Novara beat Milano in five-set battle

The competition for second place in the standings of the 2023-2024 Lega Pallavolo Femminile Serie A Tigotà had an important chapter this weekend as the three teams that vie for the spot are now separated by three points or less.

Allianz Vero Volley Milano, Igor Gorgonzola Novara and Savino Del Bene Scandicci all played on Saturday in the seventh leg of the second round of the regular season and the results they obtained indicate they will keep battling until the end of the opening phase of the tournament, on March 24.

• Watch Lega Pallavolo Femminile Serie A1 matches live on VBTV.

Milano and Novara featured in the most anticipated match of the weekend on Saturday and their duel had no shortage of excitement as it went to five sets and ended with a 3-2 (29-27, 19-25, 25-19, 22-25, 15-12) road win of Novara.

The team’s 14^th-straight victory wasn’t enough to place them ahead of Milano, but the difference between the teams is now reduced to two points (49 to 47) and Novara could move up to second as early as next Saturday, when they face Trasportipesanti Casalmaggiore in a postponed match.

Star opposite Vita Akimova led Novara’s offense in the road win against Milano. The 21-year-old Russian tallied 23 points (22 kills, one ace) and was selected as the match’s MVP.

“This is a very important result for us in the league, but I’m also happy with our performance today,” she said. “We were having fun on the court and were patient in the key moments of the match. We had some difficult weeks recently, but managed to come back and are playing very well when it's really important to do it.”

Novara also got great production from outside hitters Anne Buijs (15 points) and Gréta Szakmáry (14) and middle blocker Sara Bonifacio (14).

Milano’s star opposite Paola Egonu led all scorers with 28 points (22 kills, four blocks, two aces). Outside hitter Myriam Sylla was the other Milano player to score at a high rate, leaving the court with 20 points (17 kills, three blocks).

Scandicci come back to beat Vallefoglia

Fourth-placed Scandicci had a great opportunity to close the gap to Milano and Novara with both teams dropping points in their encounter, but they couldn’t take all three points either, coming back from a two-set deficit to beat Megabox Ondulati Savio Vallefoglia 3-2 (22-25, 21-25, 25-21, 25-17, 15-10). The victory pushed them to 46 points.

“We were ready for a battle,” Scandicci’s outside hitter Francesca Villani reflected. “They have some very experienced players and we knew we’d have to play our best to win. Their defense worked very well and we had to diversify our offense a lot. Credits to them for a great for a great match, but for us as well, for getting the result.”

Opposite Ekaterina Antropova had a tremendous performance for Scandicci, producing a match-high 31 points, with 21 kills, impressive eight aces and two blocks. Chinese superstar Zhu Ting also shone with 19 points, all in kills.

Opposite Camilla Mingardi, with 24 points (22 kills, two blocks), and outside hitter Alice Degradi, with 22 (21 kills, one block), split Vallefoglia’s offensive load in the match.

Lega Femminile - Match Schedule and Results

League leaders Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano did take advantage of the points dropped by all three of their main competitors and downed Il Bisonte Firenze 3-1 (25-19, 22-25, 25-18, 25-22) on Sunday to get to 57 points, building an eight-point lead to Milano and continuing to reign supreme at the top of the standings.

Four other matches were also held on Sunday, with Casalmaggiore beating Uyba Volley Busto Arsizio 3-1 (25-19, 21-25, 25-20, 25-22), Reale Mutua Fenera Chieri sweeping Volley Bergamo 1991 3-0 (25-20, 29-27, 25-22), Roma Volley Club overcoming Wash4Green Pinerolo 3-2 (25-23, 19-25, 19-25, 25-21, 15-9) and Itas Trentino earning an important 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 15-25, 25-19) win over Honda Olivero S. Bernardo Cuneo.

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