Everything was easy for the Venetians against Lodz. Vero Volley and Savino del Bene defeated in the fifth set against the two Istanbul powers Eczacibasi and Vakifbank. Igor has no problems against Benfica but remains behind Fenerbahce. It will be a derby
Milan and Scandicci come close to achieving the feat on the last day of the Champions League group stage, but will have to go through the playoffs, where it will be an Italian derby between the Tuscans and Novara.
In two weeks, with the formula of two home and away matches, Scandicci-Novara (the winner will meet Fenerbahce), Zeren-Schweriner (conegliano awaits in the quarter-finals), Milan-Olympiakos (whoever passes faces Vakifbank). Savino del Bene Scandicci will have to go through the playoffs to continue their journey in Europe, given the result in Istanbul. After the 3-1 in the first leg, in today’s match the Tuscans take a 2-0 lead, but a super Markova (32 points) drags her team to the tie-break. The fifth set ball exploited by the Turks was decisive at 2-2. Good for Savino del Bene Antropova (33 points). Everything was easy for Igor Gorgonzola who beat Benfica 3-0 in an hour and 10 minutes. Second place secured, the mosquitoes will also have to pass through the Italian derby in the playoffs to access the quarterfinals. In attack the usual Tolok did very well (16 points and 56% in attack) together with Van Avermaet (11). Portuguese fouled a lot (21 errors), with Ubavic being the best scorer (11 points). Lavarini Milano is damned as he has to get to the tiebreak in a match that seemed to have started in the best way. Egonu and his teammates were too inconsistent and didn’t know how to take advantage of a first set won with determination and were lost in the face of Eczacibasi’s response which found a great Magdalena Stysiak, but also a lot of organization in the defensive block which shut down Egonu and Lanier. After two sets of confusion with Lavarini also throwing in the bench (bad entry by Pietrini with three aces conceded), Milan returns to play: Egonu well, Piva well, the block well. Milan wins the tiebreak but wastes the initial 4-1 by letting themselves recover and closes Eczacibasi again. No problem, however, for Conegliano, who crushed Commercecon Lodz 3-0. Everything was easy for Santarelli’s girls, who equaled the Vakifbank record of 28 consecutive victories in the Champions League. Panthers too superior in all fundamentals (aces 7-1, blocks 9-2), with Zhu best scorer (15 points) and Haak MVP (13). In the quarterfinals, Imoco will await the winner of Zeren-Schwerin.
women’s champions results
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Group A: Vakifbank Istanbul – Savino Del Bene Scandicci 3-2 (24-26, 23-25, 25-20, 28-26, 15-12)
Group B: Igor Gorgonzola Novara – Benfica 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-15)
Group C: Numia Milano – Eczacibasi 2-3 (25-20, 18-25, 16-25, 25-21, 13-15)
Group D: A. Carraro Prosecco Doc Conegliano – Lks Commercecon Lodz 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-12)
playoffs
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Playoffs (first leg 17-19 February, return 24-26 February)
Savino Del Bene Scandicci – Igor Gorgonzola Novara
Zeren Ankara – Palmberg Schwerin
Numia Milan – Olympiakos
the quarter-finals
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Quarter-finals (first leg 10-12 March, second leg 17-19 March)
Fenerbahce – (Scandicci-Novara winner)
Developres Resovia – Eczacibasi Istanbul
Antonio Carraro Prosecco Doc Conegliano (Winning Zeren-Schwerin)
Vakifbank Istanbul – (Milan-Olympiakos won)
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