Bologna braces itself for the big men’s Del Monte Coppa Italia Final Four weekend. The Unipol Arena in Casalecchio di Reno will host the two semifinals on Saturday, Itas Trentino Trento v Mint Vero Volley Monza at 16:00 local time (15:00 UTC), and Sir Susa Vim Perugia v Allianz Milan at 18:30 (17:30), as well as the trophy match on Sunday at 15:45 (14:45), which will determine the winner of the 46th edition of the national cup competition.
Del Monte Coppa Italia SuperLega
Coppa Italia Final Four about to heat up Bologna!
Watch the Italian national cup Final Four live on VBTV
Published 08:21, 25 Jan 2024
- Watch the Del Monte Coppa Italia SuperLega live and on demand on VBTV.
Itas Trentino Trento v Mint Vero Volley Monza
Itas Trentino Trento have won the Coppa Italia three times in history, but not since 2013. They are entering the Final Four as defending national champions of Italy, convincing leaders of the SuperLega Credem Banca standings on 43 points and a 15-1 win-loss record, and top favourites for this year’s national cup trophy. To reach the Final Four, Trentino mastered a 3-0 (25-14, 25-19, 25-23) quarterfinal victory over Rana Verona at home in Trento on January 3, with outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto leading the way with 16 points.
Their semifinal opponents, Mint Vero Volley Monza, have never won the Coppa Italia. In fact, advancing to this year’s Final Four is their best result in the history of the competition. In the quarterfinals in early January, they managed a 3-1 (31-33, 25-20, 25-15, 25-23) home win over Cucine Lube Civitanova, with a 24-point match high from Canadian opposite Arthur Szwarc. Vero Volley qualified for the Coppa Italia quarterfinals as the fourth-placed team in the SuperLega standings after the first half of the regular season, but now they are down to seventh place on 25 points and 8-8.
This will be the 30th encounter between Trentino and Vero Volley. The club from Trento is way ahead in the head-to-head, leading the series 26-3. In the most recent meeting, the champions produced a 3-1 (19-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-23) win at home in a SuperLega match. Luxembourgish opposite Kamil Rychlicki was the best scorer of that game, contributing 23 points to his team’s success. Vero Volley’s most recent win over Trentino came in March 2023 during last season’s SuperLega quarterfinal playoff between the two teams, when they tied the series at 1-1 with a four-set victory at home.
Trentino vs. Monza | Highlights | Superlega | 6a Giornata
Sir Susa Vim Perugia v Allianz Milan
Sir Susa Vim Perugia won the national cup three times, in 2018, in 2019 and, most recently, in 2022. This season, they have already defended their trophies from the FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship and the Supercoppa Italiana, and currently stand second in the SuperLega on 40 and 13-3. In their Coppa Italia quarterfinal on January 4, they hammered out a 3-0 (25-22, 25-16, 25-18) shutout of Valsa Group Modena. Polish outside Kamil Semeniuk topped the charts with 14 points for the winners.
This is the third year in a row, Allianz Milan reach the Coppa Italia semifinals, but they have never been able to progress further to the final. This year, they qualified for the Final Four after a major upset of defending cup-holders Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza in the quarterfinals. They dethroned the opponents in front of their own fans in Piacenza after a nail-biting 3-2 (25-16, 20-25, 25-21, 22-25, 22-20) rollercoaster, with Japanese outside Yuki Ishikawa leading the team to victory with 19 points. Allianz qualified for the quarterfinals as the sixth-placed team in the SuperLega after the first half of the regular season, but now they are up to fifth place on 26 and 8-8.
Sir and Allianz have previously met 27 times at the elite level. The club from Perugia leads the head-to-head series 20-7. However, the club from Milan celebrated victorious in the latest three encounters. Most recently, on December 26, Allianz produced a huge 3-2 (14-25, 20-25, 25-12, 25-22, 15-12) upset of Sir in Perugia in the SuperLega, on the wings of a 25-point match high (including six aces) from Bulgarian legend Matey Kaziyski.
Perugia vs. Milano | Highlights | Superlega | 11a Giornata
Del Monte Coppa Italia SuperLega 2024 Final Four:
Jan 27, 16:00 local (15:00 UTC): Itas Trentino Trento v Mint Vero Volley Monza
Jan 27, 18:30 local (17:30 UTC): Sir Susa Vim Perugia v Allianz Milan
Jan 28, 15:45 local (14:45 UTC): Final
