An Italian masterpiece: Stefano Lavarini’s Igor conquered the Monza Arena 1-3 after four seasons and won a place in the Scudetto final. Opponents of captain Chirichella and her teammates, the Venetians of Conegliano, already faced in the final of the Italian Cup and in the semifinals of the Champions League.

Monza starts with Orro in the direction and Van Hecke diagonally, Heyrman and Danesi in the center, Meijners and Begic in the band and Parrocchiale free; Igor on the court with Smarzek opposite Hancock, Chirichella and Washington central, Daalderop and Bosetti spikers and Sansonna free.

Novara got off to a good start (1-3) with Daalderop, Bosetti escaped up to 5-7 but Monza made an impact (7-7) and in the next point he found the important break that was worth 16-12 with Squarcini’s ace. Bosetti returns to the game (17-14), at 20-18 Parazzoli stops the game but Novara impacts with Washington’s block on Begic (20-20) reopening the game. Two Azzurri errors, however, launch the Brianza (23-20) with Meijners who then closes the set diagonally at 25-21.

Novara with Zanette in the sextet, Washington makes the first cue (3-4) but Orro finds the break that overturns the inertia (8-6) and forces Lavarini to timeout; Meijners misses (8-8), Zanette realizes a great defense (10-11) and then extends in maniout with Washington who shortly after launches the Azzurre first to 11-16 and then to 12-17 with a great first half. Monza does not give up and returns 16-17, Lavarini calls his team together and Novara starts again, escaping 17-21 and then approaching the finish line with a maniout by Bosetti (19-23) and a diagonal by Herbots (20-24). He closes a mistake by Van Hecke on serve (21-25).

Lavarini relaunches Smarzek and the Pole makes the difference at the start with four heavy points that are worth 4-7, after a great defense by Bosetti; Brianza timeout but Novara extends 8-12 while Monza finds rhythm and makes 10-12 on the block, then reaching -1 with another “block” scored by Heyrman (13-14). On Smarzek’s serving turn, thanks to a great Daalderop, Novara escapes 14-21 with a lob from the blue opposite, while Monza changes diagonally, in vain: Obossa does not give up (19-23), Tajé signs the ace that is worth 19-25 and 1-2.

With Orthmann and Negretti starting, Monza reacts (3-0) with two blocks by Danesi, while Bosetti (4-3) and Chirichella (5-4) remain in the slipstream, with an error by Begic (7-7) that triggers a nice point to point, broken by an ace by Hancock (9-10) and a first half by Chirichella (10-12). Monza comes back (12-12), Daalderop makes 13-17 but the usual Squarcini reduces the gap (16-17, ace) while Lavarini launches Herbots on serve: on the Belgian’s serve (16-19, ace), Novara makes 16-21 and mortgages the partial. The hosts, however, do not give up and return 20-21 with the Azzurri fouled, Bosetti resolves a daring exchange (20-23) and Novara arrives at the match ball with an error by Orthmann (22-24); Chirichella closes, in the first half, for 23-25.

Elisa Zanette (opposite Igor Gorgonzola Novara): “We have achieved a great goal and moreover in a field like Monza which is very difficult. The goal in the team is to always give each other a hand and tonight it showed. Now we have two very tough games ahead of us and we will have to be precise and lucid to face a battleship.”

Stefano Lavarini (coach Igor Gorgonzola Novara): “We did a great job, we played a beautiful regular season but twice we did not beat Monza; The playoff calendar wanted us to meet again and this further good result makes us even happier. We are going to play the final, which I have never played in Italy.”

Cristina Chirichella (central Igor Gorgonzola Novara): “We fought on all the balls, in addition to the game the spirit with which we were on the field was important, we had said it to each other at the beginning of the game. We knew it would be difficult, Monza plays well and has players of the highest level, but we showed that we are there, we wanted to get to the final. With Conegliano? We will give it our all, we will play our volleyball and we will see, we will certainly not be on the court with the idea of losing “.

Saugella Monza – Igor Gorgonzola Novara 1-3 (25-21, 21-25, 19-25, 23-25)
Saugella Monza: Carraro, Squarcini 2, Heyrman 11, Van Hecke 17, Orro 4, Begic 10, Danesi 8, Orthmann 2, Meijners 10, Obossa 3, Davyskiba ne, Parrocchiale (L), Negretti (L). Coach: Parazzoli.
Igor Gorgonzola Novara: Herbots 2, Napodano (L) ne, Zanette 2, Battistoni, Bosetti 17, Chirichella 10, Sansonna (L), Hancock 3, Bonifacio ne, Tajè 1, Washington 11, Smarzek 10, Bolzonetti ne, Daalderop 14. Coach: Lavarini.
MVP Caterina Bosetti