Six teams will compete for a place on the podium at the Men's Club World Champs in Betim, Brazil from December 7 to 11 and Itas Trentino will do so with a team that looks a lot like the one that won bronze last year.

The Italian giants and six-time world champions have maintained most of the core that helped the 2021 team take Italian Supercoppa gold, silver in the CEV Champions League and the Italian Cup and third place in the SuperLega Credem Banca. A subtle tactical tweak made by head coach Angelo Lorenzetti, however, aims to help the team win their first world title since 2018.

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Trentino’s outside hitter trio of Alessandro Michieletto, Matey Kaziyski and Daniele Lavia was one of the team’s strengths last season. In order for all three players to be on the court at the same time, Lorenzetti moved Lavia to opposite.

This year, however, the coach opted to use the veteran Kaziyski in the position instead, pairing Michieletto and Lavia as outside hitters and recreating a setup that helped the Italian national team to victory at the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship just a few months ago.

“We’re finding our form with Kazyiski at opposite, but in the end, it’s not that big of a change,” the 23-year-old Lavia said in an interview with Italian website Gazzetta. “This formation gives us a different balance offensively and I think the load is split more evenly between us. I believe that’s an advantage and we need to make the most of it.”

The rest of the team remains almost the same, with Italian national team setter Riccardo Sbertoli calling the shots and Serbian internationals Marko Podraščanin and Srećko Lisinac in the middle. The main change is at the libero position, with 19-year-old Gabriele Laurenzano taking the spot of German international Julian Zenger, who has left the club.

The club has also added more options for Lorenzetti to work with, bringing in Italian opposite Gabriele Nelli and Czech national team outside hitter Donovan Džavoronok. With the new faces on the squad, Trentino have won five of their first ten SuperLega matches to rank third in the standings.

“We’re seeing some results now,” Lavia reflected. “We missed Sbertoli because of injuries in some matches at the start of the season, and that hurt us a little bit. Our roster is deeper this season and that showed in the bronze medal match of the Supercoppa and in the Champions League.”

Trentino are one of three teams in Pool B and will face Iran’s Paykan Club on December 8 and Brazil’s Itambé Minas on December 9. Two of the three teams will advance to the semifinals.

Quick links:
Volleyball Club World Champs - Betim 2022
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