Trento, 10 April 2024
Play Off Scudetto, on Thursday (20.30) in Monza game 4 of the Semifinal
Game 4 of the SuperLega Credem Banca 2024 Scudetto Play Off Semifinal will be played on Thursday, 11 April at the Opiquad Arena in Monza. For the second time in the series, Itas Trentino will be on stage in Brianza, hunting for the third victory over Mint Vero Volley that would guarantee them qualification to the Final, being ahead 2-1. Kick-off scheduled for 8.30 pm, with live broadcast on Radio Dolomiti and live streaming on the OTT Volleyball World Tv platform.
HERE ITAS TRENTINO The Italian champions are preparing to experience the last external confrontation of the series with the chance to play the second of three opportunities to gain access to the final round of the draw.
"We face this away match with a twofold awareness: the difficulties we will encounter and the tools we possess to face them," coach Fabio Soli stressed during the presentation ". With the three-setter module, Mint plays an effective and balanced game in both phases, and can afford to face some receiving rotations with four elements instead of the classic three. For our part, we have had three days to recover our energy and prepare for what we expect to be a real sporting battle where both the game and the emotional content will count for a lot. This will be an opportunity for us to resume expressing our volleyball against a very respectable opponent".
The Gialloblù coach will still have to do without director Sbertoli, but will recover Rychlicki, who already returned regularly to training with the group on Tuesday morning after having to leave the court during the fourth set of game 3 due to cramps. In favour of the Gialloblù speaks an important seasonal trend; after a home defeat, in fact, Itas Trentino has always won the next match; it happened after the 2-3 with Resovia on 17 January (victory in Piacenza four days later) and after the 1-3 with Padova with Perugia on 3 March (home victory with Modena on 6 March). During its season Trento has never lost two matches in a row. This will be Trentino Volleyball's 42nd official match in the 2023/24 season, the 25th away match, the 153rd in the Play Off Scudetto (a balance of 91 won and 61 lost). On this occasion the club from via Trener will play its 61st match in a Scudetto Play Off Semifinal, where it boasts 33 wins and 27 losses.
TWO WINS AND EIGHT LOSSES IN THE PREVIOUS MATCH 4 OF THE SEMIFINAL In the past, Trentino Volleyball has already played ten times (out of a total of twenty previous appearances) a match 4 of the Play Off Semifinal Scudetto, picking up two wins and eight losses. The only successes are related to the 3-2 home win against Lube in the 2010 series and the 3-0 win against Perugia in 2018, while the seven defeats are related to the 2-3 at PalaTrento in the 2006 series against Treviso, the 1-3 at PalaPanini in the 2011 series and at PalaTrento in 2016 against Modena, to the 0-3 at the PalaEvangelisti in the 2017 series against Perugia, to the 0-3 at the Eurosuole Forum in Civitanova in the 2019 series, to the 0-3 at the BLM Group Arena in the 2021 series, again with Civitanova, to the 1-3 at home with Lube in the 2022 series and to the 0-3 in Piacenza in the 2023 match.
THE OPPONENTS The Mint Vero Volleyball will receive for the third time this season the visit of Itas Trentino with the need to defend the factor field for the first time to continue to hope for qualification to the first Scudetto Final in its history, possibly the third of the season after those of Challenge Cup and Coppa Italia. Only a success at the friendly venue, which is expected to be packed with fans, could allow Eccheli's line-up to bring the series back to the IlT quotidiano Arena for the fifth and decisive challenge and go in search of the second qualification to Game 5 in this edition of the Play Off Scudetto, after the one in the quarter-finals played against Civitanova. Maar's recovery and his great performance combined with that of the other two high-ball forwards (73 points in three in game 3) will probably advise the hosts' coach to continue on the path of the three-setter module.
THE BACKGROUND Monza is the tenth opponent Trentino Volley has faced the most times in its men's history; Thursday's match will be the 35th. The tally speaks in favour of the Gialloblù at 29-5, including nine previous matches in the Play Off Scudetto: two in 2016 (quarter-finals, Trento won 2-0), four in 2023 (quarter-finals, Trento won 3-1) and three in the current edition. Never before this season have the two clubs faced each other in the penultimate act of the draw; the only semi-final already in the archives is that of this season's Coppa Italia edition (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 the T quotidiano Arena (scores of 19-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-23) and 3-0 in Monza on 3 February (scores of 12-25, 17-25, 17-25), right at the Opiquad Arena. In Brianza, Vero Volleyball has won only in three of the fourteen matches played against the Gialloblù: at the tie break on 4 March 2018 and on 25 October 2020, 3-1 on 22 March 2023 in match 2 of the Play Off Scudetto quarter-finals. In the other eleven instances it was Trentino Volley that triumphed: seven times by 3-0, two by 3-1 and one by 3-2 (23 December 2018 - still the longest challenge in the history of the via Trener club: 2h and 45 minutes).
THE SERIE Itas Trentino is 2-1 ahead in the best-of-five semifinal series, thanks to the 3-0 win on 31 March in game 1 in Trento (27-25, 25-20, 25-22) and the 3-1 win in game 2 in Monza (25-15, 21-25, 25-18, 25-18), to which Mint Vero Volleyball replied on Sunday evening at the T quotidiano Arena with an external 3-2 (26-24, 22-25, 25-27, 27-25, 13-15). On Thursday, game 4, which could be the last of the confrontation only if the Gialloblù team wins again; should the Brianzoli win the match on 11 April, game 5 will also be necessary, which will be played again in Trento on Sunday 14 April at 6 p.m. Whoever passes the round will find the winner between Perugia and Milan in the Final (this series will also be a best-of-five match, starting on 18 April), with the Umbrians currently ahead 2-1 (game 4 on Thursday at 8.30 p.m. at the Allianz Cloud).
THE REFEREES The match will be directed by Giuseppe Curto (first referee from Gorizia) and Dominga Lot, second whistle from Santa Lucia di Piave (Venice). For Curto, in Serie A since 2013, sixteenth match of the season in the men's top league; last meeting with Trentino Volley on 25 February in Perugia (defeat in four sets). For Lot, on the roster since 2010 and international since 2017, nineteenth match referred to SuperLega teams; the most recent precedent referred to the Gialloblù colours is 17 March (victory in three sets against Modena in game 3 of the quarter-finals).
RADIO, INTERNET AND TV Game 4 will be reported live by Radio Dolomiti, media partner of Trentino Volleyball. The frequencies to listen to the regional network can be found on the website www.radiodolomiti.com, where it will also be possible to follow the live radio commentary in streaming.
Also confirmed is the (paid) service on the OTT platform 'Volleyball World TV'. More information on how to use it can be found at https://it.volleyballworld.com/volleyball-tv-it.
On television a summary will be aired on Friday 12 April 2024 at 4.30 pm 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 www.trentinovolley.it, and will always be active on the Gialloblù social networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook, www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).
Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office