Trento, 05 March 2024

On Wednesday at ilT quotidiano Arena (8.30 p.m.) the 2024 scudetto Play-offs get underway

Wednesday marks the start of the Play Off Scudetto SuperLega Credem Banca 2024. In the quarterfinals (first round of the draw that awards the 2023/24 Italian title) reigning champion Itas Trentino will take on Valsa Group Modena in the best-of-five series that guarantees a pass to the semifinals. Game 1 will be played on 6 March at the ilT quotidiano Arena in Trento: kick-off is scheduled for 20.30. Live coverage by RAI Sport, Radio Dolomiti and streaming live on the OTT Volleyball World Tv platform.
ITAS TRENTINO The Gialloblù begin the race to defend the tricolour they wear on their shirts as the number 1 seed, but they won’t be able to count on their starting setter Riccardo Sbertoli, which is why French setter Matthieu Garcia (taken from Arago de Sète) was signed yesterday as substitute to Alessandro Acquarone.
"I believe that this edition of the Play Offs will be characterised by great balance, the prediction of every single quarter-final is more uncertain than ever - emphasised coach Fabio Soli as he presented the series with the Emilians, which will see him involved in his fourth personal participation in the Play Offs -. Neither does the series that will see us face Modena escape from this impression: we know that in the Valsa Group's roster there are many players who have proven experience in games like the ones that will begin on Wednesday, and as is well known, we will miss Sbertoli's contribution. We are preparing with great determination to enter the field ready to fight on every ball, aware that we will have to build our future step by step and action by action. All our focus is on Game 1; we can't wait to dive into a challenge that I believe will see the team as the protagonist".
This will be the 15th Play-off for Marko Podrascanin, who has played the most Play-Offs (winning four of them), while it will be the fifth for Gabriele Nelli, the player who has made the most appearances (32) in the yellow-blue jersey at this stage of the season. Two rookies: setters Acquarone and Garcia. On Wednesday Trentino Volley will play the official match number 1,030th in its history, the 147th in the Play Off Scudetto, and will go in search of the 719th victory ever.
TRENTINO VOLLEY'S HISTORY IN THE SCUDETTO PLAYOFFS On Wednesday evening, Trentino Volley will inaugurate its twenty-first participation in the Scudetto Play Offs in twenty-four total seasons of activity; the yellow-blue Club did not take part in them only in the years 2000/01, 2001/02 and 2019/20 (the latter due to the pandemic). In the previous twenty editions, on no less than fifteen occasions Trento managed to get past the first round; the eliminations that came in the quarters were against Modena (2002/03 in five games and 2013/14 in two games), Perugia (2003/04 in four games, after winning the regular season), Piacenza (2004/05 in five games) and Cuneo (2006/07, in three games). In this edition, the Club from via Trener will go in search of a possible tenth final in the last sixteen participations. If we exclude the unfortunate 2013/14 season (two matches and two defeats), in every Play Off in which Trentino Volley has taken part it has always won at least one match; in sixteen out of twenty cases it won the first match played, including the last occasion (3-2 home win over Monza in the 2023 edition).
THE OPPONENTS Valsa Group Modena returns to Trento a little more than two weeks after the last time (18 February, regular season match) to inaugurate its thirty-ninth participation in the final draw that awards the tricolour. The Club that has inscribed its name more times than any other in the championship roll of honour (twelve, the first in 1970) enters the final draw as the last seed, by virtue of its eighth-place finish in the standings, but in the five most recent regular season matches it has won three times (always at home against Cisterna, Taranto, and Catania), securing qualification for the play-offs for the championship with one round in advance. The arrival on the bench of Alberto Giuliani has offered new impetus to a team full of players who have already won the Play Off Scudetto, such as Stankovic (14th participation), Juantorena (6 Scudetti), and Bruno (the only one of the current roster to have already won an Italian title with Modena). The statistics of the championship show that the Emilian team is very effective in the serve (1.59 aces per set on average, the third team overall, just ahead of Trento), thanks to an excellent interpreter of the fundamental as the hammer Davyskiba (who scored directly 33 times with the serve, only Ramon did better), which for the second consecutive year will find Itas Trentino in the quarter-finals (in the last edition of the Play Off he did it with the shirt of Monza). The game of the Emilians often passes through the hands of Osmany Juantorena (one of the two former Trentino players, the other being Giulio Pinali), who has just completed another high-level regular season, as evidenced by his eighth place in the attackers' table, sixth in the servers' table and second in the receivers' table (all by weighted average).
PREVIOUS MATCHES With 84 official matches already played, Modena is the second opponent that the Club from via Trener has faced the most times (the first one is Lube with 97 previous matches); the tally is in favour of Trento: 49-35, but in the current season the home court factor has always held out: 3-1 for Modena at the PalaPanini on 10 December, 3-0 for Trento at the ilT quotidiano Arena on 18 February. It will be the fifth confrontation in the history of the Play Off Scudetto quarter-finals; the previous ones are related to the 2003 (when the Emilians won in five games), 2006 (2-1 for Trento), 2008 (2-0 for Trento) and 2014 (2-0 for Modena) editions; in the Play Off the two clubs have also played a Final (2015 edition, Trento won) and two semifinals (2011 and 2016 editions - one win for each team). A total of 25 matches were played in the final table, with 13 victories for Trento. The home court factor has been respected in twenty-five of the thirty-five previous ‘A22 derbies’ played in Trento; the most recent external success is dated 6 February 2022, in a tie break.
THE SERIES The quarter-finals are played at the best of five games, as are the semifinals and the final; the team that wins three in the series goes through. After Game 1, the teams will go to Modena for Game 2 (Sunday, March 10 at 4 pm) and then will return the ilT quotidiano Arena on Sunday, March 17 at 6 pm for Game 3. The eventual Game 4 and Game 5 (if needed) will be scheduled respectively on Sunday, March 24 in Emilia and Wednesday 27 in Trento (times to be defined). The team that continues its run will find in the semifinals the winner of Civitanova-Monza, a match that opens on Wednesday in Marche. The other two quarterfinals in the lower part of the scoreboard are Perugia-Verona and Piacenza-Milan.
THE REFEREES The direction of Game 1 will be entrusted to Umberto Zanussi (from Treviso, active since 2006) and Armando Simbari (from Milan, in Serie A since 2007 and international since 2016), in their twelfth and seventeenth matches of the season respectively. Zanussi's last match with Trentino Volley was the four-set victory over Perugia on 17 December, while Simbari rejoins the yellow-blue team after the 7 January challenge in Taranto (three-set victory).
TV, RADIO, AND INTERNET 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 Sport, channel number 58 of the digital terrestrial television.
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 aired on television on Friday, March 8, 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 yellow-blue Social Networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook, www.trentinovolley.it/instagram, and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter). The match is only included in the 'Full' subscription type, while those with the 'standard' type will be able to purchase tickets for the match at any time, including on the Internet, by clicking on https://trentinovolley.vivaticket.it/it/event/quarto-play-off-gara-1-itas-trentino-vs-modena/231212. The coupons will then be available on Wednesday evening at the ilT quotidiano Arena cash desks, which will be open from 7.30 p.m. (the same time at which the arena entrances will also open).

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office