Trento, 23 January 2024

SuperLega, on Wednesday at ilT quotidiano Arena the fifth round of the return leg

The fifth round of the return leg, the sixteenth overall, of the SuperLega Credem Banca 2023/24 regular season will be played entirely on Wednesday, January 24. Itas Trentino men's team will take the court again in front of its home crowd, hosting Allianz Milano at the ilT quotidiano Arena in Trento. Kick-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.; live on Radio Dolomiti and streaming live on the OTT Volleyball World Tv platform.
ITAS TRENTINO The week leading up to the Coppa Italia Final Four (scheduled for the weekend in Bologna) opens competitively with the ‘insurance derby’ against Milan; the Italian champions arrive at this umpteenth home match (the twelfth of the season) after last Sunday's fine showing in Piacenza and the confirmation of their lone lead in the standings (+3 on Perugia).
"Our attention is entirely focused on this challenging match – said coach Fabio Soli presenting the match -; we are in the middle of a period full of important challenges and we have to focus on one at a time. Our opponent, compared to the first leg, has grown even more in its idea of the game and in the awareness of its own means, as demonstrated by the fact that it has always gone to the points on the courts of Perugia, Piacenza, Civitanova, Monza and Verona, that is, of all the six teams chasing us in the standings. So, we will need great concentration, a good approach to the match, and our best consistency to try to express our volleyball once again."
Trento’s coach will be able to count on all fourteen members of the roster, who will complete their preparation with training sessions this afternoon and on the morning of match day. Trentino Volley will play match number 1,020 in the history of its men division, the 24th in the 2023/24 season, and the 439th home match ever.
THE OPPONENTS Allianz Milano comes to Trento after almost overtaking Civitanova in the standings last Sunday. The tie-break defeat at the Eurosuole Forum did not guarantee fourth place to the meneghini but confirmed the great competitiveness of the team coached by Roberto Piazza, which has always gone to points at home against its top-ranked opponents: winning at the tie-break in Perugia and in four sets in Monza, while yielding only in the fifth set to Modena, Verona, Piacenza and Civitanova. As with Itas Trentino, the match at the ilT quotidiano Arena will represent the dress rehearsal to Saturday's Coppa Italia semifinal in Bologna, an appointment to which Milan will arrive after ousting defending champions Piacenza and after a good first leg of the SuperLega season. Allianz is the second-best team in the league at the block (with an average of 2.41 blocks per set), thanks in part to great performers such as middle blockers Loser (best blocker with 47 points) and Piano (sixth with 31). Among the individual players, the great contribution offered at the serve by Matey Kaziyski, the most awaited player among the twenty-eight ready to take the court, should be emphasized. The Bulgarian star will return on the mondoflex of the via Fersina facility for the first time since winning the Scudetto last May 17, 2023, and will be welcomed as befits a legend of Trentino Volley history. The club is preparing a special tribute to thank him for his 433 games, 6,066 points and seventeen trophies won wearing a yellow-blue jersey.
PREVIOUS MATCHES The tally of official challenges between Trentino Volley and Powervolley Milano shows twenty-three meetings, with twenty victories for the yellow-blue team, who last came out defeated on Nov. 26, 2022 among their home walls (1-3), before gaining three consecutive victories: at the tie break on Feb. 19, 2023 in Milan and six days later in Rome in the Coppa Italia semifinal, and then 3-1 in the first leg match of this regular season, played in Lombardy on Nov. 15 and closed with partials of 22-25, 25-21, 19-25, 16-25 and Michieletto (20 points) as MVP. The meneghini have won only one other time in Trento in seven previous matches: on Oct. 15, 2017 (2-3).
THE REFEREES The match will be directed by Rocco Brancati (of Città di Castello - Perugia, in Serie A since 2015) and Andrea Puecher (of Rubano - Padua, active since 2003 and international since 2014), both in their ninth match of the season in SuperLega Credem Banca 2023/24. The most recent yellow-blue match refereed by Brancati was on January 3 (home win in three sets against Verona in the Coppa Italia quarterfinal), while for Puecher it was the 3-0 win over Cisterna on December 30, 2023 (first day of the return leg).
RADIO, INTERNET, AND TV The match will be covered in live commentary by Radio Dolomiti, media partner of Trentino Volley. Frequencies to listen to the regional network can be found on the website www.radiodolomiti.com, where live radio commentary can also be followed via streaming.
The live video streaming on the OTT platform "Volleyball World Tv" is also confirmed; there is a charge for the service. For more information on how to access it, please visit https://it.volleyballworld.com/volleyball-tv-it.
A summary will be broadcast on television on Friday, January 26, at 4:30 PM, on RTTR - media partner of Trentino Volley.
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 always be active on the yellow-blue Social Network (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook, www.trentinovolley.it/instagram, and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).
TICKETING 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-milano/228061. 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.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office