Under the eyes of “Mister century” Lorenzo Bernardi, the Prosecco Doc Imoco closes the score with a combative Vallefoglia: it finishes 3-1, and stretches to the top because Scandicci leaves precious points against Novara.
The Gialloblù, as against Resovia and Busto, struggle to get into the first set, improving the quality of the shots and respect for skills along the way. The three points strengthen the first place in the standings, but the overall game is not yet at the level it will serve in the week of the Italian Cup.
Santarelli rotates the formation again and lines up Wolosz, Haak, Gennari, Plummer, De Kruijf, Fahr and De Gennaro. Mafrici replies with Hancock, Drews, Kosheleva, D’Odorico, Aleksic, Furlan and Sirressi. At the start Conegliano suffers from the low percentages of Plummer in attack and tries to lean on De Gennaro and Gennari in reception. Kosheleva and D’Odorico pass with some ease, but Haak and De Kruijf (7-7) respond. Aleksic also makes himself heard with fast and block, confirming that the tigers from the Marches have not come to Veneto to be sparring partners. Fahr found two good first times, but difficulties on the second row forced Santarelli to call Cook from the bench in place of Plummer. However, the skills between the block and defense remain in disorder and with a lot of detachment and Vallefoglia extends until 12-16. It takes Haak’s push to shorten up to 16-17, and then equalize at 22. Squarcini, as soon as she comes in for service, takes a blow to her right eye and has to go back to the bench. Haak propitiates a set point, but then misses the serve. The closing passes from the hands of D’Odorico, with diagonal and block.
Conegliano’s face suddenly changes when the game restarts. On the front line, Haak and Fahr let nothing pass (7-1). De Kruijf and Plummer (13-5, with 5 winning blocks from the panthers) are also added to the block sequence. Vallefoglia tries to change something with the grafts of Papa and Piani, instead of Kosheleva and Drews, but Haak continues to hammer from all positions. Squarcini’s ace is worth 19-11 and on 21-12 Santarelli changes the diagonal by inserting Carraro and Samedy, who puts the ball on the ground at the first opportunity. However, like Wednesday, the pace drops, but the large advantage is enough to put the race back in balance.
Vallefoglia finds its rhythm with Drews and Kosheleva and remains glued to Conegliano in the third set. The maximum advantage of the Gialloblù is on the score of 8-5, and it seems to relive the interlocutor phases of the start of the match. Drews makes 13 all and then enters Squarcini, perfectly recovered, and puts in a prolific sequence of serves, with 4 aces and blocks by De Kruijf and Haak. 20-13 cuts off Vallefoglia and only Drews tries to resist.
Conegliano restarts very strong with Haak (7-2, with 5 points from the Swede), but concedes too much in service, with errors that keep alive the hopes of the tigers of the Marches. For the guests it is still the entry of Pope to be the most fruitful, so much so that from 12-4 we get to 18-17, even with points from D’Odorico. In the final Vallefoglia wastes more and Conegliano can concentrate on the Italian Cup.