The elite of Italian women’s volleyball is headed to Trieste this weekend as the city located just a few miles from the borders with Croatia and Slovenia is set to host the Final Four of the 46^th edition of the Coppa Italia Frecciarossa.

Between Saturday and Sunday, Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano, Reale Mutua Fenera Chieri, Allianz Vero Volley Milano and Savino Del Bene Scandicci will fight for the title of the event, which will have Olympic champion and five-time Coppa Italia winner Taismary Agüero as its ambassador.

• Watch Coppa Italia Frecciarossa matches live on VBTV.

The two semifinals will be held at the Pala Trieste on Saturday, with Imoco and Chieri battling at 15:00 local time (14:00 GMT) and Milano and Scandicci facing each other three hours later. The Coppa Italia final will take place on Sunday, at 14:15 local time (13:15 GMT).

Imoco vs. Chieri

Defending champions Imoco enter the weekend looking for their fifth-straight and sixth overall Coppa Italia title. Undefeated in their last 30 matches, the 2023-2024 Lega Pallavolo Femminile Serie A Tigotà leaders topped Il Bisonte Firenze in three sets in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals, held in January – star opposite Isabelle Haak led the Panthers in that encounter with 19 points.

Besides the Swedish opposite, Imoco have several other international stars in their squad, such as Polish setter Joanna Wolosz, American outside hitters Kelsey Cook and Kathryn Plummer and Italian libero Monica De Gennaro.

Their opponents Chieri have stepped on the podium in the Coppa Italia in third place twice, in 2021 and 2022, but will try to go one step further and make it to the final. They caused the only upset of the quarterfinal round, taking three-time champions Igor Gorgonzola Novara down in four sets while playing on the road – Belgian opposite Kaja Grobelna led the team with 23 points.

Besides Grobelna, other key players for Chieri are Italian setter Ofelia Malinov, American outside hitter Avery Skinner, Italian outside hitter Loveth Omoruyi and German middle blocker Camilla Weitzel.

In order to play for gold in Trieste, however, Chieri will need to make history and beat Imoco for the first time in club history. The defending champions won each of the 12 duels held since 2018, but the most recent of them, held at the start of the month, marked the first time Chieri took them to five sets.

Coppa Italia - Match Schedule and Results

Milano vs. Scandicci

Milano, who took silver last year and bronze in 2018, 2019 and 2021, will play for their first Coppa Italia title. The team had a convincing three-set victory over Aeroitalia Smi Roma in the quarterfinals with 21 points by superstar Paola Egonu, but enters this weekend’s Final Four on the back of consecutive losses to Imoco and Novara in the Italian League.

The team will count on Italian setter Alessia Orro, American middle blocker Dana Rettke, Italian outside hitter Myriam Sylla and Dominican libero Brenda Castillo to step up and help it get back to winning ways.

Their opponents Scandicci are set to return to the podium in the Coppa Italia for the first time since 2019, when they won the second of their two bronze medals, but will also be aiming higher. Coming from back-to-back Italian League victories, they handled Wash4Green Pinerolo in four sets in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals, helped by 21 points scored by opposite Ekaterina Antropova.

The Italian national team opposite is just one of the several international stars that are part of Scandicci’s roster, such as Chinese outside hitter Zhu Ting, Serbian setter Maja Ognjenović, American middle blocker Haleigh Washington and Brazilian middle blocker Ana Carolina ‘Carol’ da Silva.

“It feels good to be in the Final Four again, it’s something Scandicci missed for some years,” head coach Massimo Barbolini reflected. “These will be matches of the highest level and we’ll be ready for them.”

The teams have been tough opponents for each other over the years, with history showing 13 victories for Milano and 12 for Scandicci. Milano have won the last four duels, however, including the one held in January in the Italian League, in which they triumphed in straight sets.

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