Milan, hit in Florence in game 1 of semifinal against Scandicci

The Serie A1 Scudetto semifinals opened with a twist. In fact, Numia Vero Volley Milan expels Florence with a clean 3-0 win against Savino del Bene Scandicci. In a packed Pala BigMat, Paola Egonu and her teammates (just back from a tie-break loss in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals against VakifBank Istanbul) immediately broke the balance of the series, nullifying the court factor and dominating a Scandicci still lacking its starting director Maja Ognjenovic.

Andrea Gussoni

Marta Bechis, after leading the world champions to a convincing victory over Fenerbahce on Wednesday, relies mainly on Ekaterina Antropova who, however, after a 12-point first set, drops in the distance. On the other side Egonu finds valuable support in a brilliant Khalia Lanier (top scorer for the Milanese with 18 points) and the usual reliable Rebecca Piva. The series now moves to Lombardy for game 2, scheduled at Allianz Cloud on Sunday, March 22 at 3 p.m.

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Just three days ago, a great Scandicci victory had come in the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Women’s Volleyball Champions League: Gaspari’s team had overcome Alessia Orro’s highly-ranked Fenerbahce with a clear 3-0 (partials 25-23; 31-29; 25-19) at PalaWanny in Florence. The world champions imposed themselves without conceding sets against Marcello Abbondanza’s lineup: after having come back in the first partial, they managed to impose themselves in the hard-fought second set by annulling as many as four set points. Then they closed the file by winning the third partial.

In the return match, the Tuscans will have to win two sets to pass the round. Great performance by Ekaterina Antropova with 25 points, among the Turks top scorer Melissa Vargas (23 points) was not enough.