Scandicci sweep Perugia in Italian League return

Savino Del Bene Scandicci carried the momentum created with their victory at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship last weekend in Brazil into their return to the 2025-2026 Lega Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà on Saturday.

Returning to the court for the first time after being crowned as the world champions last Sunday, they faced Bartoccini-Mc Restauri Perugia on the road in the second leg of the second round of the regular season and dominated from start to finish, winning 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-15).

• Watch the Lega Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà live on VBTV

The positive result made an immediate impact on the Italian League standings, as the world champions managed to pass Igor Gorgonzola Novara, who defeated Eurotek Laica UYBA Busto Arsizio 3-2 (22-25, 19-25, 25-18, 25-21, 15-11), and regain the second-place spot they had ahead of their trip to Brazil - both teams have 37 points, but Scandicci have the edge in the set ratio.

The MVP of the Club World Championship, Olympic and world champion opposite Ekaterina Antropova continued to shine for Scandicci, leading the team to victory against Perugia with a match-high 16 points (ten kills, five aces, one block). American outside hitter Sarah Franklin came next with 13 (12 kills, one ace).

"Playing in Perugia is always hard," assistant coach Mattia Cozzi. "The most important thing for us today was remaining focused, especially coming from such a busy week. It's never easy to restart, especially with the high level of the Italian League, but we did well. Our serving and our passing were very good, and our defense dropped a bit in the second set, but we were able to recover quickly."

Perugia had American opposite Kashauna Williams as their leading scorer with 12 points (eight kills, four blocks), followed by outside hitter Beatrice Gardini, who also got to double digits, with ten (eight kills, one block, one ace).

Italian League leaders Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano, who competed at the Club World Championship in Brazil as well, ranking second, also made a positive return to domestic competition, sweeping (25-20, 25-10, 25-22) Honda Cuneo Granda Volley on the road.

The Panthers, who continue undefeated in the Lega Femminile and got to 43 points, rested many of their starters and had Swedish opposite Isabelle Haak, with 16 points (all in kills), and Dutch outside hitter Nika Daalderop, with 13 (ten kills, three aces), as their most productive players.

San Giovanni earn their third victory

Another significant result produced in the seven matches held on Saturday was Omag-Mt San Giovanni In Marignano's 3-1 (25-21, 27-29, 25-20, 25-18) victory over Bergamo.

It was just San Giovanni's third victory in 15 matches, and, even though it wasn't enough to get them out of the bottom of the standings with ten points, it puts the team in a better position to fight for survival in the remaining 11 matches, having three teams - Il Bisonte Firenze (13), Wash4Green Monviso Volley (12) and Perugia (11) - within three points from them.

A mid-season addition for them, Chinese outside hitter Zhuang Yushan again came up big for San Giovanni, registering 27 points, all in kills. Russian middle blocker Elizaveta Kochurina also had a great night, tallying 20 points (14 kills, five blocks, one ace).

The second leg of the second round of the regular season in Italy also had Numia Vero Volley Milano beating Reale Mutua Fenera Chieri '76 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-15), Megabox Ondulati Del Savio Vallefoglia overcoming Firenze 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-18, 25-23) and CBF Balducci HR Macerata prevailing over Monviso in the tie-breaker (25-22, 25-13, 20-25, 17-25, 15-8).

Lega Volley Femminile - Match Schedule & Results

It will be a quick break before the third leg of the second round of the regular season, which will have seven matches next Tuesday.

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