Trento, 09 November 2024

SuperLega, on Sunday at the ilT quotidiano Arena the 48th Adige derby

The seventh round of the SuperLega Credem Banca 2024/25 regular season will take place this weekend. The Itas Trentino men's team will return to play in front of its home crowd, hosting Rana Verona on Sunday, November 10, at the ilT Quotidiano Arena for the traditional Adige Derby . The match is scheduled to start at 6 PM, with live coverage on RAI Sport, Radio Dolomiti, and paid live streaming on the OTT platform VBTV.
HERE ITAS TRENTINO The European Champion team awaits the visit of the Scaligeri with the goal of achieving another important result to keep the Venetians at a safe distance from the third place currently occupied by Michieletto and his teammates. The match will kick off a busy period for the yellow-blues, who will play six times from now until the end of November, four of which will be played at home.
“I expect an intense and difficult match for two main reasons,” explained coach Fabio Soli during the presentation. “The first is that we will be facing an opponent with great quality in their game, which is clearly demonstrating their ability to consistently occupy a high-ranking position. The second reason is that with this match, we will begin a period where we will play an official match every three days until the end of December. We want to start this cycle in the best possible way, knowing full well that Rana Verona is a very physical team that can put anyone under pressure with their serving and attacking fundamentals. This will be an opportunity to further raise our level of focus, channel our energies to improve our game, and be ready to tackle the challenges that the evening will present.”
The Trentino coach will have to do without Romanian middle blocker Bela Bartha, who will still be unavailable due to an abdominal injury sustained twenty days ago. In his place, Leonardo Sandu, a 2007-born outside hitter usually playing for UniTrento Volley in Serie B, will be included in the lineup. The team will complete its preparation for the match with training sessions this afternoon and a final practice on Sunday morning. This encounter will mark the 1,053rd match in the yellow-blue history in the men's sector and the 150th for Captain Riccardo Sbertoli with Trento.
600th YELLOW-BLUE MATCH IN REGULAR SEASON On this occasion, Trentino Volley will celebrate its 600 official matches played in the regular season of the top Italian men's championship. They have won 425 of these matches: 233 at the home of the ilT Quotidiano Arena and 192 away. The most frequently achieved result has been a 3-0 victory, accomplished on 213 occasions, while the total number of points earned in the standings is 1,256 (averaging 50.2 per season). The player who has played the most matches (210 out of 599) is Matey Kaziyski, who also holds records for points scored (3,146 points) and the number of times he has worn the captain's armband (138). The coach who has led the team from the bench the most is former coach Radostin Stoytchev (200 appearances and 168 victories).
THE OPPONENTS The tie-break defeat suffered at home against Modena a week ago has slowed Rana Verona's momentum but has not changed the significance of a high-level start to the season. The Scaligeri team is currently the fourth force in the championship, having only failed to earn points in the first matchday, where they lost in three sets at the PalaBarton in Perugia. Subsequently, they secured victories against Cisterna, Milan, Civitanova, and Grottazzolina, demonstrating their potential to be among the main contenders in the SuperLega. Among the standout players in this strong start is opposite Keita, who has already scored 139 points, making him by far the top scorer in the tournament; the nearest competitor (Michieletto) trails him by seventeen points. The Malian player is a key reference for the game orchestrated by Russian setter Abaev, who also relies on other important players such as Czech Džavoronok(one of many former players—47 matches with Trentino Volley, 172 points, and a Scudetto won in the 2022/23 season) and fellow outside hitter Sani, who is currently replacing captain Mozic, who is not yet at his best. In the middle, two players familiar with the Trentino reality are frequently alternating with Vitelli: Zingel (48 appearances and 202 points in the 2017/18 season) and Cortesia (21 matches and 48 points in the 2020/21 season).
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD Sunday’s match will mark the 48th official encounter between Trentino Volley and Verona Volley, placing Verona alongside Cisterna as the fifth most frequent opponent in Trentino Volley's competitive history. Only Civitanova (99), Modena (88), Piacenza (75), and Perugia (56) have faced Trentino Volley more often. The record leans in favor of the club from Via del Brennero, with 34 wins to Verona’s 13. Trento has consistently won each of their last four official matches, never extending beyond four sets: three victories at home (on December 26, 2022, January 3, 2024, and January 14, 2024) and one on Verona’s court (October 8). Historically, home-court advantage has played a decisive role at the Via Fersina arena, with Trento prevailing in 21 of the 26 matches held there. Verona’s last victory in Trentino dates back to October 4, 2020, achieved in three sets. In recent months, the two teams have also contested two friendly matches, both ending in four sets with one win apiece. The first, on September 15 in Montichiari, took place in the final of the "Ferramenta Astori" tournament, where Trento prevailed with set scores of 23-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-17. The second, on October 2 at the Sanbapolis gym in Trento, saw Verona claim victory with scores of 21-25, 25-18, 21-25, 15-25.
THE REFEREES The match will be officiated by Marco Zavater from Rome (a Serie A referee since 2008) and Maurizio Canessa from Bari (on the roster since 2009), marking their tenth joint SuperLega match. Zavater is the only one of the two with previous experience officiating a Derby dell'Adige, having presided over the January 23, 2019, match, where Trento won at home in three sets. He last officiated Trentino Volley in the opening match of this regular season, held in Cisterna on September 29 (a 3-1 victory for Itas Trentino). Canessa, on the other hand, hasn’t officiated a Trentino match since March 25, 2023 (a 3-1 home win over Monza).
TV, RADIO, AND INTERNET The match will be a global media event, with live coverage on TV, radio, and the internet. It will be broadcast on RAI Sport, available on digital terrestrial television at channel 58. Live commentary will be provided on Radio Dolomiti, media partner of Trentino Volley. The frequencies to listen to the regional network can be found on the website www.radiodolomiti.com, where the live radio broadcast will also be available via streaming.
A video streaming broadcast will also be available on the OTT platform "Volleyball World TV"; the service is paid. For more information on how to access it, please visit https://it.volleyballworld.com/volleyball-tv-it.
A highlights package of the match will also be broadcast on Monday, November 11, at approximately 9:50 PM on RTTR – TV partner of Trentino Volley.
Online, live point-by-point updates will be provided by the Lega Pallavolo Serie A website (www.legavolley.it) and by the official Trentino Volley website (www.trentinovolley.it), along with continuous coverage on the yellow-blue Social Media channels (www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).
TICKETS The match is included in the 2024/25 season subscription. Tickets for the individual match can be purchased online at any time by clicking https://trentinovolley.vivaticket.it/it/event/itas-trentino-verona/251963. Tickets will also be available on Sunday at the ilT Quotidiano Arena box office, which will open at 5:00 PM, at the same time the arena entrances will be opened.
In the attached photo, taken by Marco Trabalza, the three-player receive formation of Itas Trentino in action during a previous match at the ilT quotidiano Arena in Trento.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office