Third-placed Savino Del Bene Scandicci will be the next team to try to take reigning FIVB Volleyball Women’s Club World Championship winners Prosecco Doc Imoco Volley Conegliano down when the two clubs meet on Sunday, at 19.30 local time/18.30 GMT, in the 2021-2022 Italian women’s league.
Legavolley Femminile A1 - 2021
Scandicci next in line to challenge Conegliano
The heavyweights meet this week in the Italian League
Published 03:29, 26 Nov 2021
The winners of the last three editions of the Italian League, Conegliano haven’t lost a match since December 2019 and recently broke the Guinness World Record for the most consecutive wins in women's volleyball by extending their winning streak to 74 matches.
Nine of those victories were claimed in the current Italian national season and have placed the team at the top of the standings. Scandicci are not far behind, sitting in third place with six wins and two losses, and could reduce the gap if they make good use of their home court advantage and upset the defending champions at the Pallazetto Dello Sport.
The team led by the former head coach of the Italian national team Massimo Barbolini will rely on their strong blocking game, which ranks at the top of the table with 99 points, to try to stop the league’s top scorer Paola Egonu on Sunday. Conegliano’s star opposite will face the two top blockers of the Italian league this season, Scandicci’s middle blockers Ana Beatriz ‘Bia’ Correa, a Tokyo Olympic silver medallist with Brazil who has produced 26 points at the net so far, and teammate Sara Alberti, who has registered 25.
After back-to-back victories in the Italian League and a victory in the CEV Challenge Cup, Scandicci also have one of the most prolific offensive players in the league in German opposite Louisa Lippmann, who ranks eighth in points scored with 129.
Another meeting that has the potential to heavily impact the upper portion of the table is the one reuniting Unet E-Work Busto Arsizio and Igor Gorgonzola Novara, on Sunday, at 17.00 local time/16.00 GMT. Ranked fifth in the league with 17 points, Busto Arsizio, who advanced to the Round of 16 in the CEV Cup midweek, could catch up with second-placed Novara, who scored a win in their opening CEV Champions League match on Thursday, with a 3-0 or 3-1 victory.
Four other matches will take place on Sunday at the same time with the most notable of them being the meeting between fourth-placed Vero Volley Monza and tenth-placed Bosca S. Bernardo Cuneo. Sixth-placed Il Bisonte Firenze will also take on seventh-placed Reale Mutua Fenera Chieri.
The two other matches will feature Delta Despar Trentino (14th) against VBC Trasporti Pesanti Casalmaggiore (eight) and Bartoccini Fortinfissi Perugia (11th) play on the road against Megabox Ondulati Del Savio Vallefoglia (12th).
The ninth week of the regular season starts on Saturday at 20.30 local time/19.30 GMT, when 13th-placed Acqua & Sapone Roma Volley host ninth-placed Volley Bergamo.
Get all the details from all the matches in the Italian League here.
All matches of the Italian League are streamed live on Volleyball TV.
