The two best teams in the 2024-2025 Lega Volley Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà regular season, Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano and Numia Vero Volley Milano had both great starts in the semifinals this weekend, getting a head start over their opponents in the race for the spots in the Scudetto Finals.

While defending champions Conegliano downed Novara on Saturday, Milano triumphed over Scandicci on Sunday, getting the first of three victories they need to win their best-of-five series and meet in a third domestic final this season, following encounters in the Supercoppa and the Coppa Italia.

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

Meeting Scandicci in the semifinals of the Italian League for a third-straight season, Milano delivered a strong performance on Sunday to start the series with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-21) victory in front of over 5,000 fans at the Allianz Cloud. It was the fourth duel between the teams this season and the first that didn’t go to five sets.

The match’s top scorer with 23 points (20 kills, two blocks, one ace), Milano’s star opposite Paolo Egonu received the MVP award. Dutch outside hitter Nika Daalderop was the team’s second-best scorer, producing ten points with eight kills and two blocks.

“I’m very happy with our performance tonight because it was important for us to start on the right way,” Daalderop reacted. “I thought it was a great start and we can be proud of it. Winning the first match matters, but we can’t forget that we need two more victories to advance.”

On the other side of the net, Olympic champion opposite Ekaterina Antropova led Novara with 17 points (14 kills, two blocks, one ace) in her lowest-scoring match in the playoffs so far. Outside hitter Camilla Mingardi registered ten, with eight kills and two aces.

“We didn’t deserve to win today and Milano played a very good match,” head coach Marco Gaspari explained. “Paola (Egonu) was excellent with her shot selection and I think that frustrated our blockers. Even not playing well, we had our chances, especially in the second set, but ended up wasting them with unforced errors. I didn’t like that we stopped fighting in some moments and then when we picked back up, it was too late. In a series like this, we need to be ready to reset after a difficult set.”

The second match between the teams will be held next Sunday, at 20:30 local time (19:30 GMT), in Firenze.

Lega Volley Femmnilie – Match Schedule & Results

Conegliano sweep Novara

The semifinals started on Saturday, when Conegliano had no trouble beating Novara 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-13) in front of their home fans in Villorba and started the series ahead.

The Panthers had Swedish opposite Isabelle Haak, who scored 17 points (15 kills, two blocks), and Chinese outside hitter Zhu Ting, who delivered 16 (15 kills, one ace), as their leading scorers – Zhu was selected as the match’s MVP.

“We started the series well, with a positive result, but it’s just the first match and I believe that the second match in Novara will be entirely different,” said Olympic champion middle blocker Sarah Fahr. “We remember what our series against them last season was like and we definitely expect them to play better going forward. We did a good job of taking control of the sets despite making some errors, but the series is just getting started and we still have a lot of work to do.”

Novara had Serbian middle blocker Maja Aleksić as their main scorer with eight points (six kills, two blocks), followed by German outside hitter Lina Alsmeier and Russian opposite Tatiana Tolok, who produced six each.

“We know how good Conegliano are, but we are frustrated with how we played and we know we can do a lot better,” said middle blocker Federica Squarcini. “Facing such a strong opponent in the semifinals is a privilege and I’m confident that starting in the next match, with the support of our fans, we’ll play better.”

The second match of the series will be held on Saturday, at 17:00 local time (16:00 GMT), in Novara.

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