Milano dispatch Scandicci and qualify to the Scudetto Finals

Numia Vero Volley Milano capitalized on their second chance to close their semifinal series against Savino Del Bene Scandicci on Sunday and booked their tickets to the 2025-2026 Lega Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà Scudetto Finals.

The teams met for the fourth time in two weeks in front of over 4,000 fans at the Allianz Cloud, and Milano benefited from the homecourt advantage to triumph 3-1 (28-26, 19-25, 25-21, 25-22) and earn their third and last victory in the best-of-five series.

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

Defending champions Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano are the last barrier standing between Milano and their first Lega Femminile title. The Italian giants will have over ten days to prepare for the start of what should be an exciting series, with matches scheduled for April 11, 15, 19, 22 and 25.

Still looking for their first league title, Milano will have their fourth shot at winning the Scudetto Finals in the last five seasons in 2025-2026. They also competed for the title in 2021-2022, 2022-2023 and 2024-2025, falling to Conegliano in all three occasions.

Lega Volley Femminile - Match Schedule & Results

Milano's captain and star opposite Paola Egonu had her most productive performance of the season when the stakes were at their highest, dropping a whopping 35 points (all in kills) and taking home the match's MVP award.

The team coached by Stefano Lavarini also had outside hitters Khalia Lanier (15 points) and Rebecca Piva (12) and Olympic champion middle blocker Anna Danesi (11) getting to double digits in scoring.

"We're very pleased with this result, because we knew that playing a fifth match in their stadium would be really tough, especially now with (setter Maja) Ognjenović back," Danesi said. "Now we'll have a few days to rest, but we'll quickly turn our minds to the Finals. Our team has shown it's capable of delivering in the big moments. We've been able to come back after going through difficulties, and this is one of our most important strengths."

Star opposite Ekaterina Antropova produced 26 points (23 kills, two blocks, one ace) on Sunday, but couldn't avoid Scandicci's elimination. American outside hitter Avery Skinner added 17 (16 kills, one block) and middle blocker Linda Nwakalor scored 14 (nine kills, five blocks).

"I thought this match was very similar to the second of the series," head coach Marco Gaspari reflected. "We couldn't stop Egonu, and we should have been a little more aggressive with our blocking and defense to do it. But Milano were better than us and deserve to be in the Finals. It's not easy to say this after a loss in the semifinals, but I'm really proud of the team and of the season we had."

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