They were passed by Chieri, which had the return of star outside hitter Alice Degradi
Published 12:24, 10 Nov 2025
Novara's American opposite Taylor Mims is blocked during the match against Perugia (Photo: LVF)
After starting their campaign in the 2025-2026 Lega Femminile Serie A1 Tigotà with four victories, Igor Gorgonzola Novara continue to lose ground in the race for the top of the standings.
On Sunday, the Courmayeur Cup winners were on the wrong side of the most surprising result of the eighth leg of the Italian League regular season, losing to Bartoccini-MC Restauri Perugia 3-2 (14-25, 25-20, 29-27, 20-25, 19-17) and suffering their third upset in the last four matches.
Bartoccini-Mc Restauri Perugia vs. Igor Gorgonzola Novara - VBW - Womens Italian League A1 - Match Highlights
After this weekend's results, Novara, which also lost to league leaders Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano and second-placed Savino Del Bene Scandicci within the last two weeks, appear in fifth place in the standings with 16 points (five wins, three losses), trailing Conegliano by ten and Scandicci by six.
Perugia, which got to eight points (three wins, five losses) and moved up to tenth with their impressive victory, had three players in excellent form against Novara, as while Beatrice Gardini led the team with 22 points (21 kills, one ace), fellow outside hitter Elena Perinelli and American opposite Kashauna Williams were not far behind, contributing 21 and 20 points, respectively.
"I'm very proud of the win and the way we got it," Perinelli, who received the match's MVP award, reflected. "I don't think I started the match very well, but I managed to improve. Now we need to focus on being more consistent and avoiding errors like we made last weekend in Firenze."
Leading Novara against Perugia were German outside hitter Lina Alsmeier and Dutch middle blocker Indy Baijens, who registered 18 points each.
"I'm very disappointed because we played an excellent first set, but got frustrated after they improved their defense and couldn't find ways to score," libero Giulia Leonardi remarked. "They played a very good match, but I felt that we weren't good enough in many aspects of the game. Our blocking wasn't very effective, our defense didn't produce much, and our serving went down as the match progressed."
The team that passed Novara for fourth place, Reale Mutua Fenera Chieri '76 was involved in another remarkable moment of the eighth leg as Italian national team outside hitter Alice Degradi returned to action during their 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 26-24) victory over CBF Balducci HR Macerata on Saturday - they now have 17 points, with six wins and two losses.
Degradi, who was sidelined since she sustained an injury during the final of the 2025 Volleyball Nations League in July, was subbed in to serve in the first and second sets and contributed to the team's victory that had Hungarian opposite Anett Németh as the leading scorer with 15 points (14 kills, one block).
Also on Saturday, Scandicci took care of business at home, benefiting from 18 points (14 kills, three aces, one block) from star opposite Ekaterina Antropova to beat Bergamo 3-0 (25-13, 32-30, 25-10) and get to 22 points (eight wins, one loss).
Their effort to cut the gap to leaders Conegliano wasn't productive, though, as the Panthers also claimed all three points and got to 26 with their ninth victory, beating Megabox Ondulati Del Savio Vallefoglia 3-1 (19-25, 25-14, 25-23, 25-17) on Sunday. Slovenian outside hitter Fatoumatta Sillah led their offense with 20 points (14 kills, three blocks, three aces).
Held on Sunday, the other three matches of the Italian League this weekend went to four sets and had Wash4Green Monviso Volley beating Eurotek Laica UYBA Busto Arsizio 3-1 (27-25, 25-16, 19-25, 25-14) at home, Numia Vero Volley Milano overcoming Honda Cuneo Granda Volley 3-1 (25-23, 21-25, 25-15, 25-16) on the road and Il Bisonte Firenze coming back to defeat Omag-Mt San Giovanni In Marignano 3-1 (22-25, 25-23, 27-25, 25-21).
Lega Volley Femminile - Match Schedule & Results
The ninth leg of the regular season will be played during the week, with all seven encounters taking place on Wednesday.
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