Pushed by victories against Megabox Ondulati Del Savio Vallefoglia and CBF Balducci HR Macerata within the last week, Chieri knocked Igor Gorgonzola Novara out of the top four over the weekend, when they got to 17 points (six wins, two losses). While catching league leaders Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano, who have 26, is probably a long shot for them right now, Chieri target Scandicci and third-placed Numia Vero Volley Milano, which have 22 and 19 points respectively and nine matches played, one more than they have.
One of the keys to Chieri's solid campaign has been taking care of business against teams outside the country's top four, as they collected 15 out of 15 possible points in those duels. Chieri even went beyond, upsetting Milano to produce a five-set victory in the second leg of the season, and only failed to collect points when they faced Conegliano and Novara on the road.
Scandicci, however, have been a historically difficult opponent to Chieri, which have won only two of the 14 Italian League encounters involving the teams, both in the 2020-2021 season.
"I think the team continued to play well against Macerata," head coach Nicola Negro said. "Our offense was very good, but we could have blocked better. If we want to go to Firenze and push Scandicci, we'll need to do better with our blocking and in transition."
World champion outside hitter Stella Nervini has been a pillar for Chieri this season, splitting the team's scoring load with opposite Anett Németh - she has 123 points registered, three fewer than the Hungarian. The team will soon have another elite offensive player to rely on as Italian national team outside hitter Alice Degradi returned to action last week after being out for four months due to a knee injury and should be back to her best form shortly.
