The teams win their weekend matches and catch Monza in first place
Published 01:51, 31 Jan 2022
The top spot of the Lega Pallavolo Serie A Femminile has changed hands three times over the last six days, but it eventually returned to Prosecco Doc Imoco Volley Conegliano after the defending champions downed VBC Trasporti Pesanti Casalmaggiore on Sunday.
The results of the fourth round of the second leg of the regular season in Italy have generated a triple tie at the top of the standings with Conegliano (13 wins, one loss), Savino Del Bene Scandicci (13 wins, three losses) and Vero Volley Monza (12 wins, three losses) all reaching 37 points. The winners of the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship are ranked first because of their higher point average.
Despite the absences of team captain Joanna Wolosz, rested, and of star middle blocker Robin De Kruijf, injured, Conegliano were able to put on a solid team performance and take Casalmaggiore down in straight sets (25-16, 25-23, 25-18) at the Pallaverde.
“It was great to play at home again,” setter Giulia Gennari said. “We played a great match. We were having a lot of fun on the court and playing with spirit, only focused on playing as well as we could.”
Three Italian national team players carried the team’s offence, with star opposite Paola Egonu registering 14 points (eight kills, four aces, two blocks), Player of the Match outside hitter Miryam Sylla adding 12 (eight kills, four blocks) and middle blocker Raphaela Folie producing ten (five kills, four blocks, one ace). Opposite Adhuoljok Malual had ten points (eight kills, one block, one ace) for Casalmaggiore.
Scandicci stayed at the top for about 24 hours, after the team secured an important three-set (25-20, 25-15, 25-18) road victory against Delta Despar Trentino on Saturday to catch Monza in first place.
Olympic silver medallist middle blocker Ana Beatriz ‘Bia’ Correa and opposite Ekaterina Antropova produced 11 points each – the Brazilian had seven kills and four blocks while the Russian registered six kills and five aces. The match’s top scorer was Trentino’s opposite Vittoria Piani, who tallied 13 points (12 kills, one ace).
Fourth-placed Unet E-Work Busto Arsizio followed the trend among the top teams in the league and also won, posting a 3-1 (30-28, 23-25, 25-14, 25-16) victory over Reale Mutua Fenera Chieri.
Alexa Gray and Camilla Mingardi played big roles in the team’s victory as they accounted for nearly half of Busto’s 108 points in the match. The Canadian outside hitter ended the match with 29 points to her name (all in kills), while the Italian opposite added 24 (20 kills, two aces, two blocks). Belgian opposite Kaja Grobelna was the only Chieri player to produce at a similar level with 19 points (18 kills, one block).
The weekend also saw Bosca S. Bernardo Cuneo upset Il Bisonte Firenze 3-0 (31-29, 25-13, 26-24) with 20 points (17 kills, three blocks) from Russia outside hitter Sofya Kuznetsova, Bartoccini-Fortinfissi Perugia took Acqua & Sapone Roma Volley Club down in four sets (17-25, 31-29, 25-19, 25-22) on the back of an 18-point (17 kills, one ace) performance by outside hitter Anastasia Guerra and Serbian star opposite Ana Bjelica produced 20 (18 kills, two blocks) in Megabox Ondulati Del Savio Vallefoglia’s straight-set (25-23, 29-27, 25-21) triumph over Volley Bergamo.
Italian clubs will now have a full week to prepare for their next matches as the fifth round of the second leg is set to take place entirely on Sunday, when seven matchups are scheduled.
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