Conegliano grab the first Super Final ticket

A.Carraro Imoco Conegliano run their impressive winning streak all the way to the Super Final of the Champions League. Following the three-set victory over Igor Gorgonzola Novara in the first match of their semifinal rivalry, Conegliano delivered another straight-set stunning performance, this time on their own court. The result comes after Conegliano’s winning campaign as this Tuesday’s encounter was their 57th consecutive win.

Conegliano controlled the match from first minutes, pushing Novara to make a couple mistakes that allowed the hosts to reach 6-3. The lead was soon extended to 11-5 after two great plays by McKenzie Adams and Novara are forced to take their first time out. Conegliano continued to shine in the attack with Kimberly Hill and Robin de Kruijf adding points of their own. The latter increased the gap between her team and Novara to 17-7, forcing coach Stefano Lavarini to take another time out. Joanna Wolosz pulls a trick out of her sleeve, delivering a single-hand set for Paola Egonu, who makes it 18-8 with a spike without a block. The team maintained the point gap until they took the set 25-15 with a spike from Sarah Fahr.

Novara recovered immediately, taking an early lead in the second set at 2-5. Conegliano responded right away and levelled the score at 7-7 after Egonu blocks Caterina Bosetti. The story repeats itself as Novara go ahead by 3 points at 10-13, but Conegliano soon tied with Kimberly delivering the levelling hit. Egonu adds an ace serve, putting her team in the lead for the first time this in this set and Novara stopped the game with a time out. But Egonu remained at the service line, taking her team into a 16-13 advantage. Faced with their last chance to turn things into their favour, Novara find a way back in from 19-16 to 19-19, after a run of good plays - stopping Egonu with a double block on Egonu, followed by ace serve from Britt Herbots and spike from Bosetti. Both teams continued point by point, when two double blocks by Conegliano on Elisa Zanette and Bosetti puts the team at 24-21 - at the verge of winning their second set and securing the ticket to Super Final of the competition. Bosetti steps in with a great spike and an ace serve, allowing Novara to edge closer to 24-23 and forcing Conegliano to take a time out. Egonu uses the third set point for Conegliano and ends the set with a diagonal spike, taking her team into the final phase of the Champions League.

Keen to finish the match in style, both teams kept their starting line ups in the third set and continued playing point by point, until Conegliano went ahead at 10-7. Gulia Gennari and Lucille Gicquel replaced Wolosz and Egonu on Conegliano’s side in the following part of the set, as the team continued to lead with 15-13 on the scoreboard. Gicquel has an immediate impact on the team, as her great performance at the service line forces Novara to take a time out when the score reached 18-14. The hosting team remained ahead, extending the gap to six points at 23-17 and the first match point came at 24-19. Adams scored the final point, hitting the ball off the block and winning the third set 25-20 as an icing on the cake of their spot in the Champions League Super Final.

• This was the fifth CEV Champions League match between A.Carraro Imoco Conegliano and Igor Gorgonzola Novara. With this win, Conegliano lead with 3 victories.

• Second set brought two breaking moments, thanks to serving performance on both sides of the net. Conegliano scored a 6 point streak during Paola Egonu's service turn, going from 11-13 to 17-13. Novara responded soon after with a 5 point break while Britt Herbots was at the serving line

• Joanna Wolosz was named MVP of the match after leading Conegliano to a straight-set victory, with the team achieving 54% of exc. attack

• McKenzie Adams was the top scorer of the match with 16 points (15 wninng spikes and 1 block)

• Caterina Bosetti was the best scorer for Novara with 10 points (7 winning spikes, 2 aces and 1 block)

• Sarah Fahr was the best blocker of the match, scoring 4 points in this element