Ekaterina Antropova charges Italvolley ahead of Holland
The Italvolley is ready to return to the court for the Volleyball Nations League Finals in Lodz. After finishing the intercontinental phase with 12 victories in as many matches played and equaling the record of 26 consecutive victories in official matches between the 2024 and 2025 seasons, the Azzurri will face the United States in the first knockout match of the year.
The 1 seed crossing the 8 to earn access to the semifinals, which specifically will see Italy or the United States cross the winner of Poland-China. At the moment, however, CT Julio Velasco’s girls are focused solely and exclusively on the challenge with the Americans scheduled for Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at the Atlas Arena in Lodz in what will be the second seasonal chapter of a rivalry essayed in the absolute debut in VNL 2025 in Rio de Janeiro. On that occasion, captain Danesi and her teammates imposed themselves at the Maracanazinho with a clear 3-0.
The protagonist of that match was Ekaterina Antropova, who represented Italy on Wednesday morning at the official press conference presenting the Finals 2025 alongside the coach of the Polish national team, Stefano Lavarini, and athletes Magdalena Stysiak (Poland), Avery Skinner (USA), Gong Xiangyu (China), Gabi (Brazil), Camilla Weitzel (Germany), Megumi Fukuzawa (Japan) and Simge Akoz (Turkey).
“We are fine and we are ready,” said the Italian opposing player. “We will face a great team, much changed from the one beaten in Rio in the VNL debut and that will certainly know and want to put us in difficulty. For our part, we must play giving our best, ready to face the difficulties that the match will present us with serenity and decisiveness. I think it is important to approach one game at a time at this stage. We should not think about the winning streak or the fact that we are undefeated but just focus on what we have to do to win the next match. I don’t think there is any particular secret behind our current moment but rather that it is the result of an important mix in which everything is working. Having said that, so far, we have not achieved anything, so it will be important to keep working hard to do well starting with these Finals. It is important, again, not to think about all these numbers, the record, the unbeaten streak but rather to focus intensely on what we have to do. We internally are focused on that, giving our best in training to play our best every game”.
