Trento, 11 January 2026 – Rana Verona refuses to give up, winning in a tie-break and claiming its second Adige derby of the season. After trailing by two sets, Coach Soli’s team, the day’s big winners, staged a remarkable comeback, defeating BTS Arena, which had not conquered in the league for fourteen months. Keita (top scorer with 29 points, 62% attack rate, and MVP) and Darlan (21 points with 4 aces) delivered impressive individual performances, but it was the team’s collective effort from the third set onwards that made the difference. There is little time to celebrate, however, as the team returns to the court on Wednesday for a midweek match against Padova.
Coach Soli confirmed the starting six from recent matches, with Christenson and Darlan forming the main diagonal and the Keita-Mozic duo on the wings. In the centre, Cortesia and Vitelli paired up, with Staforini as libero.
In the initial balanced phase, the decibel level in the visitors’ section immediately rose after Vitelli’s block at the end of a long rally (2-3). The hosts then tried to pull away with Flavio’s first half, followed by Sbertoli’s ace (8-5). The Scaligeri stayed close and, with Keita’s monster block on Faure, moved to within one point (9-8). The Trentino team pushed back: first Michieletto stopped Darlan, then Faure scored an ace (13-9). Bartha then scored from position three, increasing the lead (16-10). Verona tried to halt their opponents’ run with a direct point from Mozic’s serve (17-13). The gap remained consistent with shots from Flavio and Ramon, while Darlan tried to keep his team afloat at 20-15. Trento found the decisive break; Vitelli cancelled a set point, but the set ended in favour of the home team at 25-20.
Back on court, the Dolomites started well with Faure’s block, then with Bartha’s first tempo, maintained their two-point lead (6-4). Darlan raised his game at the net and rallied his team, blocking the ball at 9-7. Keita passed Faure and tried to relaunch the Scaligeri, but Trento kept up a relentless pace and, with Michieletto’s block on Darlan, extended their lead to 17-9. Trentino’s lead was comfortable, but Keita energised his team, twice as hard as beating the opponents’ hands, the second time making it 21-15. Mendez’s team created many set points; Verona cancelled the first with Sani’s pipe, Darlan’s ace, and Keita’s first touch, but Trento also sealed the second (25-20).
The start of the third set was evenly balanced, with Cortesia trying to break the deadlock from position three with an attack to make it 5-6. The game was played at high intensity and the men in white closed a long rally with Ramon’s block to make it 8-7. The teams traded points, with Trento minimizing their error rate: Bartha closed out a hard-fought rally, Faure passed to Darlan, and the Dolomites gained a two-point lead (12-10). Verona, however, did not give up and hung on, finding the equalizer with Christenson’s serve (13-13). With Sani’s ace confirmed by video review, Verona took the lead, which they maintained after Nedeljkovic’s first serve, who was also incisive at the net for 17-20. Darlan’s hands-out kept the three-point lead, then he scored two parallel shots that reopened the contest.
The fourth set opened with Flavio’s block, then Keita scored both in attack and from nine metres, hitting Laurenzano squarely (2-3). Christenson raised the block, Darlan fired diagonally, and Verona tried to pull away (3-6). Trento tried to stay in the game, then Sani found an impossible corridor with his left hand, followed by two errors from the opponents (7-11). Verona closed the gap twice out of three, yielding to Flavio, but Nedeljkovic immediately replied (10-14). Keita excelled both in service and in pipe, increasing the gap (10-18). Trento closed the gap and Michieletto’s shot brought the score to 15-20. Keita stopped Garcia and put his team back up by six (16-22), then Christenson made the block that sent the match to a tie-break (17-25).
Darlan immediately fired from nine metres, Keita did the same from position four, but Trento responded and restored the balance. Verona, however, remained clear-headed and Christenson’s ace put them two points ahead; at the change of ends they were up 7-8. Sani also scored directly from the serve, as did Darlan, and Verona went up 9-12.
