On Saturday, September 28th local time, the Italian Women's Serie A Supercoppa took place, with Conegliano, last season's league champions, including Japan's Nanami Seki, clashing with Milan, last season's runner-up, including Keimi Fukudome. The match went to a full set, just like the men's match, but in the end, Conegliano, showing their overall strength, won the fifth set and won 3-2 (20-25, 25-16, 21-25, 25-23, 15-11). This is Conegliano's seventh consecutive victory in this tournament.
For more details on the match, click here ↓
https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/legavolley-femminile-a1/2024-2025/supercoppa/schedule/21058/
The MVP was selected as Sara Farr (Italy), who scored 17 points, the second highest on the team, despite being a middle blocker. She contributed greatly to the team's victory with an incredible attack efficiency rate of 68.421 TP3T. She is already one of the best middle players in the world. I hope that Japan will have a middle player with scoring power, even if it's not as good as hers.
However, the performance of the middle is also greatly influenced by the setter, and Conegliano's starting setter, Wołosz (Poland), also set well. I think she is better when playing for Conegliano than for the Polish national team. Conegliano's opposite, Haak (Sweden), is strong, so attention is drawn to him, but I once again realized that what is more distinctive about her is the strength of her middle.
Both men's and women's teams with strong middle-class skills are strong and fun to watch.
Seki started on the bench as a substitute for Vowash, but he was seen entering the court as a substitute for two players and providing a quick pass to the far side. He can also give a high toss! (laughs). It will be difficult to get a chance to play for the strongest champion Conegliano, but I hope he will continue to absorb as much as he can from Vowash and the team.
However, I hope he will be very careful about injuries (Nagaoka previously had to leave the team due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury while playing for Conegliano...).
Meanwhile, Fukudome started for Milan. In the Japanese national team, he was a so-called de Grivero, who did not participate in serve reception, but in Milan, he stayed on the court even during side-outs and participated in serve reception. His digs and underhand high sets were impressive. He started on the bench in the game held the week before, so it's exciting to think that he has gained the manager's trust over the past week and has been selected as a starter. I hope he continues to do his best as a starter in the league games.
Milan was also missing their star player Egonu due to a fever, but instead, outside player Cazotte (France) who played in the opposite position and Italian national team player OH Silla who scored the most points of both teams with 24 points played well. For better or worse, Milan's performance last season depended on Egonu, so although they lost, I think being able to play this way was a big gain for the league.
The Italian women's volleyball scene is more excited than ever after the Italian women's team won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
It will be interesting to see how much Japanese female players, including Mayu Ishikawa who plays for Novara, will grow this season in Italy. Personally, I am also looking forward to seeing them improve their language skills (laughs).
Photo: legavolleyfemminile.it/
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