11/04/2017 18:16
TRENTINO hope to improve positive record against French teams in CEV Cup Final
2017 CEV Volleyball Cup - Men
Trento, Italy, April 11, 2017. TRENTINO Diatec and TOURS VB will be locking horns on Wednesday night in the first of two matches on schedule for the final stage of the 2017 CEV Volleyball Cup – Men.
TRENTINO Diatec and TOURS VB have played each other four times already – always in the group stage of the CEV Volleyball Champions League. The Italians lead the way with three wins to one – they won 3-0 in France on November 1, 2012 and by the same score on December 5, 2012 and December 2, 2015 – on both occasions on home soil. The last match, played on December 16, 2015 went to TOURS VB (3-2). In terms of matches with French teams, TRENTINO have a record of five wins and only one loss – since in the 2009 edition of the CEV Volleyball Champions League they beat BEAUVAIS Oise twice.
TRENTINO Diatec are in high spirits after taking the third round of their semi-final series with Sir Sicoma Colussi PERUGIA in the Italian national league. However, TOURS VB will be a hard nut to crack – on Wednesday night and even more on Saturday when the re-match takes place in France. TRENTINO will be trying to use the home-court advantage in order to get an edge – so far they have won 22 consecutive matches at PalaTrento and have not lost any in 11 months and a half. TRENTINO will count on a full roster and the match will coincide with the first European Cup final for setter Alessandro Blasi and libero Matteo Chiappa. Jan Stokr and Massimo Colaci are the only ‘survivors’ from the roster of TRENTINO when the Italians won the 2011 edition of the CEV Volleyball Champions League.
TRENTINO Diatec will be vying for their fourth European title when they contest the finals of the 2017 CEV Volleyball Cup – Men against France’s TOURS VB. This is actually the sixth European final in the history of TRENTINO Diatec – following on their three consecutive CEV Volleyball Champions League titles (in 2009, 2010 and 2011) and the finals they lost to Dinamo MOSCOW and Zenit KAZAN in the 2015 edition of the CEV Cup and 2016 CEV Volleyball Champions League, respectively. On top of this, TRENTINO have four gold medals from the FIVB Club World Championship to their name.
TRENTINO’s success story on the international stage started on April 5, 2009 in Prague when they beat Iraklis THESSALONIKI 3-1 to secure their first of three consecutive Champions League titles after previously taking the derby with Lube Banca Marche MACERATA in the semis. Their second title followed on May 2, 2010 when they beat Dinamo MOSCOW at Atlas Arena in Lodz, before they delighted a home crowd at PalaOnda in Bolzano to take Europe’s most coveted Volleyball title for the third straight year on March 27, 2011.
As far as the FIVB Club World Championships are concerned, TRENTINO won their first title in 2009 beating PGE Skra BELCHATOW and repeated that same feat in 2010 when they edged the same Polish team 3-1. In 2011 and 2012, TRENTINO claimed their third and fourth titles by sweeping aside Poland’s JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel and Brazil’s Sada Cruzeiro in the final act of the competition.
If you consider domestic competitions as well, the CEV Cup matches with TOURS VB will be the thirtieth final TRENTINO Diatec will be contesting. Three times – in 2008, 2009 and 2013 – they played LPR Volley PIACENZA in the finals of the national league. Four times, they crossed the ways of MODENA Volley (in the 2015 and 2016 editions of the national cup, the 2015 championship series and the 2015 Supercup); six times, they played Cucine Lube (with the national league title at stake in 2012, the national cup in 2015 and 2017, and the Supercup in 2008, 2012 and 2013).
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