Volleyball, A-1 women: Milan defeats Novara, Conegliano beats Florence and rises to the top

Five matches close the seventh day of A1 women with the top match between Novara and Milan

Novara-Milan 1-3 (16-25, 25-23, 23-25, 21-25)

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After 12 consecutive victories, Novara’s run comes to an end, overcome in the big match by the battleship Milano, dragged by a very centered Egonu but also supported by the incredible defenses of Brenda Castillo, ultimately elected MVP of the match, and by the blocks of Laura Heyrman (8 points), dominating at the net. Igor Gorgonzola certainly pays for the absences of the injured Bujis and Bonifacio (as well as the long-term patient Orthmann) who do not allow Bernardi alternative solutions in a match with many ups and downs. Milan, for its part, instead took advantage of the depth of a bench from which Cazaute and Bajema stood up in turn, to give breath to an attack at times too dependent on Egonu, 30 points with 45% offensive efficiency. The start of the match in which the tension seems to play a very bad joke on the hosts. Bosetti goes haywire in reception on Rettke’s serve (3 aces), Milan bites the block and leans on an Egonu immediately on fire and the 7-0 partial immediately directs the partial towards Milan’s side. Novara is in total confusion, the Alliance spreads until 6-20 and the set is in the safe. Bernardi preaches patience and “consoles himself” with a proud finish from his girls, who at least limit the deficit by getting back up to 16-25 scored by Sylla. After a storyless set, the challenge literally explodes in the second set. Milan tries to escape again at the start (1-5) but this time the home team shows the character to hold on to the match, with the usual Akimova and with a rediscovered Bosetti, who also capitalize on a few more errors from the Allianza, who sees Igor complete her comeback at 20. The finale is a show by Vita Akimova, anonymous until now, who scores two consecutive aces that turn the inertia of the set and then responds to Egonu (9 with 69% attacks positive in the partial) also exalting themselves in a super defense that gives way to Bosetti’s set point. Sylla’s mistake causes the Pala Igor to explode, completely sold out. The theme of the match does not change in the third, with Milan having the merit of immediately taking control of the partial and with Novara confirming, however, that it has remarkable compactness. Gaspari’s team, led by a stellar Egonu, now seems uncatchable at 12-19, and instead, point after point, Igor, led by the hand of Bosetti, comes within a whisker of another sensational turnaround: at 22-23 the ball that can turn the match around happens to Akimova, however stopped by an imperious block from Heyrman. At the first set ball Egonu closes 23-25. The fourth set was almost a photocopy: Allianz with Egonu and Cazaute ran away from 9-10 to 10-16. Igor, however, once again staged a great comeback, which took her to 20-21, with Chirichella unbeatable on the block. A great block from Cazaute on Akimova and an error from the young Russian, however, smooth out the final for Milan, who no longer makes mistakes and with Orro and Sylla closes 21-25. (Andrea Crippa)

Conegliano-Florence 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-17)

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Prosecco Doc Imoco remains undefeated and is definitely aiming for the solitary first place, waiting to recover the match against Rome in about ten days. Santarelli still rotates the sextet compared to the last two outings and lines up Bugg, Haak, Gennari, Plummer, De Kruijf, Squarcini and De Gennaro. Parisi responds with Battistoni, Kraiduba, Ishikawa, Alsmeier, Mazzaro, Stivrins and Leonardi. The guests hold out for only about twenty rallies in the first set, until the pace of the yellow-blues rises, thanks to the fast direction of Bugg and the high percentages of Haak, De Kruijf and Squarcini (all at 75%). The Bisontines suffer right from the reception and are unable to find gaps against the Conegliano wall, which limits Florence to 36%. The guests become more enterprising after the change of court, starting with the service. The solutions for Conegliano are less easy and the race becomes more interesting. Florence also finds a minimal advantage at 12-13, but the panthers’ response is immediate and again passes through the hands of Haak (19-15). It’s Stivrins who is the best of the Bisonte, but the standing ovation goes to De Gennaro when he serves a first half pass to De Kruijf with an overhead kick. Florence’s resistance lasts just a dozen rallies in the third set. Conegliano regains its momentum at the start and forces the guests to force some effort. The partial that leads from 5-5 to 16-8 closes all the discussions. On Wednesday the Panthers are away to Stuttgart for the Champions League, their main objective of the season. And on Sunday they will be in Bergamo to try to consolidate first place. (Mirco Cavallin)

Casalmaggiore-Busto Arsizio 1-3 (20-25, 16-25, 25-17, 24-26)

