With the Italian club volleyball season set to start in the first weekend of October, fans of the country’s Lega Volley Femminile Serie A1 will be able to witness first-hand the top teams in the nation as they finalize their preparations for the season at the Courmayeur Cup this weekend.

The traditional preseason tournament will reunite the four best teams from last year’s regular season - Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano, Numia Vero Volley Milano, Savino del Bene Scandicci and Igor Gorgonzola Novara – for two days of matches at the Courmayeur Sport Center.

• Watch the Courmayeur Cup live on Volleyball World’s YouTube channel

The semifinals will take place on Friday, with Conegliano and Novara meeting first, at 17:30 local time (15:30 GMT), and Milano and Scandicci battling later, at 20:30 (18:30 GMT). The two losing sides will play the third-place match on Saturday, at 16:30 (14:30 GMT), while the winners will meet for the title at 19:30 (17:30 GMT).

First held in the 2024-2025 season, when it featured the same four teams, the Courmayeur Cup will again mark the return of Italian national team players to domestic competition after a major victory at the international level. If last year the tournament counted on eight of the 13 players that had won gold at the Paris Olympics a few weeks before, this time it will have eight of the 14 players that helped Italy win their second world title in Thailand earlier in September.

The tournament also serves as a way for fans to see what their favorite teams will look like in the upcoming season after the ever-growing transfer market activity during the offseason.

Defending champions Conegliano kept their core intact, bringing setter Joanna Wołosz, opposite Isabelle Haak, outside hitters Gabriela ‘Gabi’ Guimarães and Zhu Ting, middle blockers Sarah Fahr, Marina Lubian and Cristina Chirichella and libero Monica De Gennaro all back. Among their most popular new faces in 2025-2026 are outside hitters Nika Daalderop and Fatoumatta Sillah.

With Milano, the most important returning players are star opposite Paola Egonu, outside hitter Elena Pietrini, middle blockers Anna Danesi and Hena Kurtagić and libero Juliette Gelin. Adding to the team in the upcoming season will be setter Francesca Bosio, signed to replace Olympic and world champion Alessia Orro, opposite Vita Akimova, outside hitter Khalia Lanier, middle blocker Benedetta Sartori and libero Eleonora Fersino.

Their semifinal opponents Scandicci continue to have Serbian star Maja Ognjenović at setter, Olympic and world champion Ekaterina Antropova at opposite, Linda Nwakalor as a middle blocker and Dominican veteran Brenda Castillo at libero. The team revamped their outside hitter position, bringing Olympic champion Caterina Bosetti back to the country and adding USA national team members Avery Skinner and Sarah Franklin, and also got stronger in the middle with the addition of German national team captain Camilla Weitzel.

For Novara, opposite Tatiana Tolok, outside hitter Lina Alsmeier and middle blockers Sara Bonifacio and Federica Squarcini are the key returning pieces. The team has an exciting group of new players too, highlighted by Olympic champion setter Carlotta Cambi, Japanese star Mayu Ishikawa and Belgian scoring machine Britt Herbots at outside hitter, Dutch national team middle blocker Indy Baijens and veteran libero Giulia Leonardi.

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