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Superlega 2023

Getting hotter in Italy with Sunday’s SuperLega semis

Watch the Italian semifinals live on VBTV

Published 11:37, 29 Mar 2024

Trentino’s Marko Podrascanin in attack against Vero Volley (source: legavolley.it)

Trentino’s Marko Podrascanin in attack against Vero Volley

With the five-game drama in two of the Italian 2023-2024 SuperLega Credem Banca quarterfinals now settling away, it is time for more excitement as the best-of-five semifinal playoffs get underway on Sunday. For the first-leg matches, defending champions and regular season winners Itas Trentino Trento host Mint Vero Volley Monza, while reigning club world champions Sir Susa Vim Perugia welcome Allianz Milan.

  • Watch Italy’s SuperLega Credem Banca live and on demand on VBTV.
Itas Trentino Trento v Mint Vero Volley Monza

The first game of the series between Itas Trentino Trento and Mint Vero Volley Monza is set to open the semifinal stage of the playoffs at 18:00 local time (16:00 UTC) on March 31 at the ilT quotidiano Arena in Trento. 2023 champions Trentino dominated the regular season and won it on a convincing 55 points and a 19-3 win-loss record. Then they went on to knock out eighth-placed Valsa Group Modena in a three-game quarterfinal series. Vero Volley finished the regular season in fifth place on 39 and 13-9 and then outplayed fourth-placed Cucine Lube Civitanova by 3-2 in wins in their quarterfinal playoff.

The two clubs have met 31 times in history and Trentino have celebrated victorious in 27 of these encounters. This season alone, the head-to-head record stands at 2-1 Trentino’s way. The champions defeated Vero Volley twice in the SuperLega regular season – 3-1 (19-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-23) at home in November and 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-17) away in February. However, in a very important Coppa Italia semifinal in Bologna in late January, Vero Volley produced a 3-2 (23-25, 25-13, 23-25, 25-23, 15-9) upset of Trentino to advance to the trophy match.

“The series that the Monza team won against Civitanova further confirms that this is not an opponent that should be underestimated, and we know this well, because we always have the example of the defeat in the Italy Cup in Bologna in mind. Mint plays good volleyball, makes very few mistakes and has excellent ability to manage the ball well. We will need to start each game with maximum concentration, with determination and the right attitude. I expect a long and difficult semifinal.” Marko Podrascanin, middle blocker and captain of Itas Trentino Trento

Trentino vs. Monza | Highlights | Coppa Italia | Semifinals

Sir Susa Vim Perugia v Allianz Milan

The semifinal series between Sir Susa Vim Perugia and Allianz Milan starts an hour later than the other one. The two-time back-to-back reigning club world champions entertain their opponents at the Pala Barton in Perugia, starting at 19:00 local time (17:00 UTC). Sir finished regular season runners-up on 51 and 16-6. In the quarterfinals, they succeeded in three hard-fought matches against seventh-placed Rana Verona to close their series by 3-0 in wins. Allianz’s 38 points and 12-10 win-loss were enough for a sixth place in the regular season. Then, they surprised third-placed Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza in the quarterfinals, knocking them out by 3-2 in wins.

Sir have won 23 of the previous 33 matches against the club from Milan. However, Allianz have claimed victories in the four most recent SuperLega meetings with their opponents from Perugia. After winning the last two games of last season’s five-match quarterfinal playoff between the two teams, Allianz celebrated victorious in both fixtures of the 2023-2024 regular season – 3-2 (14-25, 20-25, 25-12, 25-22, 15-12) away in December and 3-2 (25-22, 25-27, 17-25, 25-23, 15-13) at home earlier this month. The third duel between the two teams this season was also resolved in five sets and that was their Coppa Italia semifinal encounter in January in Bologna, which Sir won by 3-2 (20-25, 25-23, 25-15, 23-25, 15-11).

“We can't wait to get on the court to start this semifinal series. We face a very high-level team like Milan who demonstrated great qualities in the quarterfinals. We have played three times this season and all three times the matches ended after five very tight sets. So we know we will be facing great difficulties, which is normal for a semifinal. Small details done better or worse could be decisive and make the difference. So we will have to be as incisive, aggressive and concentrated as possible.” Massimo Colaci, libero of Sir Susa Vim Perugia
“We earned this semifinal after a long and demanding series against Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza. Now another great team awaits us. This season we only had 3-2 scores against Perugia. After Piacenza, I said to the boys, ‘let's enjoy this evening, but then head down straight to work, because the next opponent is called Sir Perugia.’” Roberto Piazza, head coach of Allianz Milan

Perugia vs. Milano | Highlights | Superlega | 11a Giornata

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024 semifinals – 1st leg:
Mar 31, 18:00 local (16:00 UTC): Itas Trentino Trento v Mint Vero Volley Monza
Mar 31, 19:00 local (17:00 UTC): Sir Susa Vim Perugia v Allianz Milan

SuperLega Credem Banca 2023-2024: full schedule and results

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