Incredible reverse sweep gets Conegliano ahead of Novara

The best team in the 2025-2026 Lega Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà regular season, Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano struggled, but made their homecourt advantage count and started the best-of-five semifinal series against Igor Gorgonzola Novara ahead.

Playing in front of their home fans in Villorba on Sunday, the Panthers lost a pair of very competitive sets but didn't back down and produced an incredible reverse sweep to triumph 3-2 (23-25, 23-25, 25-15, 26-24, 15-12) in the opening match of the series.

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

Still without Brazilian outside hitter Gabriela 'Gabi' Guimarães, who got injured during the quarterfinals, Conegliano counted on 25 points (19 kills, three blocks, three aces) from Swedish opposite Isabelle Haak and another 21 (17 kills, three blocks, one ace) from Chinese outside hitter Zhu Ting, who earned the match's MVP award, to come out on top.

"I'm happy with the victory," Zhu said. "We didn't start well, but kept pushing and working hard to turn things around."

Russian opposite Tatiana Tolok had an outstanding performance for Novara, topping all scorers with an impressive 34 points (30 kills, four aces). Belgian outside hitter Britt Herbots came next with ten (eight kills, two aces).

"We're incredibly disappointed now because we feel like we let some chances to close the match slip through our fingers," middle blocker Sara Bonifacio reflected. "But we're also very proud of our performance, and that will give us more confidence to approach the next matches of the series knowing that we can challenge them."

Lega Volley Femminile - Match Schedule & Results

Another battle between the teams is scheduled for next Saturday, when Novara will host the second match of the series. On Sunday, Numia Vero Volley Milano and Savino Del Bene Scandicci meet for the second time - Milano won their first duel on the road on Saturday.

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