The wonderful gesture by Sarah Fahr and Sofia D’Odorico

The FIAT Women’s Volleyball Super Cup is fast approaching, with Conegliano and Scandicci set to face off in Bari on Saturday. Before the match, however, the players from both teams will participate in a series of events organized around the city, including meet-and-greets with fans, visits to schools, and charitable activities.

Friday’s schedule includes a visit by Sarah Fahr and Sofia D’Odorico to young patients in the Pediatric Oncohematology ward at the Policlinico di Bari. Manfredini and Graziani, meanwhile, will be guests at the “G. Mameli” elementary school, where they will meet with the students. There will also be time to explore local traditions, with De Gennaro, Gabi, Sirressi, and Van Hecke participating in a bread-making class in the streets of Bari Vecchia.

Conegliano heads into the match as the reigning Italian champion and off to a strong start in the league: after four rounds of Serie A1, the Pantere have 12 points, thanks in part to their 3-0 victory over Talmassons on Sunday. At the same time, however, Vero Volley Milano—fueled by Paola Egonu’s 22 points in a 3-0 road win over Bergamo—has caught up with Santarelli’s team at 12 points. The head-to-head league matchup is expected in about a month.

For both finalists, the Super Cup is also an opportunity to put a bitter European season finale behind them. Conegliano, which finished third in the most recent Champions League, lost its semifinal to Turkey’s VakifBank 3-2 (22-25, 18-25, 29-27, 25-23, 15-11), after dominating the first two sets and squandering four match points in the third. In that match, the top Italian scorers were Isabelle Haak and Gabi, both with 20 points, ahead of Zhu Ting with 17. The Venetian team had also been forced to play without middle blocker Cristina Chirichella, who was sidelined on the eve of the Final Four due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury in her right knee. Scandicci, for its part, had finished in fourth place in the same competition.

Both teams will return to the continent’s top competition in the upcoming Women’s Champions League, alongside Milan—a league championship finalist—and Novara, which secured a wild card from the CEV for the second consecutive year.