Itas Trentino on the hunt for redemption
Monza-Trento
MINT Vero Volleyball Monza is back on the court for the sixth day of the return leg of SuperLega Credem banca 2023-2024. At the’Opiqaud Arena in Monza, Saturday, Feb. 3 at 8 p.m., Coach Max Eccheli’s boys are ready to face the’Italian Champions of Itas Trentino.
The second challenge within a week against the Trentino lineup; in fact, the two teams just faced each other last weekend in the semifinals of the Del Monte Coppa Italia in Bologna. A challenge resolved only in the fifth set, where the Brianzoli threw their hearts over the obstacle led by an extraordinary Eric Loeppky, author of 21 points.
Max Eccheli’s boys will have to make the most of the positive energy of the moment, also certified by the easy 3-0 Challenge Cup victory in the first leg semifinal against Galatasaray, to try to overpower the odds against last season’s Scudetto winners. The Brianzoli ranks, however, will not be full given the absence of Japanese setter Ran Takahashi, injured during the last championship match against Rana Verona, and central Francesco Comparoni.
Itas è alone leads in SuperLega, having won 15 of the 16 matches played this year, hoisting itself to first place on 43 points, three lengths ahead of Sir Susa Vim Perugia. The Brianzoli, on the other hand, currently occupy seventh place with 25 points tied with Verona and one point behind Milan. It will be the thirty-first confrontation between the two teams, with a balance 26 wins in favor of Trento and 4 for the Monzese.
Between the court and the bench there are only two former players in the match: Gianluca Galassi and coach Fabio Soli. The Monzese’s center, a native of Trento, played in an Itas jersey in the 2014/2015 season; almost a three-year stint on the Brianza bench, on the other hand, for Soli at Vero Volleyball from 2018 to 2020.
