The Italian heavyweights duel on Wednesday, at 19:30 UTC - watch live on VBTV
Published 04:26, 04 Nov 2025
Conegliano and Milano met a few weeks ago in the Italian Supercoppa (Photo: LVF)
Ranked first and third respectively in the 2025-2026 Lega Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà standings, Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano and Numia Vero Volley Milano will be the only Italian League sides to get on the court this week, meeting on Wednesday in a postponed match of the fourth leg of the regular season.
The match will be held at the Palaverde, in Villorba, at 20:30 local time (19:30 UTC), and could have serious implications in the battle for the top spots in the standings.
The only undefeated team in the Lega Femminile after seven legs of the regular season were completed, Conegliano sit at the top of the standings with 20 points. For them, Wednesday's match in front of their home fans presents an interesting opportunity to start running away in the race for first place, as if the Panthers get to collect all three points, they will have as many as four over second-placed Savino Del Bene Scandicci and seven over Milano.
Without star outside hitter Zhu Ting, who returned to China to compete in the country's National Games until the end of the month, Conegliano have been relying on Swedish opposite Isabelle Haak and Brazilian outside hitter Gabriela 'Gabi' Guimarães to lead their offense - they have 172 and 62 points, respectively. Slovenian outside hitter Fatoumatta Sillah, who stepped into Zhu's spot in the team's starting lineup, has been responding well, accumulating 66 points in her first season with the Panthers.
"It's going to be a great match against a strong opponent, which already beat us this season and showed what they are capable of," head coach Daniele Santarelli said. "They made some good additions and have many players from the national team, and are having a good season. We're in a good moment and want to continue going up, but we know it won't be easy. We want to continue in first place, and accomplishing that would be great considering the challenging moment of the season we are going through."
For Milano, who dropped one of their first seven matches of the season, the direct matchup with Conegliano presents an invaluable opportunity to bring the defending champions within striking distance before the regular season gets to the halfway mark. If they manage to win 3-0 or 3-1 on the road, Milano, who have 16 points, not only pass Scandicci for second place, but also get to 19 points, trailing Conegliano by only one.
Star opposite Paola Egonu carries a big offensive load for the team, accounting for 180 of the points scored by them this season. A former Conegliano player, outside hitter Khalia Lanier settled just fine in her new team, having scored 90 points already, while Serbian Hena Kurtagić continues to be a force in the middle, having contributed 50 points in their campaign.
"Against Conegliano, we need to focus on being very efficient," head coach Stefano Lavarini remarked. "We showed some nice progress in different areas over the last few matches. We need to build on this positive moment to play a high-level match, but also know that we'll need to take some risks to disrupt their game plan."
Lega Volley Femminile - Match Schedule & Results
Wednesday's match will mark the third encounter between the teams this season, with each of the first two duels going a different way - Conegliano succeeded in the bronze medal match of the preseason tournament Courmayeur Cup, while Milano triumphed in the Supercoppa Italiana. Historically, the defending champions have been vastly superior in Italian League matches, having come out on top in 36 of the 42 games held so far.
