Numia Vero Volley Milano can become the first team qualified for the 2024-2025 Lega Volley Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà Finals this weekend, when they will host Savino Del Bene Scandicci in the third match of their best-of-five semifinal series.

If they win the encounter set to start at 17:00 local time (16:00 GMT) on Sunday, in front of their home fans, Milano will win the series 3-0, confirming their spot in the Scudetto Finals. The other series, which has Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano and Igor Gorgonzola Novara tied at 1-1, also continues on Sunday, at 15:20 (14:20 GMT), in Villorba, but at least one more match will be needed for the winners to be determined.

• Watch the Lega Volley Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà playoffs live on VBTV

Milano have been in great form in the Italian League playoffs, having won all four matches they played in the postseason so far. Against Scandicci, they started the series with an emphatic sweep at home and displayed grit and determination to secure a five-set road win last weekend.

Undefeated in their last 11 matches, they are looking to make their third appearance in the Finals in the last four seasons and, hopefully, win their first title.

“Right now, all we’re thinking about is the third match against Scandicci,” said head coach Stefano Lavarini. “We were ready for a long series and we still think it can be this way. Scandicci have a very strong team and, just like us, they can certainly win the three matches left. The last matches helped us improve, but they’re behind us now and the only thing that will determine our future is Sunday’s match.”

For Scandicci, a victory on Sunday is mandatory if the team wants to extend the series and keep their hopes of making it to the Finals for a second-straight season.

Despite the frustrating loss at home last weekend, they displayed progress and were able to challenge Milano in a stronger way they did in the first match.

“In the playoffs, every match is different and that’s what I expect for Sunday,” head coach Marco Gaspari reacted. “Since the first match, we’ve been trying to take the good things that we did and fix the one that didn’t work so well. If we look at our task as a whole, it looks like a big mountain to climb, so we’re trying to just focus on Sunday’s match for now.”

Scandicci’s task looks even more challenging considering the fact that Milano the four last matches between the teams. They also have more victories over the years, with 18 to Scandicci’s 15.

Novara looking to keep the momentum

The first team to beat Conegliano in the 2024-2025 season, Novara want to keep the momentum earned with their massive 3-0 victory last week and deliver another strong performance against the defending champions on Sunday.

Their confidence just keeps getting higher and it got to another level on Tuesday, when they topped Romania’s Alba Blaj on the road to secure the CEV Cup title for the first time in club history.

“Winning the CEV Cup was a goal we set last summer and it’s great to accomplish it,” middle blocker Sara Bonifacio reacted. “It was a team victory, in which every player made a difference, as it has happened many times this season. I’m really proud of my team and winning this trophy is a great reward for our work, but the season is not over yet.”

Conegliano, on the other hand, had an entire week to digest their first loss of the season and are determined to come back stronger and use their homecourt advantage to take control of the series again – they will play in front of a sold-out crowd at the Palaverde.

Looking to win the Italian title for a seventh-straight time, the Panthers will be motivated to strike back after feeling the taste of an upset for the first time in about a year, but they also took the time to work on their game.

“The atmosphere was definitely different this week,” head coach Daniele Santarelli analyzed. “We knew the first defeat could come in the playoffs, when everyone is at their best. We had the entire week to prepare and focused on working on things that didn’t go well in the last match. Perhaps it would have been better to have played right after that match, when the desire to get redemption was at its highest, but I’m sure we’ll have more energy and motivation on Sunday. The most important thing is that we get back to playing aggressively as we used to.”

Novara’s Sunday victory ended a series of five straight Conegliano wins in the duel. The Panthers have a massive historical advantage, leading the series between the teams by 41 victories to 12.

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