Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano has been the team to beat in Italian women’s volleyball for the most part of the last decade and Numia Vero Volley Milano was arguably the opponent that got the closest to doing it.

On Saturday, they will have another opportunity to challenge their rivals, when the teams meet for the title of the 2024 Supercoppa Fineco, at 18:00 local time (16:00 GMT), at the Palazzo Dello Sport, in Rome.

• Watch the 2024 Supercoppa Fineco live on VBTV

Milano experienced impressive growth over the last few seasons and established themselves as the main threat to Conegliano’s dominance in the country, having met their rivals in six finals over the last two years.

They are yet to prevail over the Panthers in matches where a trophy was in play, but the results of their most recent encounters show Milano aren’t very far from making it happen as Conegliano needed the tie-breaker to succeed in the last three tournaments they competed in – the 2023-2024 Coppa Italia, the 2023-2024 European Champions League and last week’s Courmayeur Cup.

In 2024-2025, Milano will have five more opportunities to dethrone their rivals as both teams are set to compete in the Supercoppa, the Coppa Italia, the Lega Volley Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà, the Champions League and the FIVB Women’s Club World Championship.

The Supercoppa will be their next opportunity to beat Conegliano for the first time since May 2023 and could also give Milano their first national title after falling to their opponents in two Lega Femminile, two Coppa Italia and one Supercoppa finals.

In order to be better prepared to battle Conegliano this season, Milano kept the core of their team from last season, formed by Olympic champions Paola Egonu, Alessia Orro and Miriam Sylla, Dutch outside hitter Nika Daalderop, French outside hitter Héléna Cazaute and Belgian middle blocker Laura Heyrman, but changed the pieces around them.

Leaving the team after the conclusion of last season were setter Vittoria Prandi, outside hitter Kara Bajema, middle blockers Raphaela Folie and Dana Rettke and liberos Beatrice Parrocchiale, Brenda Castillo and Teodora Pušić.

To make their roster strong again, Milano signed two Italian national team players, captain and Olympic champion middle blocker Anna Danesi and outside hitter Elena Pietrini, Serbian middle blocker Hena Kurtagić, Japanese libero Satomi Fukudome, French libero Juliette Gelin and Greek setter Lampriní Konstantinídou.

The changes extended to outside the courts, with head coach Marco Gaspari being replaced by Polish national team head coach Stefano Lavarini, who was pleased with the team’s performance in the Courmayeur Cup, where Milano played two tie-breakers, beating Savino Del Bene Scandicci in the semifinals and falling to Conegliano in the final.

“These two days were very productive and I’m satisfied with the team,” he said after Saturday’s final. “I made some specific requests to the team after the match against Scandicci and they were able to deliver. Now we are ready to work for the Supercoppa.”

With new faces and fresh energy, Milano are ready to challenge Conegliano again.

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