Coppa Italia: Vero Volleyball Milan relies on Paola Egonu to dispel taboo
Italy Cup: Vero Volleyball Milan relies on Paola Egonu to dispel the tabù
Allianz Vero Volleyball Milano has left for Trieste, where the Final Four of the Coppa Italia Frecciarossa 2024 will take place over the weekend. On Saturday, Feb. 17 at 6 p.m. (live coverage by Rai Sport and volleyballworld.tv), the lineup led by Marco Gaspari will be on court at Pala Trieste, against Savino Del Bene Scandicci, for the second semifinal of the event that awards a spot in the final act of the national cup against the winner between Conegliano and Chieri.
At its fifth overall participation in the Final Four of the Italian Cup after the 2018 and 2023 experiences of Bologna (defeated in the semifinals against Novara and in the final against Conegliano), 2020 of Busto Arsizio (defeated against the hosts in the semifinals) and 2021 of Rimini (defeated, again in the semifinals, against Conegliano), Vero Volleyball goes in the hunt for the first Italian Cup victory in its history after the exciting ride that had led it, last sports season, to an extraordinary Scudetto final.
Reduced by the two consecutive defeats in the last rounds of the championship against Conegliano and Novara, the roses aim to reverse the trend against the Tuscans, as already happened twice this season in the championship first at the tie-break in Milan and with a net 0-3 at the Wanny Palace.
Milan will try again to rely on its solid wall-defense correlation, as well as the strong and continuous serving of its best days. Also likely to positively affect the performance of Allianz Vero Volley Milan will be the reception (Castillo solid in first position among the "top receivers" of the league with 48.28% of perfect receptions), and a lot of continuity in attack, led by the flashes of a superb Egonu, "top spiker" of the Tigot A1 Series" with 429 balls put on the ground.
"We are definitely not in our best moment of the season and precisely for this reason there’s a need for everyone to bring out something more – said coach Marco Gaspari to the club’s official channels -. We are preparing to face a Final Four where we all start from zero to zero. We know that on the’other side of the net we will find a very strong opponent, structured as we are and that surely wants revenge after the championship game. So we are expecting a match where clarity, especially in the key moments, will be crucial".
"For our part, we know that we cannot and will never be able to afford, all the more so against a strong lineup like Scandicci, to approach each set differently. We have to enter the court treasuring what has happened in the past weeks, turn possible nervousness into aggressiveness, maintain lucidity and not drag behind us the negative thoughts of the two defeats" concluded Gaspari.
