10 Americans Suit Up For First Round Of Italian Lega Volley – Defending Champs Conegliano Starts Out Strong

Lega Volley Femminile

The world’s premier female volleyball domestic tournament started with a bang in Italy. Why should American fans care? Besides being one of the strongest leagues in the world, 10 US born players took to the court for their teams on opening week, with many more yet to come as they recover from the recently ended WCH. Current champs Conegliano started out their title defense with a commanding win against a rejuvenated Casalmaggiore team. Below,  you’ll find all of the round’s info:

Results

Best stats of the round

• Current MVP Isabelle Haak (Scandicci) led all scorers with 22 points.
• Haak and USA’s Micha Hancock (Monza) led all of the days servers with 3 ace each.
• Scandicci‘s Alessia Mazzaro, Bergamo‘s Rossella Olivotto, and Firenze‘s Sara Alberti each had 4 blocks to lead the day.
• Conegliano led all teams with a 56% hitting efficiency.

Story-Lines to Watch

• Albanian youngster Erblira Bici led Novara with 16 points in her A1 debut
• Novara‘s Francesca Piccinini debuted in her 25th professional season
• Caterina Bosetti scored 3 points in limited action on her debut for Pomi. She is returning from a nasty injury suffered at the end of the last season.
• Polina Rahimova led all of Pomi’s scorers with 16 points in her team debut.
• Firenze‘s German offensive ace Louisa Lippman led her team with 21 points. She is a great candidate for this year’s scoring title. One of her biggest opponents to the title will be Scandicci‘s Haak, who had 22, but with one more set played.

Team USA Watch

• Lauren Carlini (Novara) connected in all 3 of her attack chances.
• USA’s Megan Easy scored a team high 18 points for Conegliano
• Rachel Adams scored 5 points for Monza
• Monza hit 51% under the setting of Micha Hancock
• Samantha Middleborn scored 3 points for Chieri
• Megan Courtney and Hannah Tapp had 2 and 4 points, respectively, for Bergamo
• Whitney Ayana had 16 points for Fillotrano
• Annie Mitchem scored 17 points for Fillotrano. Regan Hood did not suit up for the team.
• USA’s Haleigh Washington scored 8 points in her Brescia debut
• Michelle Bartsch did not suit up for Novara
• Kimberly Hill did not suit up for Conegliano
• Daniele Cuttino did not suit up for Pomi

Quote of the Day

Scandicci‘s coach Carlo Parisi knows his team is ready to take the next step after last year’s semifinals exit. For such, he wants his team to develop chemistry as soon as possible:

“Although it may seem strange, we expected a game like that. I had talked about it with the girls, we knew we had to play a game of great sacrifice. They were more tested than us. In our field we have seen the result of only the two training sessions that we have been able to complete. We must also understand how much the World Championship has left us shorthanded because Adenizia did not played today, Stevanovic played little during the tournament and must regain confidence with our setter.  We almost lost two sets today, but recovered, which is a positive sign for the team. We’ll take these three golden points and I congratulate all the girls for how they played in a very difficult game.”

Standings