Trento, 30 March 2024

Easter at ilT quotidiano Arena: 6 p.m. start of the 2024 Play Off Semi Final Series

The SuperLega Credem Banca 2024 Scudetto Play Off Semi Finals kick off on Easter Sunday, March 31st, 2024. Itas Trentino will take on Mint Vero Volley Monza in the best-of-five matchup, three of which are to be played in Trento thanks to the 2023/24 regular season victory. Game 1 will be played at 6 p.m. right at the ilT quotidiano Arena: live RAI Sport, Radio Dolomiti and live streaming on the OTT Volleyball World Tv platform.
HERE ITAS TRENTINO After having closed in three games the quarterfinals with Modena and, in the meantime, also detached the qualification to the Champions League Final (in Antalya - Turkey, next May 5th) the Champions of Italy are ready to get back on the court and support the confrontation with the Brianza team that puts a place in the Final up for grabs.
"It will be very interesting and challenging to confront again with Monza, who plays a fast volleyball that throughout the season has proven to be effective," explained coach Fabio Soli introducing the series - . Therefore, a sequence of very difficult matches awaits us in quick succession, to be approached with the right attitude and always without looking beyond each individual set, because the confrontation won with Civitanova shows that Mint is a team capable of always fighting and always going up the ladder in any situation. We will be able to have the home court factor in three of the five potential matches, so it becomes important to get the result in game 1 right away and then look forward to the next ones with more confidence. We come to this first fixture with a full week of work behind us, which we have used to prepare ourselves as well as possible from both a physical and a technical and tactical point of view. We are ready for the final rush of the season."
The Trentino coach has to do without only director Sbertoli (there will still be French Garcia in his place on the roster, with Acquarone confirmed as the regular player); the other fourteen members of the roster, will regularly complete their preparation between this afternoon's practice and Sunday morning at the ilT quotidiano Arena. Game 1 will be Trentino Volley’s 39th match of the season, the 1,035th official match in the club's men's history. For Acquarone, Garcia themselves, but also for Magalini, it will be the absolute debut in a Scudetto Play Off Semifinal; Podrascanin and Michieletto, on the other hand, are the players on the current roster who count the most matches in a Trentino jersey at this stage of the schedule (14 matches in three previous series).
SIXTH SCUDET PLAY OFF SEMIFINAL FOR TRENTINO VOLLEY It opens the Semifinal of the Scudetto Play Offs number 16 in twenty-one participations in the men's history of Trentino Volleyball, the fifteenth in the last sixteen years. Nine instances in which the Via Trener-based club has made it past the round, thus gaining access to the final; the last time in the last edition, overcoming Piacenza 3-2. In the Play Off Scudetto, the via Trener Club has so far played a total of 149 matches, achieving success in 89 instances (including 61 at home). The player who has totaled the most matches in the semifinals with the yellow-blue jersey is Matey Kaziyski, who came in at 35.
EASTER ON COURT FOR FIFTH TIME IN HISTORY In its more than 20-year history as a men's team, Trentino Volleyball had already sustained an official commitment on Easter Day on four occasions, half of which were played in front of its own audience as it will be on Sunday: precisely on March 31, 2013 (3-0 over Vibo in Game 3 of the quarterfinals), March 27, 2016 (four-set loss to Molfetta in Game 4 of the quarterfinals), April 1, 2018 (3-2 over Perugia in Game 2 of the Semifinals) and April 4th, 2021 (four-set loss to Civitanova in Game 3 of the Semifinals).
THE OPPONENTS  The one that opens on Sunday is the second Scudetto Play Off Semifinal for Mint Vero Volleyball Monza, which, thanks to Wednesday night's success in Civitanova in Game 5 of the quarterfinals, is already sure of at the very least having equaled its best-ever championship result (2021 edition) and of being able to play a European Cup next season as well. Regardless of the outcome of the series with Trento, the brianzolo club's competitive year can already be considered decidedly positive, taking into account that it has been able to consistently secure a place among the best in all three competitions in which it has taken part, thanks also to the silver medals already won in the Challenge Cup (defeated in the Final by Warsaw) and Coppa Italia (ko in Bologna with Perugia). The team coached by Massimo Eccheli confirmed also in the first round of the Play Off those precise peculiarities of theirs that had already emerged in the regular season: they play a fast and effective volleyball thanks to Brazilian director Kreling and are very incisive in the break point phase by taking advantage of block and serve, fundamentals in which they have performers of absolute level respectively such as former Galassi and Maar. Vero Volley's attack is Canadian-driven, taking into account that the same outside hitter and opposite Szwarc find a place among the top seven Play Off bombers. The recovery of Japanese Takahashi also offers additional impetus in place 4.
THE BACKGROUND Monza is the eleventh opponent that Trentino Volleyball has faced the most times in its men's history; a total of 31 (a 27-4 record), including six previous matches in the Play Off Scudetto: two in 2016 (quarter-finals, Trento victory 2-0) and four in 2023 (quarter-finals, Trento victory 3-1). Never before, however, had the two clubs faced each other in the penultimate act of the draw; the only semi-final already in the archives was that of this season's edition of the Coppa Italia (on 27 January: 2-3 for Monza, then runner-up to Bologna). In the 2023/24 regular season the two matches were won by Itas Trentino: 3-1 on 19 November at  IlT quotidiano Arena (scores of 19-25, 25-22, 25-23) and 3-0 in Monza on 3 February (scores of 12-25, 17-25, 17-25). In sixteen matches played in Trento, the yellow-blue club has always managed to defend its game, obtaining the same number of victories: 7 by 3-0, 6 by 3-1 and 3 by 3-2.
THE SERIES The semifinals, as well as the Finals, will be played at the best of five games. The series will potentially unfold over a fifteen-day schedule: after game 1, the teams will move to Monza for game 2 scheduled for Wednesday 3rd at 8.30 p.m., while game 3 will be scheduled again at the ilT quotidiano Arena for Sunday  April 7th (5 p.m.). Games 4 and 5 will be played, should the need arise, on Thursday  April 11th at Brianza (at 8.30 p.m.) and then on Sunday April 14th at 6 p.m. in Trento. Whoever passes the round will find the winner of Perugia-Milan in the final, a series that takes place on Sunday at 7 pm.
THE REFEREES The match will be directed by Alessandro Cerra (of Bologna, in Serie A since 2014) and Umberto Zanussi (of Treviso, on the roster since 2006), respectively at their 17th and 19th season direction against teams of SuperLega Credem Banca. For Cerra, the last precedent against the yellow-blue dates back to February 10th (success in three sets in Catania), while for Zanussi it goes back to March 6th (home victory in three sets in game 1 of the quarter-final against Modena).
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.
Live coverage will be provided on Radio Dolomiti, Trentino Volleyball's media partner. The frequencies to listen to the regional network are available 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 April 1st at 21.50, 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 also be available on the yellow-blue social networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook , www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).
TICKET OFFICE 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 on the Internet by clicking https://trentinovolley.vivaticket.it/it/event/semifinale-play-off-2024-s1/232551. The coupons will then be available on Sunday evening at the ilT quotidiano Arena cash desks, which will be open from 5 p.m. (the same time at which the arena entrances will also open).

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