Battles from top to bottom as Lega’s regular season ends on Sunday

The 2023-2024 Lega Pallavolo Femminile Serie A Tigotà regular season is set to come to an end this weekend and there will be a lot to watch for in the seven matches of the 13^th and final leg of the second round, which are all scheduled for Sunday, at 17:00 local time (16:00 GMT).

With three spots in the playoffs still up for grabs, two teams battling to avoid relegation and five seedings heading into the postseason yet to be determined, six of the seven matches of the day will have implications in at least one of these races.

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

The playoff battle

Sixth-placed Wash4Green Pinerolo (34 points, 11 wins), seventh-placed Megabox Ondulati Savio Vallefoglia (34 points, 11 wins), eighth-placed Roma Volley Club (34 points, 11 wins) and ninth-placed Trasportipesanti Casalmaggiore (31 points, ten wins) are the four teams fighting for the three remaining spots in the postseason.

Because they all hold a three-point lead over Casalmaggiore, Pinerolo, who will host relegated Itas Trentino, Vallefoglia, who will be at home against third-placed Allianz Vero Volley Milano, and Roma, who will play fourth-placed Igor Gorgonzola Novara in the Italian capital, need each to get just one point in their matches to qualify regardless of their chaser’s result.

Casalmaggiore’s task is far more complicated as the team needs to beat fifth-placed Reale Mutua Fenera Chieri 3-0 or 3-1 on the road to get to the same 34 points and 11 wins of their opponents and then hope that at least one of them gets no points at all in their encounters. In that case, set ratio would be the tie-breaker, which would make a 3-0 win extremely valuable for Casalmaggiore as this result will guarantee them in the postseason if one of their opponents loses 3-0 or 3-1, as they need.

The relegation battle

With Trentino (11 points, three wins) already confirmed to go down, the battle to avoid relegation is now centered on 12^th-placed Honda Olivero S. Bernardo Cuneo (18 points, seven wins) and 13^th-placed Volley Bergamo (18 points, five wins).

Because they have two more victories than their opponents, Cuneo would have the advantage in the case of a tie and, because of that, they will be guaranteed in the Italian elite if they top tenth-placed Il Bisonte Firenze 3-0 or 3-1 on the road.

Bergamo don’t depend only on their efforts anymore and will need to get a result over second-placed Savino Del Bene Scandicci at home and hope that Cuneo drop points against Firenze. In short, they need to earn one more point than their opponents this week to remain in the Italian elite.

The seeding battle

Entering the last match day of the regular season, only three teams have their positions heading into the playoffs determined – defending champions Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano (72 points, 25 wins) in first place, Igor Gorgonzola Novara (56 points, 19 wins) in fourth and Chieri (45 points, 14 wins) in fifth.

Scandicci (61 points, 21 wins) and Milano (60 points, 21 wins) can finish second or third, depending on their results this weekend, while Pinerolo, Vallefoglia, Roma and Casalmaggiore can finish anywhere from sixth to eighth.

Lega Femminile - Match Schedule and Results

The seeding in the playoffs can make a huge difference for teams as it determines which opponents they face in the elimination rounds and can also give them homecourt advantage in the series.

The quarterfinals of the Italian League are set to begin already next Wednesday and will be played in a best-of-three format. The reserved match dates are March 27, March 30-31 and April 3-4.

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Lega Pallavolo Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà
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