Rahimova-led Casalmaggiore stun Italian leaders Monza

VBC Trasporti Pesanti Casalmaggiore added some spice to the race for the top spot of the Lega Pallavolo vivo Serie A1 Femminile after the tenth-placed side stunned leaders Vero Volley Monza, pulling off a five-set (27-25, 26-24, 18-25, 22-25, 15-12) victory over the weekend.

Combined with victories for the three other teams that form the Italian League’s top four, the result has reduced Monza’s lead at the top of the table. With 50 points (16 wins, five losses), they are now closely followed by Prosecco Doc Imoco Volley Conegliano, with 48 points (17 wins, two losses), Savino del Bene Scandicci, with 47 (17 wins, four losses), and Igor Gorgonzola Novara, with 46 (16 wins, two losses).

Polina Rahimova was a key piece in Casalmaggiore’s unexpected triumph over Monza. In her second stint with the club, the 31-year-old Azeri opposite, who was signed in October, took home the MVP award after she produced an impressive 30 points, with 24 kills, four blocks and two aces.

“Our team played a spectacular match,” Rahimova, the best scorer of the Brazilian Superliga last season, said. “It’s great to be back after a bad injury and I have to thank Dr. Castelli, who’s been treating me. We’re improving every day with the goal of avoiding relegation. We want to do it for the club and the fans.”

Monza had three high-producers in Polish opposite Magdalena Stysiak, with 22 points (19 kills, three aces), and outside hitters Anna Danesi, also with 22 (19 kills, two blocks, one ace), and Anna Davyskiba, with 19 (18 kills, one block).

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Defending champions Conegliano took advantage of the opportunity and gained two points on Monza with their straight-set (25-19, 25-18, 25-16) victory over Delta Despar Trentino. Star setter Joanna Wolosz was the match MVP and facilitated an 18-point (17 kills, one block) performance by opposite Paola Egonu.

“It was a really good match for us,” Egonu commented. “We wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and play a great match and everything went well.”

Third-placed Scandicci also improved their situation but were only able to cut a point from the leaders as they were pushed to five sets (25-22, 25-23, 23-25, 20-25, 15-9) by 12th-place Bartoccini Fortinfissi Perugia.

Russian opposite Ekaterina Antropova led Scandicci’s offence with 19 points (18 kills, one block). The MVP award went to German star Louisa Lippmann, who came off the bench in each of the five sets and tallied 14 points (11 kills, two blocks, one ace). Perugia’s outside hitter Anastasia Guerra had a match-high 25 points (22 kills, two blocks, one ace).

Fourth-placed Novara continued moving up in the standings after they secured a come-from-behind, 3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-19) road triumph against Acqua & Sapone Roma Volley Club.

Benefiting from the distribution of match MVP, setter Micha Hancock, Turkish opposite Ebrar Karakurt and Dutch outside hitter Nika Daalderop registered 21 (18 kills, two aces, one block) and 18 (17 kills, one block) points respectively.

Other highlights of the matches played over the weekend were Camilla Mingardi’s 33 points in Unet E-Work Busto Arsizio’s 3-1 victory over Volley Bergamo, Lucille Gicquel’s 26-point performance that helped Bosca S. Bernardo Cuneo prevail over Reale Mutua Fenera Chieri in five sets and Il Bisonte Firenze’s four-set triumph against Megabox Ondulati Del Savio Vallefoglia, who had 22 points by opposite Sylvia Nwakalor.

Two matches are set to take place during the week, with Roma hosting Cuneo on Wednesday and Novara and Conegliano clashing on Thursday.

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