Trento, 18 February 2025

SuperLega, on Wednesday at ilT quotidiano Arena the recovery of the 12th round

On Wednesday, February 19, the recovery match of the twelfth round of the SuperLega Credem Banca 2024/25 regular season will take place at the ilT quotidiano Arena. The Itas Trentino men's team will host Cisterna Volley in a match that was originally scheduled for December 15, when the yellow-blues were in Brazil for the Club World Championship Final 2024. The match is set to start at 8:30 PM, with live commentary on Radio Dolomiti and paid live streaming on the OTT platform VBTV.
HERE ITAS TRENTINO After two consecutive away matches last week, the yellow-blue team returns to play in front of their home crowd, beginning a mini-cycle of three consecutive home matches within seven days. This includes upcoming games at their venue on Saturday against Civitanova (a preview of the penultimate round) and the following Wednesday against Chaumont (February 26, return leg of the CEV Cup quarter-finals).
“We face a strong opponent like Cisterna for the third time this season, who has always managed to challenge us due to their pronounced characteristics during break points,” emphasized coach Fabio Soli during the presentation. “Service, blocking, and defense are very productive fundamentals for the Pontine team. This time, unlike our previous meeting on December 29, they will be able to utilize their starting setter Baranowicz, who is among the best in his role. Therefore, I expect a challenging match that we must approach with maximum determination to continue pursuing our objectives.”
Itas Trentino will be at full strength for this match, with Bristot likely taking on the role of second libero, allowing Pesaresi to play as fourth outside hitter and potentially be used in the back row as a regular substitute to strengthen reception. The team will complete its preparation with training sessions at ilT quotidiano Arena this afternoon and a final training session on Wednesday morning. This match will mark the 1,080th game in the history of the yellow-blues in men's volleyball, and the thirty-sixth of the season for the European Champions, with 494 games played at home.
THE OPPONENTS Fifty days since their last encounter, Cisterna Volley arrives at ilT quotidiano Arena in excellent form. The Pontine team has climbed to seventh place in the standings (tied with Modena) thanks to an ongoing streak of four consecutive victories, all decided in the fifth set: against Padova, at home against Modena, in Taranto, and just last Sunday at home against Grottazzolina. Achieving a positive result on Wednesday would mathematically secure their qualification for the Play Off Scudetto, considering that Yuasa Battery in ninth place is currently five points behind and has four fewer wins than Cisterna. The season for coach Falasca's team has been characterized by significant effectiveness at blocking (only Trento and Perugia have scored more points in this fundamental), particularly highlighted by Serbian middle blocker Nedeljkovic's impressive performance (55 winning blocks, making him the most prolific player in this area) and French opposite Faure's scoring prowess (325 points scored so far). In defense, former player Pace has demonstrated his qualities as he was chosen two years ago by Trentino Volley as Laurenzano's alternate; he is currently the best receiver in the league. At the start of the match, Trentino Volley will dedicate a moment to him to celebrate his 46 appearances in yellow-blue between 2022 and 2024, during which he contributed to winning both the Scudetto and Champions League titles.
THE BACKGROUNDS Cisterna (formerly Latina) is the fifth club faced by Trentino Volley with the most official matches in its history related to the men’s division: forty-nine total, taking into account also the two previous of this season, both concluded on the 3-1 in favour of the yellow-blues (29 September in Lazio, 29 December in Trento for the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia). Only Civitanova (102), Modena (89), Piacenza (77) and Perugia (57) can boast about it more. The score is 39-10 in favor of the Club of via del Brennero, but the pontoons have won two of their last four matches in front of their own crowd: 3-0 on 20 March 2022 (final match of the 2021/22 regular season) and 3-2 on 15 January 2023. The score is 39-10 for the Club di via del Brennero, but the Pontines have won two of their last four matches in front of their own crowd: 3-0 on 20 March 2022 (final match of the 2021/22 regular season) and 3-2 on 15 January 2023. At the ilT quotidiano Arena, the situation changes drastically: the Pontines have not won in Trento since the 13th of April 2014 (1-3), in a playoff match for the 5th place, and they have won just three of their last twenty-one matches. In Trentino, the Lazio team has only been successful on two other occasions (out of a total of twenty-five matches played) and also at the end of a four-set challenge: on December 1st 2002 and on January 6th 2007. The most recent regular season match played in Trento dates back to 30 December 2023: 3-0 home match with sets of 25-19, 25-20, 25-20.
THE REFEREES The monitoring of the match will be entrusted to Rocco Brancati from Città di Castello and Alessandro Cerra from Bologna, at the fourth joint SuperLega match in their career. Brancati is in his seventh seasonal championship game and previously refereed Trentino Volley during their 3-1 victory on the 22nd of December in Taranto. Cerra is on his 14th referee job of SuperLega and finds Itas Trentino after the success at the tie-breaker set in Perugia (12th January), the loss by 1-3 in Civitanova (1st December) and the victory in four sets in Milan (13th October). It will be the first Trento-Cisterna match ever for both.
RADIO AND INTERNET The match will be viewable in a news report by Radio Dolomiti, media partner of Trentino Volley. 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 news live, also in streaming.
The live streaming video on the OTT VBTV platform is also confirmed; the service is paid for both. On television, a summary will be broadcast on Friday, February 21st, at 16.30, on RTTR - media partner of Trentino Volley.
On the internet, point-to-point updates will be handled by the website of the A-League Volleyball (www.legavolley.it),by the same www.trentinovolley.it, and will always be active on the yellow-blue social networks (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook, www.trentinovolley.it/instagram, and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).
TICKET OFFICE The match is included in the season ticket 2024/25. You can buy tickets for the single game at any time on the internet, by clicking https://trentinovolley.vivaticket.it/it/event/itas-trentino-cisterna/258738, or directly on Sunday afternoon at the counters of the ilT quotidiano Arena, active from 19.30, which is same time the hall entrances to the arena will be opened.
POLI DAY In order to celebrate the long-standing partnership with the public, Poli Group (which has been signing the shirt of the libero for ten seasons), will be the first in line to support the yellow-blue team, but in this case, it will also be particularly close to its supporters. Before the match, all the fans who will populate the arena in via Fersina will receive a nice tribute that will allow them to support Sbertoli and his colleagues in an even more colorful and noisy way. At the start of the game, then, signed miniballs will be thrown towards the public directly by the players of the two formations. The prize for the best player has also been marked by Poli, chosen thanks to the votes of journalists present in the press gallery: a basket of delicious Gusto Contadino products.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office