Ruthless Milano strike first in the Italian League semifinals

Numia Vero Volley Milano needed only one attempt to erase Savino Del Bene Scandicci's homecourt advantage in the 2025-2026 Lega Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà semifinals and start their best-of-five series ahead.

The Supercoppa Italiana champions were on the road in Firenze on Saturday and built confidence after a tight first-set victory to raise their level and beat the world champions 3-0 (28-26, 25-20, 25-16), sending a strong message right at the start of the series.

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

With that, Milano will enter the second match of the series, scheduled for March 22, at an advantage, while Scandicci will try to repeat what their opponents did and win on the road to have an even field of play when the series returns to Firenze on March 25.

American outside hitter Khalia Lanier rose to the occasion and led Milano to victory with 18 points (17 kills, one block), one more than Olympic and world champion opposite Paola Egonu, who registered 16 kills and one ace. World champion libero Eleonora Fersino earned the match's MVP award.

"It was a great match, and we were able to play at a very high level," outside hitter Rebecca Piva reflected. "We managed to make them uncomfortable and didn't let them play their game, and that's how we won."

Scandicci's star opposite Ekaterina Antropova led all scorers with 22 points (22 kills, two aces) and carried their offense - the rest of the team combined for 24 points.

"Milano deserved to win," Scandicci's head coach Marco Gaspari said. "They were much better than we were at staying there in the difficult moments. It's a shame, because we played very well in the first set, despite not winning it. But then our passing went down, and we couldn't recover."

Lega Volley Femminile - Match Schedule & Results

The Lega Femminile semifinals continue on Sunday, at 17:15 local time (16:15 UTC), with the first match of the series between Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano and Igor Gorgonzola Novara, in Villorba.

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