Ankara the first European loss of the season for Trentino Itas

The first round of Pool A of 2026 CEV Champions League ended with a setback in Turkey for Trentino Itas. In fact, on Wednesday evening the Italian Champions succumbed in three sets on the court of Ziraat Bankkart Ankara in the top clash between the only two still unbeaten teams in the grouping. A result that was all too severe for what was seen in the second and third frames of the game, which developed constantly on the edge of balance.

After a difficult first set, in which the hosts managed to bring all their physicality to bear in serve and attack, the contest in fact became tight, offering a long point-to-point between the two formations, with Michieletto (12 points with 52% at the net, best scorer for the yellow-blues) and Ramon (11 with 48%) on one side and former Abdel-Aziz (best scorer and mvp of the match with 21 winning balls, 63% offensive, two walls and ace) and Fornal (12 with 67% and identical score between block and ace) on the other side to do the talking.

Mendez’s team’s regret is all in not being able to close the heated final of the second partial in their favor, in which at the advantages the Turks were able to cancel six set balls to the guests, before closing on 33-31 in their own favor, at the third chance. Identical fate in the third period, which was closed at a sprint thanks to a double invention by Clevenot (serve and pipe counterattack) after a back-and-forth match that lasted until 22-22. Trentino Itas is now in second place in its grouping, in the midst of a race to center access to the Play Offs, which will go through the next three games in a month that will close the group stage.

“We failed to get into the match right away in the first set, suffering the game of Ziraat that was very effective from the first exchanges”, commented Trentino Itas coach Marcelo Mendez at the end of the match on Turkish soil.

“Instead, from the second period we started playing much better, especially in the fundamentals of attack and batting– added Mendez -, but objectively our opponents had something more than us in the decisive moments. In the third partial we struggled until 22-22, then a couple of errors decided the outcome of that fraction as well. I think this match gives us many reasons to reflect, so that we can try to turn the page immediately and play better the next one”.