Trento, 13 January 2024

SuperLega, on Sunday at the ilT quotidiano Arena on court for the 14th round

The third round of the return leg, the fourteenth overall, of the SuperLega Credem Banca 2023/24 regular season will be played entirely on Sunday, January 14. Itas Trentino men's team will take the court again in front of its home crowd, hosting Rana Verona at the ilT quotidiano Arena in Trento. Kick-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.; live on Radio Dolomiti and live streaming on the OTT Volleyball World Tv platform.
ITAS TRENTINO Eleven days after the last time, the Italian champions will return to play a home match and will do so against the same opponent faced on January 3. After the success in the Coppa Italia quarterfinal against Verona, the yellow-blue team added two more convincing 3-0 wins in as many away matches between the Italian league (last Sunday in Taranto) and the Champions League (Wednesday night in Ljubljana); in the latter they also could rotate players, allowing some to rest, such as Michieletto and Laurenzano, who had never stopped in the first part of the season.
"If possible, this match is an even bigger challenge than the one played recently for the Coppa Italia, because our opponents will return to Trento even more determined to get a different result - coach Fabio Soli presented the match with these words - . The victory in Modena last Sunday confirmed how Verona is an absolutely healthy team; all the more reason we will have to be extremely focused on court; it will be decisive to imprint our action with intensity and continuity. The victories obtained in Taranto and Ljubljana have shown, once again, that we know how to deal with difficulties in critical moments; the match that awaits us on Sunday will be another test, useful to obtain indications on our path of growth."
Trento’s coach, for the occasion, will bench both Nelli and D'Heer, who for different reasons were not in Slovenia. The preparation for the match will be completed with this afternoon's practice and Sunday morning's finishing practice. Trentino Volley will play match number 1,017 in its men’s team history, the twenty-first in the 2023/24 season in which so far it has collected eighteen victories. The last defeat was on December 10 (1-3 in Modena), which was followed by eight consecutive wins (seven by 3-0).
THE OPPONENTS After the quarterfinal played in Trento ten days ago, Rana Verona took the court just one more time, confirming that they are going through an excellent period of form in the league. Last Sunday Verona’s lineup scored a huge win, conquering Modena's PalaPanini in just three sets; the fifth consecutive success in the regular season. The consequent three points won on the road allowed the team coached by Radostin Stoytchev (who still is the coach who has led Trentino Volley men's team the most times from the bench - 389 times between 2017 and 2016) to gain a position in the standings, moving up to seventh place, with the same haul but a worse set quotient than Monza (sixth). From Dec. 3 (the date of the last loss: 3-0 to Piacenza) onward, Verona has been the team with the most points in the next five days: 13, one more than Trento, Piacenza and Civitanova (12). The revival of the Scaligeri's ratings has passed through the hands of Iranian opposite Amin and Slovenian spiker Mozic (seventh and ninth top scorers of the tournament), but also through the quality expressed in fundamentals such as the block (the second most prolific, with 2.62 direct points per set) and attack, made more varied thanks to the progressive inclusion in the game schemes of Italian Champion Džavoronok (115 points in twelve games played).
PREVIOUS MATCHES With Sunday's match Verona Volley joins Cuneo and Cisterna in fifth place in the special ranking of the clubs faced the most times in official matches by Trentino Volley: forty-seven previous matches. Only Civitanova (96), Modena (83), Piacenza (74) and Perugia (53) can boast more. The tally is 33-13 in favour of the Club from via Trener, which has won in three sets the last three official matches played: two at home (Dec. 26, 2022 and Jan. 3, 2024) and one on enemy soil (Oct. 8). In the past, the court factor has endured in the Via Fersina facility in twenty of the twenty-five total matches played. Verona’s last away success was October 4, 2020, in three sets.
THE REFEREES The match will be directed by Gianluca Cappello (from Sortino - Siracusa, in Serie A since 2004) and Massimo Florian (from Altivole - Treviso, active since 2007), both in their seventh match of the season in SuperLega Credem Banca 2023/24. For Cappello, this is the first ever cross-over in this league with Itas Trentino (last directed on April 19: 0-3 home loss to Piacenza in Game 3 of the Play Off semifinals), while the most recent precedent with Trento for Florian is the November 15, 2023 victory in three sets in Milan.
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 report via streaming.
Live video streaming on the OTT platform "Volleyball TV" is also confirmed; there is a fee for the service. More information can be found at https://it.volleyballworld.com/volleyball-tv-it.
On television, a recap will air on Monday, January 15, 2024 at 9:45 p.m., on RTTR - Trentino Volley's media partner.
On the Internet, point-to-point updates will be taken care of by the Volleyball League's Serie A website (www.legavolley.it) and www.trentinovolley.it and will always be active on yellow-blue social networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook, www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).
TICKETS The match is included in both types of season tickets offered for this season by Trentino Volley (full and standard). You can still purchase tickets for the single match anytime on https://trentinovolley.vivaticket.it/it/event/itas-trentino-verona/227506. Coupons will also be available on Saturday at the ilT quotidiano Arena ticket counters, which will be active starting at 5 p.m., the same time at which the arena entrances will also open.
LOACKER DAY To celebrate together with yellow-blue fans the long partnership, Trentino Volley and Loacker will prepare a series of initiatives that will see the official sponsor as a big protagonist for this match. The Match Program, the Hospitality Area, the video walls of the arena and the square adjacent to the cashiers will be strongly characterized by Loacker for the occasion. Complimentary sweet products from the Loacker bakery will also be distributed inside the facility to all attendees. The game's MVP award, chosen by the journalists in the press box, will also bear the Loacker logo and will be presented to the most deserving player by Loacker's official mascot, who will walk around the arena before, during and after the game, bringing smiles to everyone present.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office