Novara and Scandicci play to stay alive in the Italian League semifinals

With their backs against the wall after losing the first two matches of their best-of-five semifinal series, Igor Gorgonzola Novara and Savino Del Bene Scandicci return to the court over the next two days to play for their lives in the Lega Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà.

With no other option than to win three matches in a row against Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano and Numia Vero Volley Milano, respectively, to make it to the Scudetto Finals, the Italian giants will play their last cards to change the course of their series.

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

Novara will be away from home in what could be the final chapter of their series against Conegliano, making the trip to Villorba to face the defending champions on Tuesday, at 20:30 local time (21:30 UTC).

After starting the series with a promising 3-2 loss on the road in which they had full control in the first two sets, Novara couldn't keep the same level in Saturday's encounter, going down in straight sets at home and now need to bring their absolute best to take the series back to their stadium and keep their chances.

"Conegliano played their absolute best game in the second match, and when that happens, it gets very difficult," Novara's head coach Lorenzo Bernardi reflected. "But it's not over yet, and we go to Villorba knowing that we can win and bring the series back to Novara, which is our goal right now."

Fueled by the return of star outside hitter Gabriela 'Gabi' Guimarães, who was the match MVP in her first appearance in 20 days, Conegliano were nearly flawless last weekend in Novara, and they want to keep the same level to get another victory on Tuesday and advance to the Finals for an eighth-straight season.

"In a series like this, it's important to be able to reset after every match because each of them brings different challenges," head coach Daniele Santarelli said. "We remember very well how hard they pushed us in the first match. We played incredibly well in the second match, but we can't let that fool us. Winning the series in three matches would be amazing, especially because the next match is in front of our fans."

Conegliano head into Tuesday's encounter full of confidence after having defeated Novara in each of the five matches the teams played this season. The Panthers also have a 48-12 win record against their opponents in Italian League duels.

Lega Volley Femminile - Match Schedule & Results

Scandicci back at home against Milano

The other semifinal series will resume on Wednesday, when Scandicci return home to host Milano at 20:30 (21:30 UTC) in Firenze.

After a frustrating start to the series, in which they went down in straight sets in front of their home fans, the world champions managed to raise their level on Sunday, overcoming Milano in the first two sets on the road before falling in the tie-breaker.

"We know that to make things difficult for Milano, we'll need to take more risks," head coach Marco Gaspari remarked. "Serving well to keep them under pressure and force them into making errors will be very important. We did it very well in the first two sets of the last match, but we couldn't keep the same level until the end. We'll need to be more consistent on Wednesday, and also to give everything we have, because this is a very important match for our season."

Milano continue in control after recovering on time and winning the second match of the series with a reverse sweep. Now, they want to carry that momentum into the third match and confirm their progress to the Finals on the road.

"Wednesday's match will be as hard as the first two," middle blocker Hena Kurtagić highlighted. "We'll give our all to end the series in three matches and will need to be aggressive to contain Scandicci, especially considering that they will play at home. We want to play well and raise our confidence for the next matches."

With Sunday's triumph, Milano got their third-straight win over Scandicci in four encounters this season. Historically, they lead their rivals by 22 victories to 16.

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