After 269 days Conegliano finds Sarah Fahr back on the pitch and consolidates the leadership in the standings, opening 2023 in the best possible way. The return of the blue central coincides with the panthers’ twentieth victory of the season out of twenty-one games. Even without shining and with an evident, even if foreseeable, loss of athletic condition, the Prosecco Doc Imoco keeps Scandicci at a distance, the only team to prevail over the Italian champions in the first round. The restart for this second part of the year, even richer in goals, starting with the Coppa Italia at the end of the month, is a good sign, because the combinations available to Santarelli are now even greater.
Wolosz, Haak, Squarcini, Gennari, Plummer and De Gennaro also descend on the Taraflex, while Bergamo, in the end, has to give up Partenio and Turlà. The start is in the sign of Gennari and Haak, who sign the first break (3-5) and elicit the applause of the large Orobic audience. Without fear, Bergamo turns the tide and goes ahead 8-6 also thanks to a certain disorder in the gialloblù half. Plummer is not very reactive and aggressive on some non-impossible balls, Haak gets blocked a couple of times. Then it’s just the two of them, the main attackers of Conegliano, who bring the score back in their favor (8-9).
The game as a whole is in short supply, errors on both sides multiply, especially in service. Fahr struggles to pick up pace and measures, Wolosz is less precise than usual and overall the run-in mechanisms of Conegliano seem a bit rusty. Bergamo holds a couple of points lead until 16-16. Here the panthers raise the pace just enough to open the winning gap, with the usual Haak and Plummer to which Fahr’s first point also adds up (17-21). Conegliano thwarts the landlords’ comeback attempt, which stops three times at -2 and gives in on Plummer’s final diagonal.
It’s Squarcini who puts his signature on the second set. His batting rounds yield the 0-3 in the opening and the 9-13, also embellished by two aces. Conegliano puts hay in the farmhouse and repels the attacks of Lorrayna and Lanier, who however never equalize, only touched by a second touch from the former Gennari (9-10). The game returns to acceptable levels, thanks to a greater incisiveness of the block, even if the exchanges are always a little too long compared to Santarelli’s meter. The coach has the courage to call timeout on 10-17, maximum advantage, to ask for further quality from his girls. Bergamo dates back to 16-20, thanks to three errors in a row by the panthers. The finish is still from Squarcini who ends with 100% in attack.
De Kruijf takes over Fahr when the game restarts, but the automatisms that one would expect do not come out. Bergamo risks and makes a lot of mistakes, but Conegliano doesn’t run away and reaches the maximum at 6-10. Lorrayna leaves the field, well replaced by Frosini, and the score returns to balance, despite Haak’s continuous winning attacks. Santarelli continues to ask for pace, aware that a stop of a dozen days could have hidden more pitfalls than opportunities. The panthers are unable to “kill” the match, Bergamo does its best to stay attached. Wolosz’s ace worth 17-21 is an illusion.
In fact, two errors by Haak arrive and a deranged reception by De Gennaro (22-22). Frosini walls Gennari, Wolosz commits an air invasion and concedes two unexpected set points to Bergamo. On Squarcini’s serve, Haak and De Kruijf build the first of three match points. The decisive one is realized subnet by the Dutch.