A1 Series, last day of the round of the first leg decisive for the Italian Cup

Everything is ready for the last day of the first round of Serie A1 Tigotà. A round that is bound to be pulse-pounding: only the top eight finishers after Sunday’s matches will have a chance to qualify for the Quarterfinals of the Italian Frecciarossa Cup, scheduled for December 29-30. The scheduled matches will be only five: given the departure of the Prosecco Doc A.Carraro Imoco Conegliano and Savino Del Bene Scandicci to the Brazilian Club World Cup, the respective matches against Wash4Green Monviso Volleyball and Numia Vero Volley Milano have already been played in late October. One clarification is important, in view of the usual calculations for all teams involved in the cup race: the points and sets won in the advances of the 14th day (Conegliano-Busto Arsizio and Scandicci-Monviso) will not be considered for qualification to the event. If for Conegliano, Scandicci and Monviso this will be irrelevant for their position in the standings, this will not be the case for Busto Arsizio, which will start from 15 points (totaled in the first 12 days), excluding the point won against the panthers. Here is the standings to take into account.

Duly stated, it will be the field that will decide the qualifiers and especially the pairings, since apart from the first two positions nothing is certain. Opening the round will be the live Rai Sport and VBTV match on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 9 p.m. between Cbf Balducci Hr Macerata and Bergamo. The Orange Women, three points behind the Orobiche, will still not be able to enter the Italian Cup: even in case of 3-0, too much difference in the set quotient. Very important challenge instead for coach Parisi’s girls, currently eighth with 14 points: to be sure of a place among the eight it will be enough to win, even by two points. This is because Il Bisonte Firenze, ninth, even in the case of a 0-3 win in the away match at the home of Igor Gorgonzola Novara (Sunday at 4 p.m. live on DAZN and VBTV), could not overtake Bergamo (in case of success of the latter) because of a worse set quotient. Still, it will be crucial for coach Chiavegattito snatch points from the Mosquitoes to attempt qualification and try to overtake at least one of the teams in front. But Novara will not stand idly by, partly because of a cross situation with Reale Mutua Fenera Chieri, engaged at 5 p.m. (live VBTV) against Bartoccini Mc Restorations Perugia.

Both Piedmontese teams, fourth and fifth with 26 points, have the same number of wins, nine, as Milan, currently third with 29 points. As a result, both, in case of a 3-0 or 3-1 success, would join the meneghine at 29, surpassing them, however, thanks to the number of wins, ten. But there is more because, thanks to a better set quotient, it would be Chieri that would take third place, formalizing a thrilling cup quarterfinal between the two teams that only a few weeks ago shared the Assago Forum setting a record for the number of spectators for a women’s volleyball match. But the reckoning is not over because, also at 5 p.m. on VBTV, they will also Eurotek Laica Uybaagainst Omag-Mt San Giovanni in Marignano and the Megabox Ond. Savio Vallefogliaand the Honda Cuneo Granda Volleyball.

Both the Bustoccas and the Pesaresi, 15 points between sixth and seventh place, will want to secure the best position but, if the Romagna women will have no cup-related interests, different is the case of the Piedmontese cats who, tenth with 12 points, will also want to play their cards to break the series of six consecutive defeats.