Leading their quarterfinal series, the teams can confirm their progress on Wednesday and Thursday
Published 04:02, 03 Mar 2026
Conegliano defeated Busto at home and can now end the series on the road (Photo: LVF)
The winners of the first-round matches of the 2025-2026 Lega Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà quarterfinals, Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano, Savino Del Bene Scandicci, Numia Vero Volley Milano and Igor Gorgonzola Novara are one victory away from the semifinals.
The four teams can confirm their presence in the Italian League Final Four over the next couple of days, when the second-round matches will be held, with them as visitors.
The fourth-best team in the regular season, Novara will be the first to get on the court, facing fifth-placed Reale Mutua Fenera Chieri '76 on Wednesday, at 20:00 local time (19:00 UTC), in Torino.
After the teams split their regular-season encounters, Novara started the quarterfinals ahead, winning 3-1 at home on Sunday. Historically, they have twice as many victories as Chieri, having triumphed 18 times in 27 encounters.
"The first match is in the past now, and we know that the next one will be much harder because Chieri typically play very well at home," Novara's libero Giulia Leonardi said. "We need to have the same mentality as the first match and continue to work well on blocking and defense, because that helped us a lot. We need to play our game, and hopefully we can win the series."
Later, at 20:30 (19:30 UTC), regular-season winners Conegliano will go on the road against eighth-placed Eurotek Laica UYBA Busto Arsizio. The Panthers won the first match 3-1 on Sunday, but saw star outside hitter Gabriela 'Gabi' Guimarães leave the court injured and haven't confirmed their presence in the second match of the series.
After Sunday's victory, Conegliano have defeated Busto three times this season and 34 times in 44 duels over the years.
"Wednesday's match is going to be harder than the first one because Busto will be at home and they'll do everything they can to keep the series open," Conegliano's head coach Daniele Santarelli remarked. "We cannot underestimate Busto, and we cannot repeat the performance we had in the second set of Sunday's match."
The only team to earn a straight-set victory on Sunday, third-placed Milano will make the trip to Pesaro, where they will try to seal the deal against sixth-placed Megabox Ondulati Del Savio Vallefoglia. Their duel also begins at 20:30 (19:30 UTC).
Milano now lead the series between the teams with 11 wins and only two losses, one of which happened during the 2025-2026 Italian League regular season.
"We're coming from a great performance in the first match, but now we need to reset," Milano's setter Francesca Bosio reflected. "Vallefoglia's stadium is among the hardest to play at, and we'll need much focus. They're very strong defensively, and we'll need to be patient."
After delivering a dramatic five-set battle on Sunday, second-placed Scandicci and seventh-placed Bergamo will have an extra day to prepare ahead of their second encounter, which is scheduled for Thursday, at 20:00 (19:00 UTC).
With 14 victories in 15 encounters, Scandicci have a very positive record against their rivals, but on Sunday, Bergamo managed to take sets from them for the first time in the season and will be confident they can do even more at home.
"We showed character in the decisive moments of the first match, but our attitude wasn't good, and that's something we need to change," Scandicci's head coach Marco Gaspari highlighted. "It was a mistake, and we can't repeat it on match two. Ending the series on Thursday and having a full week to work would be massive for us in this moment of the season."
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