Scandicci fight back and continue alive in the Italian League semifinals

Savino Del Bene Scandicci survived the first of potentially three decisive matches in the 2025-2026 Lega Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà semifinals and kept their dream of returning to the Scudetto Finals alive on Wednesday.

The reigning world champions entered the third match of their best-of-five series against Numia Vero Volley Milano down 2-0 and would be eliminated with another defeat, but counted on the support of their fans in Firenze to win 3-1 (25-21, 24-26, 25-22, 25-20), keeping the series open and reducing their deficit.

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

Scandicci will face another win-or-go-home match on Sunday, when they will make the trip to Milano to play the Supercoppa champions for the fourth time. If needed, a fifth and decisive match will be held on April 4 or 5.

Star opposite Ekaterina Antropova carried Scandicci to victory by delivering her most productive performance of the season and leaving the court with a whooping 35 points (29 kills, three blocks, three aces), which earned her the match's MVP award.

Outside hitters Avery Skinner (12) and Caterina Bosetti (11) and middle blocker Linda Nwakalor (10) also reached double digits in scoring for the winning side, which counted on the return of star Serbian setter Maja Ognjenović, who had missed the first two duels due to an injury.

"We really need to keep the series open," head coach Marco Gaspari said. "This team deserved it after an incredible season, and I was pleased to see that right after the match, we were already focused on match four. Maja hadn't touched a ball for a month until yesterday, so we understood she could be a little off with her precision, but that wasn't the case at all. She came in extremely humble and determined to help us."

Olympic champion opposite and team captain Paola Egonu was Milano's top scorer with 27 points (25 kills, two blocks), while outside hitter Rebecca Piva added another 15, all in kills.

"I don't think we were aggressive enough today," setter Francesca Bosio remarked. "We managed to come back and win the second set, but made errors in decisive moments of the last two sets and should have done better with our blocking and defense."

Lega Volley Femminile - Match Schedule & Results

The other semifinal series ended on Tuesday, when defending champions Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano defeated Igor Gorgonzola Novara for the third time in as many matches and earned the right to play in the Scudetto Finals for an eighth-straight season.

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