SCANDICCI and MILANO complete #CLVolleyW quarterfinal line-up
News
Last year’s silver and bronze medal winners, Savino Del Bene SCANDICCI and Numia Vero Volley MILANO, complete the ‘grid’ for the #CLVolleyW quarterfinals where they join three teams from Türkiye, titleholders A. Carraro Prosecco DOC CONEGLIANO and Poland’s KS Developres RZESZÓW for the last step preceding the Final Four scheduled for May 2-3 in Istanbul. MILANO did easily take the two sets they needed from the re-match with Olympiacos, whereas SCANDICCI fought back from one set down to claim a 3-1 victory and emerge victorious from the subsequent Golden Set with domestic rivals Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA to secure the right to play Fenerbahçe Medicana ISTANBUL in the last 8. Vero Volley, on the other hand, will take on six-time #CLVolleyW winners VakifBank ISTANBUL for another chapter of the Turkish-Italian rivalry that has become a staple of women’s Volleyball in recent years.
Last year’s silver medal winners and reigning Club World champions Savino Del Bene SCANDICCI had never played a Golden Set in their history. As they were also contesting the #CLVolleyW Playoff Round for the very first time, the team coached by Marco Gaspari fought back from one set down and eventually progressed to the quarterfinals at the end of an epic matchup with their domestic rivals from Novara. This way, the team from Tuscany added another chapter to their success story in the competition, since in every edition they have featured in this far, the club has always reached at least the quarterfinals, with their best result the silver medal they won last year. This victory also improved the seasonal record for SCANDICCI to 35 wins in 42 matches contested thus far across all domestic and international competitions. In the quarterfinals, Savino Del Bene will face Turkish side Fenerbahçe Medicana ISTANBUL – in a repeat of a similar double fixture from the 2018/2019 edition.
Marco Gaspari, head coach of Savino Del Bene SCANDICCI: “We have to start from one point I would have said in exactly the same way even if we had been eliminated: we played against a very strong opponent, with incredible quality of play and, as everyone saw, with
substitutions that can change the match, with great quality and physicality. Tatiana Tolok played an extraordinary Game 1, and so did Mayu Ishikawa, Lina Alsmeier and Britt Herbots when she came in, as well as the middle blockers who played excellent Volleyball in Game 1, while we delivered an incredible performance in Game 2. We knew that at home our serve would definitely be more effective, just as in Novara their serve was really tough to handle. We knew we would face the toughest opponent of the Champions League Playoffs.
The first-leg result was the worst possible, because it was exactly the same as a 0-3 loss. After that match, when the last ball hit the floor, we said: “We have to work to recover our energy,” because beyond everything else we had three more physical issues involving some very important players for us. Despite that, the team worked extremely well over these two days. We achieved a great victory, because I always say we must never take such results for granted. Credit goes to the whole team and all the players, truly. Last year we aimed to go as far as possible in the Champions League; now we will face an opponent (ed. Fenerbahçe) that has built a Dream Team. But we are training well, so first we have to focus on the Italian League Playoffs: maximum concentration, hoping to recover Skinner, who has finally started touching the ball again after a long time. Tonight it’s right to enjoy a result like this – the players deserve it. From the day after tomorrow, however, the team must be completely focused on the first two Playoff matches, because we also have the ambition to make it as far as possible in the league. It is essential that our focus is on the matches with Volley BERGAMO.”
Britt Herbots“For sure this was not our best game. Congratulations to Savino Del Bene; they played amazing Volleyball, they pushed with the serve and they could defend almost everything. For us now I think it’s important to immediately learn from this game and re-focus on the domestic championship.”
Player of Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA
Lorenzo Bernardi“When you want to compete at this level, you need to put your best Volleyball on the court and we did it in the first set, with a good comeback in the last part of the game. After that, we just could not give our best anymore, even if we had a good chance in the fourth set, when we were leading 18-15. Congratulations to SCANDICCI, now we have to reset because the Playoffs of the national league will start already on Sunday.”
Head coach of Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA
Numia Vero Volley MILANO (ITA) vs. Olympiacos PIRAEUS (GRE) 3-0 (25-12, 25-18, 25-11)
Numia Vero Volley MILANO claimed the fourth win in as many matches they played with Olympiacos this season – thereby securing the third sweep in the process. These teams had previously crossed their paths in the pool stage as well, where Vero Volley had conceded only one set to their Greek rivals. This result also maintains a clean record for Italian teams in matches with Greek opposition in the #CLVolleyW – some 25 years ago Caposud REGGIO CALABRIA had won both of their pool matches with Filathlitikos THESSALONIKI. MVP Elena Pietrini of Vero Volley was the only player to finish the match in double digits with 13 points. All players on the roster of MILANO stepped onto the court, with the only exception of middle blocker Anna Danesi. The quarterfinal matches with VakifBank will be a repeat of last year’s bronze medal game – which Vero Volley claimed by 3-1.
Stefano Lavarini, head coach of Numia Vero Volley MILANO: “I am very satisfied with the match, the girls were excellent. We had to step onto the court with great focus and we did just that. We knew we had the advantage of the win from the first leg, but this was the decisive match and every game is different. We knew that Olympiacos would try to play all their cards right from the start, but the girls did very well to impose their rhythm and keep the lead that allowed us to qualify to the next round. I am very satisfied because in the third set we made some changes and still maintained a very high level of quality. Tonight’s was definitely an excellent performance. Now we enter a period in which every match will be decisive. Starting from Sunday, in the league Playoffs, everything will be different and demanding. It will be just as tough in the next Champions League round against VakifBank, we will go back to Istanbul and there we will do our best to seize our chances.”
Eleonora Fersino“I am very happy with the victory. We were really good because we focused on our own performance, regardless of the opponent we had in front of us. It was also a great opportunity for those who usually play a bit less, who were able to express themselves on court. Now we have to focus on the next round. We will face VakifBank, a very tough opponent. We know their value very well, but we have nothing to lose. We will go back to the gym, and we will try to study them in order to beat them.”
Libero of Numia Vero Volley MILANO
Kenia Carcaces“For us this is fine. The match was difficult because Numia Vero Volley is a very strong team. We wanted to win and we did our best to try to win. But we are still happy, because in the end we did a good job as a team. I want to congratulate all the girls. Now we have the Greek Cup, so we have to work for that competition.”
Player of Olympiacos
This is what the quarterfinals and full bracket look like:
