Three of the four quarterfinal duels of the 2024-2025 Lega Volley Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà came to an end on Sunday, when the second encounters of the best-of-three series were held, but Igor Gorgonzola Novara and Reale Mutua Fenera Chieri ’76 will need to meet yet another time on Wednesday to determine who will occupy the fourth and final spot in the Italian League semifinals.

The first three were taken by Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano, Numia Vero Volley Milano and Savino Del Bene Scandicci, who brought their series to an end in just two matches after they triumphed on Sunday. Milano and Scandicci will meet in the semifinals, which start next weekend, while Conegliano wait for the outcome of the duel between Novara and Chieri to know their next opponents.

• Watch the Lega Volley Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà playoffs live on VBTV

Needing a victory to avoid elimination after falling in the first match of the series last week, Chieri responded in a very strong way, feeding from the energy of their home fans on Sunday to beat Novara 3-0 (28-26, 25-20, 25-23) to level the series and create the need for a third and decisive match between the teams to determine who takes the last spot in the semifinals.

Former Dutch national team captain Anne Buijs was in excellent form for Chieri on Sunday, leading the team with 17 points (15 kills, two blocks). Two other Olympians, American outside hitter Avery Skinner and French opposite Lucille Gicquel, also got to double digits in scoring, registering 14 and 13 points respectively.

“Today we saw the real Chieri,” said libero Elena Rolando. “We couldn’t play at this level for a few matches, but today we did it. Now we’ll give everything to win the third match.”

Novara, who had gotten 34 points from American opposite Taylor Mims and Japanese outside hitter Mayu Ishikawa in the first match, saw the two have their production limited to just 12 this time. With that, German outside hitter Lina Alsmeier stepped up to carry the team’s offense with 13 points.

Milano and Scandicci struggle to advance

From the three qualified teams, defending champions Conegliano were certainly the ones to have the smoothest ride in the quarterfinals. After beating Bergamo in straight sets last weekend in front of their home fans, the world champions did it again on the road on Sunday, winning 3-0 (25-13, 25-21, 21-19) to advance without hiccups.

Conegliano counted on all their hitters to win as opposite Isabelle Haak and middle blocker Cristina Chirichella led the team with 11 points, but were closely followed by middle blocker Sarah Fahr (9) and outside hitters Khalia Lanier (9) and Gabriela ‘Gabi’ Guimarães (8). The match was also special for star libero Monica De Gennaro, who set a new record for matches played in the Italian elite with 631 appearances.

Lega Volley Femmnilie – Match Schedule & Results

The second-best team in the regular season, Milano were strongly challenged by seventh-placed Megabox Ondulati Savio Vallefoglia, but pushed through to triumph 3-2 (25-16, 20-25, 18-25, 25-16, 15-12) and confirm their presence in the semifinals.

Milano’s star opposite Paola Egonu and Vallefoglia’s American outside hitter Simone Lee topped all scorers with 24 points each. The winning side also counted on 13 points from each of Olympic champion outside hitter Miriam Sylla and Serbian middle blocker Hena Kurtagić.

“We didn’t play at our best today, but we had a long trip to Türkiye during the week and maybe that was a factor,” middle blocker Anna Danesi reacted. “But I’m proud of the fact that we managed to come back after being down 2-1 to beat a team that created a lot of problems for us. The girls who came off the bench contributed a lot and that’s great because we’ll need everyone going forward.”

Scandicci’s qualification against Eurotek Uyba Busto Arsizio was even more dramatic as last year’s runners-up saw themselves down two sets on Sunday before coming back to take the match 3-2 (19-25, 22-25, 25-23, 25-20, 22-20) and move forward.

Olympic champion opposite Ekaterina Antropova was huge for Scandicci, leading the team with a match-high 32 points (27 kills, four aces, one block) and scoring in critical moments for them. Outside hitters Britt Herbots and Camilla Mingardi, with 16 and 13 points respectively, were also very important for the team.

“I thought that we made their lives easier in the first two sets by making too many errors,” head coach Marco Gaspari analyzed. “Not even after being down 2-0 or trailing 8-5 in the tie-breaker our team gave up and I’m proud of them. It was one of the best victories since I got here. We had two challenging weeks and now we’ll have a few days to catch our breath before the semifinals start.”

Busto had three players ending the match with 20 or more points scored – outside hitters Rebecca Piva and Laura Künzler, who tallied 25 and 20 respectively, and opposite Josephine Obossa, who registered 23.

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