Five new faces to watch at the Lega Femminile

Vastly recognized as the top women’s volleyball national league in the world, the Lega Volley Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà is about to get even stronger in the 2024-2025 season as some of the top players on the planet joined Italian clubs, making the race for the title even more unpredictable and exciting.

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The regular season in Italy starts on October 5, but there will be plenty to watch before that as the Courmayer Cup, reuniting four of the best teams in the country, is scheduled for September 20-21, with the Supercoppa Italiana Fineco following on September 28.

Here are five volleyball stars who will be competing in Italy this season:

Gabi

Gabriela ‘Gabi’ Guimarães’ long-awaited move to the Italian League finally materialized as after spending her entire career playing in clubs in her home country Brazil and Türkiye, the 30-year-old outside hitter has decided to test herself in the best league in the planet. A two-time Olympic medalist, Gabi has joined six-time defending champions Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano and will have a major role in their upcoming title defense campaign.

Elena Pietrini

After spending the last club season in Russia, where she won the national title with Dinamo Ak-Bars, 24-year-old Elena Pietrini is back home in Italy. A 2022 Volleyball Nations League champion, the Italian national team outside hitter previously spent four seasons with Savino Del Bene Scandicci, but will now be with last year’s third-placed Vero Volley Milano, who have assembled a strong squad to end Imoco’s supremacy in the country.

Hanna Orthmann

German national team star Hanna Orthmann is another player who will be back in Italy in 2024-2025 after she signed with Igor Gorgonzola Novara. The 25-year-old, outside hitter, who played in the country from 2017 to 2022 before heading to Türkiye’s Türk Hava Yolları SK, is coming from a major knee injury that sidelined her for over a year, but could be a very important piece in her team after she’s back into match rhythm.

Indy Baijens

After having a solid performance in her first Olympic appearance at the Paris 2024 Games, 23-year-old Dutch middle blocker Indy Baijens is headed to Italy, where she’ll play for Savino Del Bene Scandicci. Despite her young age, the 1.93m-tall middle blocker has solid international experience, having played in clubs from France, Poland and Germany over the last five years and helped each of them win medals – she’s also a bronze medalist of the 2023 European Championship with the Netherlands.

Ana Bjelica

Ana Bjelica’s long and storied career is set to take her back to Italy after the signed with Cuneo Granda Volley. The 32-year-old Serbian opposite, who first played in the country in 2021-2022, has also represented clubs from her country, Poland, Türkiye, Brazil, Switzerland, France and Romania, having won seven national titles in the process. A longtime member of the Serbian national team, she has two world titles and an Olympic bronze medal from the Tokyo Games.