Lega Pallavolo Serie A Femminile 2021 - News

BUvsMB038

Prosecco Doc Imoco Volley Conegliano have enjoyed a five-match winning start to the 2021/22 Lega Pallavolo Femminile Serie A1 season, scoring full points. They showed vulnerability after dropping their first set against Vero Volley Monza last Sunday, but the Italian Women’s League defending champions again showed their composure to overcome a tie-break scare.

Paola Egonu still occupies third place in the scoring charts after her 17-point performance. She also assisted her American teammates Kathryn Plummer and Megan Courtney who scored 22 and 18 points, respectively. Collectively, they outplayed Monza’s Polish reinforcement Magdalena Stysiak, who had a match-high 29 points.

The big question is which team will hand Conegliano their first defeat this season. On Saturday, Conegliano take on Unet E-Work Busto Arsizio at 18.00 CET/17.00 GMT. Busto Arsizio also played a five-setter last weekend, but lost their momentum in the last two sets after leading the match 2-1 against Savino Del Bene Scandicci.

Camila Mingardi came up with 27 markers for Busto Arsizio, but the team were outscored by the Scandicci duo of Natalia Pereira and Louisa Lippmann who had 20 and 23 points, respectively. Mingardi, however, is still the top scoring opposite in the league with a total of 106 points in five matches.

Busto Arsizio are fourth in the standings behind Conegliano, Igor Gorgonzola Novara and Scandicci.

This weekend’s action will start with the matchup between Il Bisonte Firenze and VBC Transporti Pesanti Casalmaggiore at 17.00 CET/16.00 GMT. Both teams are looking to bounce back after their losses last weekend.

Firenze’s Sylvia Nwakalor scored 26 points in her club's match to continue her outstanding scoring performance this season, but Acqua & Sapone Roma Volley Club’s Hanna Klimets scored 28 to outshine the 22-year-old Nwakalor in the four-set encounter.

Casalmaggiore conceded their match in straight sets against Volley Bergamo 1991, who were led by Khalia Lanier, daughter of NBA All-Star and Hall of Famer Bob Lanier. The 22-year-old American outside hitter top scored with 26 points.

Bergamo will play Bartoccini Fortinfissi Perugia on Saturday at 18.30 CET/17.30 GMT. Bergamo have two victories and three losses, while their opponents have won only one match so far.

Roma will play Reale Mutua Fenera Chieri later on Saturday at 20.30 CET/19.30 GMT.

Three matches are featured on Sunday. Third-ranked Scandicci will hope to put on a good performance against Monza to keep their momentum going in the league. They have a 4-1 win-loss card, while their rivals Monza dropped to seventh place with a 2-3 record after their five-set loss to Conegliano last weekend.

Their match up is at 17.00 CET/16.00 GMT, which will be held simultaneously with the encounter between Megabox Ondulati Del Savio Vallefoglia and Delta Despar Trentino.

The Tatiana Koshleva-led Vallefoglia are currently in last place with only one victory in five matches and tied with Trentino in terms of number of victories, but the latter have an edge in points.

Finally, Novara will play to maintain their winning rhythm and rely on their all-star line-up led by the top scoring Turkish dynamo Ebrar Karakurt. They take on Bosca S. Bernardo Cuneo at 19.30 CET/18.30 GMT.

The young Turkish star has been consistent in offence and moved up in the scoring leaderboard with her 19-point output against Perugia last weekend, teaming up with Dutch player Nika Daalderop who had 14 in their 3-0 win.

Meanwhile, after earning their first win this season – a straight-set victory over Vallefoglia – Cuneo are looking forward to another great scoring performance from Russian player Sofya Kuznetsova.

  • Get all the details from all the matches of the Italian League here.