In the first match of 2024, Taranto will find the Italian Champions Trento on the other side of the net, at 5pm at PalaMazzola on Sunday 7 January.
For the occasion, the Fipav promotion has been renewed which allows access to all Fipav Taranto and Puglia members for just 7 euros, so a packed venue is expected, also due to the prestige of the match against an opponent among the big names in the championship.
In the quarterfinals of the Italian Cup last night Trento beat Verona in three sets, with good performances from places 4 Lavia and Michieletto, emerging galvanized from the qualification for the final four at the end of January in Bologna.
Michieletto Lavia and Sbertoli, Italian nationals, immediately demonstrated that they were on the ball right from the early stages of the first round. Trento also enjoys the very good performances of the Luxembourger fresh from his Italian passport, the opposite Rychlicki (vying for a place in the Italian national team) who arrived from Perugia during the summer signing campaign, plays diagonally with Sbertoli, and in the center as well as the seasoned Serbian champion Podrascanin there is the Slovenian fort Kozamernik. As a libero, the rossoblù acquaintance Gabriele Laurenzano, who blossomed in Taranto in the 2021-22 season, already a libero for the junior national team.
In the first match the rossoblù came close to achieving the feat in Trento with a good Russell on the shields, who made an excellent performance bringing the Ionian team ahead in the 4th set by 5 points, only to then succumb to the strong serve of Michieletto who took the lead by putting receiving is in serious difficulty and excluding any effective attacker from the game. The match went to a tie break but there was nothing left to do for Taranto who gave up their weapons in front of a reinvigorated Trento, still taking home a very precious point for the current ranking.
The libero Marco Rizzo comments on it this way: “We come from a match against Verona where we showed interesting things, with a good first and third set in which we were close to taking home a point; now we are continuing to work and push on our strengths. We know the caliber of our next opponent but this interests us up to a certain point because we always have to think about our game and our side of the net, leaving the field aware of having given everything, pushing to the maximum and taking every opportunity that could arise to bring home as many points as possible in this championship. We are working well with intensity and serenity also in view of next week’s match against Padova, so every time we take the field it will be an opportunity for discussion and growth for the next step.”