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Julio Velasco’s first win after his appointment as coach of the women’s national team is a lucky one. And deserved: because Busto only suffers in the initial part of the first set and then wins convincingly at Casalmaggiore, led by the great former Musso. The resuscitation implemented in the third (and fourth) partial is not enough and the fight for salvation is already heating up. At the PalaRadi, at the start, no one breaks until reaching 10, then a good defense by Casalmaggiore recycled by the attack on the outside wall by Smarzek scores the first mini break at 16-14. But it’s very early and indeed Busto completely changes the wind of the match: Frosini, Sartori and Carletti grind on Bracchi’s turn on serve, with 6 points in a row to turn the score. Obossa revives Casalmaggiore but only extends the set: 20-25. Trasporti Pesanti ended in confusion and started the same way: Bracchi animated the serve and we were 8-2 Busto before the engines even warmed up. When Boldini goes to serve it even goes up to 16-7, with the guest’s block always and punctually more effective also because Casalmaggiore has a terrible effort to “hit” the ball with conviction. Bracchi and Carletti thus finish with an even greater margin than in the first set: 16-25. Casalmaggiore tries to get back on track with Smarzek (11-5), starting much better and managing to double Busto in the heart of the third set, with the revived Acosta offering a nice offensive hand. In short, it is a game with heavy gaps, this time to the advantage of Trasporti Pesanti, who with Manfredini (18-10) pushes away the Bustocco return. Bracchi’s whole mistake reopens: 25-17. Busto works alongside Casalmaggiore, immediately imposing his rhythm: the 5-point advantage is first reduced, then expands again until Boldini scores 7-13. The statistics when the match draws to a close speak clearly: Casalmaggiore has improved in aces (7-5) but the block is Busto’s affair (11-3) and, with the same number of errors, the difference lies entirely there. Yet it is at the center that Trasporti Pesanti goes back up with the Manfredini revelation: 21-20. For the first time we go point to point: Casalmaggiore cancels two match points, Busto takes the third and with it the match. (Giovanni Gardani)

Pinerolo-Roma 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-20)

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Pinerolo made up for the defeat in Wednesday’s derby against Chieri with a very stubborn performance. An intense match that saw the two sextets battle throughout the match. In the end, it was the hosts who made better use of the opportunities and were more cynical, but nothing can be reproached against the Giallorossi in terms of tenacity and commitment. Rome finds a precious Giulia Melli for the next few months when she loses Plak, who flew to Turkey prematurely to join Besiktas. In the first set, the hosts held the point in the first part (11-8) and then suffered a 9-point break from the Giallorossi (15-17). Akrari on one side (7 points) and Melli on the other (6) set the set alight. There were many errors by the Piedmontese team (8), with Roma unable to exploit their moment of superiority on the pitch by bringing wash4green back into the game. In the end it is Sorokaite who closes the set with a great whip (25-23). Pinerolo took the initiative again in the second half, escaping with a 16-10 lead. Roma didn’t give up and grabbed three points, thanks also to Bici’s winning attacks (6), to get back into the game, forcing the Biancocelesti to time out. The Piedmontese make life difficult for themselves, bringing Roma back to the surface at 18-17. Ungureanu (7 points) takes the team on his shoulders and leads his teammates to win the set thanks to Madan’s final error (25-21). The third set starts again along the lines of the previous one, with Pinerolo attacking without interruption, as if to extinguish any enthusiasm from the Giallorossi (9-3). Pinerolo wants to close the match quickly, given that Roma’s flame, despite everything, does not stop burning, even reaching 19-18. The Biancocelesti suffer but in the end they close at 25-20 thanks to Nemeth who scored 18 points today. Also worth mentioning is Moro for Pinerolo, eventually named MVP. Roma coming out to applause, with the knowledge of being able to reach the set goal, Pinerolo reaching 12 and being able to daydream. Next day, trip to Milan for Pinerolo on the afternoon of Sunday 19 November and commitment to Casalmaggiore for Rome in the evening of the 18th. (Simone Corbetta)

Scandicci-Vallefoglia 3-0 (25-23, 25-14, 25-21)

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After the debut with victory in the Champions League and after the 3-0 away win against Itas Trentino, in the last round of the championship, Savino Del Bene Scandicci obtained another clear and convincing victory against Megabox Ondulati Del Savio Vallefoglia (who was unable to field Mingardi), who instead has his fourth consecutive knockout. First set really hard fought between these two teams. And for most of the first half it was Vallefoglia who was in charge and twice (first at 6-10, then at 15-19) got within four of their opponents. Despite many errors in the service, it was the individuality that kept Scandicci afloat and led Savino Del Bene to win the first half 25-23 with the attack signed by Zhu Ting. The second set is completely in the hands of Savino Del Bene, who starts immediately with a clear 6-0. Pistola is angry at the attitude of his girls who are unable to return, despite some good balls put down by Degradi and Grosse Scharmann. Antropova reaches double figures to make it 24-14 and decides to also put down the next ball to seal the 25-14 for her team. The third starts in the same way as the second, it looks exactly like a carbon copy. But when you least expect it, Gardini enters the scene and pushes his team towards a desperate attempt at a comeback with both his attack and his blocking. At 24-20 she cancels the first match point. But in the second Ruddins hits the mark. The American spiker did well, but Ognjenovic did very well and, above all, Carol was stratospheric, scoring 13 points with the beauty of 7 blocks. Vallefoglie licks his wounds and returns home with a bitter taste in his mouth for a start to the season that was below expectations. (Stefano Del Corona)