Alan Nine
Women’s Serie A1: Egonu leads Milano to opening-day win
MILAN – Paola Egonu opened the Serie A1 season with a 27-point performance as Numia Vero Volley Milano beat Il Bisonte Firenze 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-20) in front of 4,460 spectators.
Egonu took the MVP award, while Gianlorenzo Blengini made a winning debut as a head coach in the women’s top flight. The straight-sets scoreline, however, did not fully reflect Firenze’s challenge. The visitors remained competitive throughout and led 16-13 in the third before Milano rallied to close out the match.
Egonu put away 25 of her 45 attacks and served two aces, scoring ten points in the final set alone. Milano’s biggest advantage came in the block, where they outscored Firenze 11-1, with Anna Danesi contributing four. Eleonora Fersino finished with a 72 per cent positive reception rate.
Bianca Cugno led Firenze with 16 points, while Sara Caruso converted nine of her 13 attacks.
Serie A1 in numbers: 200 players from 34 countries
A Volleyball.it survey of the league’s 14 squads counted 200 players from 34 countries, with Italians occupying 119 roster spots—59.5 per cent of the total. The United States has the largest overseas contingent, with 11 players.
Cuneo are the only club where foreign players outnumber Italians, seven to six. Macerata have the highest proportion of domestic players, with ten Italians in their 13-player squad.
Cuneo also have the youngest squad, with an average age of 24.1, while Scandicci have the oldest at 29.6. Ten of the 14 squads average under 26, giving the league a youthful profile alongside its established international stars.
Women’s Serie A2: Roma and Busto start with four-set wins
Roma Volley and Erreci Busto Arsizio both collected three points on the opening day of the Serie A2 season, overcoming Akademia Messina and Perugia respectively.
Roma prevailed 3-1 (25-23, 25-20, 20-25, 25-16), with Nikoleta Perovic earning MVP honours after scoring 25 points. Messina finished with 13 blocks and kept the contest alive by taking the third set, but Roma reasserted themselves in the fourth.
Busto overcame injury setbacks to beat Perugia 3-1 (27-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-22). Already without Edinara, who had suffered an eye injury in training, they also lost Gaia Moroni to a knee problem during the second set.
Mija Siftar led Busto with 25 points and Emma Cagnin added 17. Trailing 14-8 in the fourth, Busto fought back to seal the win and avoid a deciding set.
SuperLega: Verona claim Hartberg trophy as preparations gather pace
Rana Verona won the Coppa senza Confini in Hartberg with a 3-0 victory over VfB Friedrichshafen, holding their nerve in three tight sets.
The margins were narrow throughout—28-26, 25-23, 27-25—but Verona found a way through each time. Glatz scored 17 points and was named tournament MVP, while Noumory Keita added 15.
Sir Susa Scai Perugia rounded off a five-match series of training fixtures with a 3-1 win over Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina. A small group of available first-team players shared court time with academy prospects, while returning internationals Simone Giannelli, Oleh Plotnytskyi and Ferre Reggers watched from the stands after starting individual conditioning programmes.
Cisterna Volley, meanwhile, welcomed Colombian opposite Miguel Ángel Martínez Amaranto ahead of Sunday’s friendly against Lube Civitanova in San Severino Marche.
Amaranto arrives after a summer in which he won three medals with Colombia and collected four individual awards. The friendly will give Cisterna their first chance to integrate him into the line-up ahead of the SuperLega season.
