Trento, 19 October 2024

SuperLega, on Sunday at ilT quotidiano Arena the A22’s 88th derby

The fourth round of the SuperLega CredemBanca 2024/25 regular season starts this weekend. Itas Trentino will play in front of their home crowd again, hosting Valsa Group Modena on Sunday, October 20, at the ilT quotidiano Arena in the traditional A22 derby, now in its 88th edition. The match will start at 4 PM, with live commentary on Radio Dolomiti and live streaming (paid) on OTT platforms VBTV and DAZN.
HERE ITAS TRENTINO Having won all three previous league matches, the European Champion team is preparing for their first major home match of the season, hosting one of the most anticipated opponents at the via Fersina facility. The goal is to maintain their unbeaten record in the regular season and the top spot in the standings, currently shared with Piacenza, through the game improvements often mentioned by coach Fabio Soli at the start of this season.
"We want to continue our growth path, and to do so, we must be concrete and determined," he explained during the presentation. "The match with Modena is a great classic of the championship, as it pits two historic Italian volleyball clubs that have achieved significant results over time. Compared to the recent past, Valsa Group is a significantly renewed team, centered around De Cecco, a setter capable of getting the best out of his attackers. It's no coincidence that Modena currently has the highest percentage of success in this fundamental aspect after the first three rounds of the championship. Additionally, their strong serving capability, as demonstrated in the previous match against Perugia, is noteworthy. Therefore, it will be crucial to maintain the right clarity during the key moments of the match. In those situations, we need to be concrete, something we successfully managed to do last Sunday in Milan."
The Trentino coach will have to do without Romanian middle blocker Bela Bartha (24 years old today), who will be sidelined for a long time due to an abdominal injury sustained last weekend. Taking his place on the roster will be the 2007-born Leonardo Sandu, a key player for the Junior team that also competes in this year's Serie B championship under the name UniTrento Volley. The team will complete their preparation for the match with training sessions this afternoon and the final practice on Sunday morning. The match will mark the 1,050th in the history of the yellow-blue team, the 482nd home game (with a record of 380 wins and 101 losses), and the 597th in the regular season.
THE OPPONENTS Valsa Group Modena comes to the ilT quotidiano Arena in Trento with a radically renewed team compared to their last visit (seven months ago for game 3 of the Play-Off quarterfinals). Eight out of fourteen players in the roster have been changed to launch a new sports project that aims to bring the Emilia club back among the top teams in Italy. They decided to continue with Alberto Giuliani as the head coach (who has been at the helm since last January) and to retain key players from the previous roster, such as middle blockers Sanguinetti and Stankovic, libero Federici, and outside hitters Davyskiba (returning after an injury-ridden start) and Rinaldi. To strengthen the team, they recruited from Civitanova with setter De Cecco and middle blocker Anzani, from Catania with opposite Buchegger and outside hitter Massari, and from Taranto with Cuban spiker Gutierrez. From abroad, they brought in Dutch setter Meijs and Lebanese opposite Ikhbayri, offering important alternatives alongside the promising middle blocker Mati (from S. Croce). In the first three matches, the Canaries had to concede to Piacenza and Perugia without scoring points but won in just three sets in their home match against Grottazzolina.
THE BACKGROUND The 88th A22 derby in history will be played on Sunday, the sixth in the last twelve months, considering that the two teams also faced each other in the quarter-finals of the last Championship Play Off. Only Civitanova (99 matches) boasts more official precedents with Trentino Volley in its more than twenty years of history. In past years the challenge has also awarded five titles; so many are the finals played against each other by the two Clubs: 2015 Championship Play Off, 2018 and 2015 SuperCup, 2014 and 2015 Coppa Italia (four victories for the Emilian team and one for the Trentino team). However, the overall report is 52-35 for the European Champion Club, also thanks to the fourteen victories in the last twenty matches played. The first meeting in Trento was played just under twenty-four years ago (7th January 2001), with the guests winning 3-1. Subsequently, Modena has won only eight more times in 38 matches played in Trento; the most recent success is dated February 6, 2022, at tie break. The two teams were also challenged in the pre-Championship, with a 3-2 victory for Itas Trentino in the semi-final of the four-way Montichiari tournament (on 14th September, with partials of 25-23, 25-19, 22-25, 27-29, 15-12).
THE REFEREES The match will be refereed by Ilaria Vagni (from Perugia, in Serie A since 2003 and international since 2011) and Massimiliano Giardini (from Verona, tenured referee since 2014), at third match refereed together in their career. Only the Umbrian whistler boasts previous records compared to the A22 derby, curiously refereed always and only at the PalaPanini: on 18th February 2018 (guests success at tie break), on 17th March 2019 (3-0 for Trento), on 24th November 2019 (3-1 for the locals) and on 10th March (success at tie break for Itas Trentino in game 2 of the Championship Play Off quarter-finals). The most recent match of Trentino Volley directed by Vagni is that of April 24th (home knockout by Milan in Game 3 of the Play Off Final 3rd place), while for Giardini the last meeting dates back to the 3-2 home win over Milan a week earlier (game 1).
RADIO, INTERNET AND TV The match will be reported live by Radio Dolomiti, Trentino Volley media partner. Frequencies to listen to the regional network are available on the website www.radiodolomiti.com, where it is also possible to follow the radio news live also in streaming.
Also confirmed is live video streaming on two separate OTT platforms, "VBTV" and DAZN; there is a fee for both services.
A summary of the match will be broadcast on Monday, October 21st at 9:50 p.m., on RTTR channel, Trentino Volleyball's media partner.
Moreover, detailed updates will be managed by the website of the Volleyball League Serie A (www.legavolley.it) and www.trentinovolley.it itself, and always active on gialloblù social networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook, www.trentinovolley.it/instagram e www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).
TICKET OFFICE The match is included in the 2024/25 season ticket. Tickets for the single match can be purchased at any time on the internet by clicking https://trentinovolley.vivaticket.it/it/event/itas-trentino-modena/249460.
Tickets will also be available on Sunday at the ticket office of the ilT quotidiano Arena, active from 3 pm, at the same time as the entrances to the arena will also be opened.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office