A national champion will be crowned this weekend in Italy and Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano, Numia Vero Volley Milano, Savino Del Bene Scandicci and Igor Gorgonzola Novara are the candidates to lift the Coppa Italia Frecciarossa trophy in Bologna.

The four best teams in the Lega Volley Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà will appear in the two-day Final Round of the 47^th edition of the tournament, which will be held at the Unipol Arena, with the semifinals on Saturday and the gold medal match on Sunday, at 15:20 local time (14:20 GMT).

• Watch the Coppa Italia Frecciarossa Finals live on VBTV

Defending champions Conegliano, who won six editions of the Coppa Italia, including the last five, and Novara, who are four-time champions, will get the semifinals started, on Saturday, at 15:30 local time (14:30 GMT).

The reigning world champions, Conegliano have been unstoppable in Italian volleyball this season. The Panthers have won each of their 21 matches in the Italian League, while dropping just four sets. In the quarterfinals of the Coppa Italia, they swept Megabox Ondulati Savio Vallefoglia.

With a star-studded roster that features outside hitters Gabriela ‘Gabi’ Guimarães and Zhu Ting, Swedish scoring machine Isabella Haak, star Polish setter Joanna Wołosz and Olympic champion libero Monica de Gennaro, the Panthers head to Bologna as the main favorites to take the title.

"I was surprised with how easily we were able to integrate the new players into the team," Wołosz reacted. "We didn't always play at our best, but we found our rhythm very quickly. We are lucky to have world-class players like Zhu and Gabi, who integrated pretty well. We have many goals this season and to pursue them we need to give our 100% every day."

Novara are currently in fourth place in Italian League with 16 wins and five losses. Their recent form has been inconsistent, with losses to lower-ranked Honda Olivero Cuneo and Bartoccini-MC Restauri Perugia within their last four matches. Before that, they overcame Eurotek Uyba Busto Arsizio in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals.

Novara count on a strong outside hitter duo formed by Japanese star Mayu Ishikawa and German up-and-coming Lina Alsmeier and also have Serbian Olympic medalist middle blocker Maja Aleksić and Russian opposite Tatyana Tolok as key players.

"We had some issues with our roster at the start of the season, but things are slowly falling into place," said setter Francesca Bosio. "In the last few months, we just tried to do our best and not think about who was here and who wasn't. We're looking forward to seeing what we can do now with everyone available."

Saturday’s encounter will be 50^th between the teams and Conegliano have been vastly superior, leading the series by 38 victories to 11. The Panthers won nine of the last ten encounters, having lost to Novara in a dramatic five-setter in last year’s Italian League semifinal playoffs.

Milano and Scandicci go for first title

Set to meet in the second semifinal at 18:00 (17:00 GMT), Milano and Scandicci will both be playing for their first title in the Coppa Italia.

The 2024 FIVB Women’s Club World Championship bronze medalists, Milano seem to have finally found their rhythm in the season as they recently moved up to second place in the Italian League with a campaign of 17 wins and four losses. Undefeated in their last six matches, they got the better of Reale Mutua Fenera Chieri ’76 in the quarterfinal round of the Coppa Italia.

Milano have the core of the Italian national team that won gold at the Paris Olympics last year, featuring opposite Paola Egonu, middle blocker Anna Danesi, setter Alessia Orro and outside hitter Miriam Sylla in a squad that also has Japanese Olympic libero Satomi Fukudome.

"We're in a positive moment now and we hope we can continue to go in the same direction," Orro explained. "It's going to be a good battle against Scandicci, who we have faced many times in the last few years."

Scandicci have been trending in the opposite direction and recently dropped from second to third in the Lega Femminile, with 16 wins and five losses. They lost two of their last three matches in the Italian League after eliminating Bergamo in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals.

The top scorer in Italian volleyball this season, Olympic champion opposite Ekaterina Antropova will be pivotal for Scandicci this weekend. Veteran Serbian world champion setter Maja Ognjenović, Brazilian Olympic medalist middle blocker Ana Carolina ‘Carol’ da Silva and high-scoring Belgian outside hitter Britt Herbots are other key players for the team.

"We're all looking forward to enjoying the Coppa Italia Final Four," Herbots commented. "Marco (Gaspari, head coach) knows Milano very well, but we'll need to face the match however it goes. It will be tough, but I'm sure neither team will give up or slow down before the end."

The duels between the two teams have been incredibly balanced over the years and they get to Saturday’s encounter with Scandicci having 15 victories to Milano’s 14. They are on a three-match winning streak against their opponents, who won five in a row before that.

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