VNL Women, Paola Egonu drags Italvolley to semifinals
The’Italvolley women’s team is confirmed as the team to beat in the Volley Nations League: the Azzurre led by Julio Velasco have in fact beaten the United States in the quarterfinals of the 2025 edition of the international competition, thus securing a place among the top four and confirming an extraordinary state of form, which has led them to win 13 matches in a row since June 4.
25-22, 25-21, 28-26 the score in favor of Italy, led statistically and not only by an overwhelming Paola Egonu, author of 20 points overall and the only one in double figures for the Azzurre. In fact, the second best scorer is Ekaterina Antropova, with 9 points on the score sheet, while captain Anna Danesi and Sarah Fahr scored 8 apiece.
The best scorer for the Americans, on the other hand, was Avery Skinner with 11 points. too little to worry the Italian national team, which in the last two matches did not leave a single set to its opponents, even managing to react to complex situations such as the +3 in favor of the Americans in the third set at 22-19, overturned with a partial of 9-4.
The goal of Italy, the defending Olympic champion, is to win the Volleyball Nations League for the second consecutive year, after winning the title in 2024 by beating Japan 3-1 in the final in Bangkok, Thailand. The Azzurre also won the VNL on another occasion, in 2022, defeating in that case Brazil 3-0, in the final act played in Ankara (Turkey).
