Trento, 02 February 2024

SuperLega, on Saturday on court in Monza for the sixth round of the return leg

After the Coppa Italia Final Four intelude, the SuperLega Credem Banca 2023/24 regular season returns to court in the upcoming weekend for the seventeenth round, the sixth of the return leg. Itas Trentino men's team will be on the road, visiting Mint Vero Volley Monza in one of three early games scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 3. At the Opiquad Arena kick-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. Live broadcast on Radio Dolomiti and streaming live on the OTT Volleyball World Tv platform.
ITAS TRENTINO Seven days after the semifinal in Bologna, the Italian champions challenge the same opponent that at the Unipol Arena defeated them at the tie break. The match puts up for grabs important points to continue the solitary race at the top of the standings: currently the yellow-blue team has a three-point lead over Perugia.
"Returning to the court seven days after the last match, once again against Monza, is certainly special and very stimulating - explained coach Fabio Soli on the eve of the match in Brianza - . We will have the opportunity to get into the match atmosphere again and understand how much we have been able to treasure the events and thoughts of last Saturday's match, knowing full well that in all likelihood an even bigger challenge awaits us because we will be playing at the home of the Mint and not on a neutral court. So, it will be a match full of opportunities to immediately regain our best version, made up of focus, determination and joy of being on the court, knowing that we always need to improve".
Itas Trentino went to Brianza with all fourteen members of its roster, who completed their preparation in the early afternoon of Friday, holding a training session of about ninety minutes on the court. They will be guests of Vero Volley Monza, which has kindly offered space at the Opiquad Arena, given the unavailability of the ilT quotidiano Arena. Trentino Volley will play match number 588 in a regular season, number 1,022 overall in its history (referring to the men's team) and will go in search of its 713th success ever, which in the Italian league has been collecting consecutively for seven rounds (last defeat in Emilia, against Modena, on December 10).
THE OPPONENTS Saturday's will be the fourth match in the last seven days for Mint Vero Volley Monza; after the victory in the Coppa Italia semifinal over Itas Trentino, the Brianza lineup also played the first leg of the Challenge Cup semifinal (won 3-0 at home against Galatasaray on Wednesday night), in addition to the Finalissima in Bologna against Perugia (lost 1-3 on Sunday). The three recent matches have confirmed the growth of Eccheli's team, which, despite having to do without an important player such as Takahashi (who injured his ankle in the home match against Verona), has found an effective set-up mainly thanks to the effectiveness of its high-ball trio. Indeed, Canadians Maar, Loeppky and Szwarc made a remarkable contribution to the cause, triggered to perfection by Brazilian setter Kreling. Further motivating the home team will be the need to return to winning in front of their own crowd in the league: Monza has been missing home success since last December 17; after the 3-0 win over Padua, three consecutive defeats came (1-3 against Civitanova and in the tie break against Modena and Verona).
PREVIOUS MATCHES Thirty official games have been played between the two clubs, with the tally clearly in favour of Trentino Volley (26-4), who have won eleven of the last thirteen matches, including the most recent one played in Brianza (3-0 on April 2, 2023 in Game 4 of the Play Off Scudetto quarterfinals). The record of the current season, however, is a tie because of Trento's 3-1 success in the first leg (match played at the ilT quotidiano Arena on November 19 with partials of 19-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-23) and the Lombardi's tie break victory in the recent Coppa Italia semifinal in Bologna (January 27, scores of 25-23, 13-25, 25-23, 23-25, 9-15). In front of its home crowd, Monza has won only three of the twelve matches played overall against Trento: at the tie break on March 4, 2018 and on October 25, 2020, and 3-1 on March 22, 2023 in Game 2 of the Play Off Scudetto quarterfinals. In the other nine instances, it was Trentino Volley that triumphed: six times by 3-0, once by 3-1, and once by 3-2 (Dec. 23, 2018 - still the longest challenge in the history of the Club from via Trener: 2 hours and 45 minutes).
THE REFEREES The match will be directed by Vincenzo Carcione (from Rome, in Serie A since 2014) and Massimo Florian (from Altivole - Treviso, active since 2007), respectively in their ninth and tenth matches of the season. The last precedent with Trentino Volley men's team for the Lazio whistle was the victory in the first round of the regular season in Cisterna di Latina (Oct. 22), while for the referee from Veneto the most recent intersection was Jan. 14 (home success in four sets against Verona).
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 Monday, February 5, at 9:45 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).

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office