Panthers find butterflies: tough match

Busto Arsizio beat Scandicci (3-1)) in the quarterfinals. Tomorrow in the semifinal in Rome the eternal duel is proposed again

CONEGLIANO

Unet e-work Busto Arsizio will be the opponent of Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano in the first semifinal of the Italian Cup scheduled for tomorrow at 4 pm at the Palasport in Rome. The Lombard team won 1-3 yesterday (22-25, 22-25, 22-19, 19-25) away against Scandicci, with 19 points from Gray, 17 from Mingardi and 12 from Stevanovic, who scored well 6 walls.

PREVIOUS. Between Conegliano and Busto there are already seven precedents in the Italian Cup, with two victories for the butterflies that cost the Panthers in 2013 and 2014 to qualify for the Final Four. In more recent times, Imoco has always prevailed, with results that are always rather clear, in the 2018 semifinal, in the 2020 final played in Busto and in the fourth in the single race last March. Between the two teams, who have also been opponents in the Champions League and in the Super Cup, the balance is already 33 head-to-head, 23 of which in favor of Conegliano. The team led by Marco Musso comes from a period of mixed results, having suffered the elimination from the Cev Cup by Stuttgart in the round of 16. The Germans overturned the 0-3 of the first leg by winning the golden set. For the red and white, who have won the Italian Cup only once in 2012, the Final Four in Rome, even without rest times, represents an opportunity not to be wasted, also thanks to the inventiveness in the direction of the Olympic champion Poulter. The panthers are therefore warned and tomorrow they will have to set their pace immediately, limiting errors, to access once again the final for the trophy.

DEPARTURE. The team has already moved to the capital yesterday afternoon aboard a Frecciarossa, the sponsor of the two days. This morning at 11 in the Sala della Protomoteca del Campidoglio the press conference will be held to present the appointment, which will boast the presence for the final on Thursday 6 of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. In addition to local and regional administrators, the national volleyball managers will also be present with coaches and captains from Conegliano, Busto, Novara and Chieri. For the Gialloblù club this is the sixth consecutive presence in the Final Four of the national cup, the seventh in total out of ten participations in the tournament, which has never been lacking since its foundation. The eliminations in the quarter-finals date back to the 2013, 2014 editions (both by Busto on home and away matches) and 2016 (tiebreak lost at home to Montichiari), missing the opportunity to play the Final Four at home. In 2015 it was Novara who prevailed in the semifinal in Rimini and in 2017, with Mazzanti on the bench, the first triumph against Modena came at the Mandela Forum in Florence. The two successive finals played at the PalaDozza in Bologna and at the Agsm Forum in Verona coincided with two bitter disappointments against the Igor Novara who had Paola Egonu on the field and Massimo Barbolini on the bench, today at the helm of Scandicci. For two years the tricolor cockade has stood out on the yellow-blue jerseys thanks to the victories in 2020 in Busto Arsizio against the home team and in 2021 in Rimini against Novara. The Piedmontese, like last year, will face the derby with Chieri in the other semi-final scheduled for tomorrow at 18.30. –