the previous round played in Modena.
"For the first time this season we are facing an opponent we had already challenged before, in Biella in the Supercup semifinal," coach Fabio Soli presented the match - . The desire to verify again our value against a strong and complete team like Perugia, which is back from a prestigious international victory and had already beaten us at the end of October, is therefore great. It is an exciting and eagerly awaited match, regardless of the logic of the standings; Trento-Perugia will always be a very beautiful game to play and I am happy that the team can experience it in front of its own public and in this specific period of the season, in order to better understand at what point our growth path has arrived. To be on the ball on this occasion it will be necessary to go in search of a complete performance from all points of view; we will need our best in terms of intensity and attention in order to be able to limit the many difficulties that will surely await us. I hope to read in the boys' eyes the joy of challenging this kind of opponent; I'm sure that, if there is this spirit, we will be able to say ours also thanks to the emotional wave of a stadium completely packed with fans".
The Trentino coach will only have to do without opposite player Gabriele Nelli (still in the pits due to the right knee injury suffered a week ago) and will complete the preparation with this afternoon's training session at the ilT quotidiano Arena. On this occasion Trentino Volleyball will play match number 1,010 in its men's history, the 581st in the regular season, and will go in search of the 703rd victory overall, possibly the 366th at home.
THE OPPONENTS Two season titles already won (Supercup and Club World Cup), fourteen victories in the first fifteen official matches played, first place in the SuperLega standings (at +2 right on Itas Trentino) and the only team always with points in the regular season. Sir Susa Vim comes to Trento to play its first match after winning two times World championships in a row in India, as well as it could not. The statistics after nine days of the championship tell how the Umbrian team is dominant in the block (the most productive of the tournament together with Verona with 90 direct points) and in the serve (1.59 ace per set), even without having been able to count on its most representative player Leon (still in the box due to physical problems) and on the talented middle blocker Russo for a long time. The depth of the squad prepared by the club, however, allowed them to absorb this absence without too many problems, thanks to the presence of quality players like Plotnytskyi and Solé. The Argentine middle blocker  is one of many former players in the Block Devils' midfield; the others are Candellaro, Colaci and Giannelli. The most eagerly awaited, however, sits on the bench; on Sunday Angelo Lorenzetti will experience his first match leading an opposing team at the ilT quotidiano Arena after 377 matches as coach of Trentino Volleyball and a total of seven consecutive seasons characterized, between 2016 and 2023, by the victory of a Club World Cup, a CEV Cup, a Supercup and the Scudetto won just six months earlier.
BACKGROUND The two clubs have already faced each other 52 times in official matches in five different competitions (lega, Coppa Italia, Supercup, Champions League and Club World Cup); the balance favors the Block Devils 23-29 thanks to eleven victories in the last thirteen encounters, with a streak still open that lasts six matches. Trentino Volleyball, however, has retained the home court factor in fifteen of the twenty-two meetings played at home; the result that has occurred most often is Perugia's success in four sets (fourteen out of the previous fifty-two, including three in Trento). The player who has played the most of these matches is Simone Giannelli, who has experienced 34 with the Trento jersey and thirteen with the Perugia jersey (total of 47). Second is Marko Podrascanin: 37 (20 with Perugia, 17 with Trento). The last previous meeting at the Via Fersina venue ended with Sir's 3-2 victory on February 12th; the only previous match of the season was also in favor of the Block Devils: 1-3 (25-20, 22-25, 23-25, 18-25) in Biella in the Supercup semi final.
THE REFEREES The match will be directed by Umberto Zanussi (from Treviso, on the roster since 2006) and Dominga Lot (from Santa Lucia di Piave - Treviso, in Serie A since 2010 and international since 2017), in their seventh and sixth matches respectively in SuperLega Credem Banca 2023/24. The last meeting with Trento for Zanussi corresponds to the 3-1 home win over Monza on 19 November, while for Lot it dates back to 11 May (game 4 of the Scudetto Final, lost 1-3 in Civitanova Marche).
RADIO, INTERNET AND TV The match will be a global media event, enjoying simultaneous live coverage on TV, radio and the Internet. On the small screen it will be broadcast by RAI 2 starting at 4 p.m., while on RAI Play (free streaming platform) it will be visible from the moment the whistle blows, at 3.45 p.m.
Live commentary is planned on Radio Dolomiti, Trentino Volleyball's media partner. The frequencies to listen to the regional network can be found on the website www.radiodolomiti.com, where it will also be possible to follow the radio commentary in live streaming.
Also confirmed is the live video streaming on the OTT platform "Volleyball World Tv"; the service is pay-per-view. More information on how to use it can be found at https://it.volleyballworld.com/volleyball-tv-it.
On television a summary will be broadcast on Monday 17 December at 21.45, on RTTR - Trentino Volleyball's media partner.
On the Internet, point-to-point updates will be provided by the Lega Pallavolo Serie A website (www.legavolley.it) and by www.trentinovolley.it  and will be available on the Gialloblù social networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook, www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).
SOLD OUT TICKETS The match is included in both types of season tickets proposed for this season by Trentino Volleyball (full and basic). ilT quotidiano Arena was already sold out on Friday: 4,000 spectators were present in the stands. On Sunday the cashiers of the stadium will therefore be open from 2.45 p.m. for accreditation collection only; at the same time the entrances will open.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office