Italian volleyball club VBC Pomi Casalmaggiore has signed Canadian setter Megan Cyr to replace Eleonora Lo Bianco, who will miss at least 2 months with an injury.
Lo Bianco, who is joining the team this year from Volley Bergamo, is a former Italian National Team setter. She was expected to pair with Chinese opposite/outside hitter Zeng Chunlei in a new-look Casalmaggiore offense – with Zeng saying that Lo Bianco’s “fame” was what she was most excited about in joining the club.
Lo Bianco will be out for some period with a shoulder injury, and in replacement of the 37-year old will be the 28-year old Canadian Cyr. She last played for the club NUC Volleyball in Switzerland. It was by chance that Cyr was still available this late in the season – the connection was made through the club’s coach Marcello Abbondanza, who since January has served as the head coach of the Canadian Women’s National Team. Abbondanza has been the head coach of Pomi Casalmaggiore since last season.
Cyr was on the Canadian National Team at the 2014 World Championships and the 2016 World Grand Prix. She was on Canada’s team at this year’s Grand Prix primarily as the team’s backup setter, and was also on their roster for the NORCECA qualifier for next year’s World Championships.
Pomi Casalmaggiore has started the season 0-2, and haven’t yet won a set in two games. After a 3-0 loss against Imoco Volley Conegliano, they fell 0-3 to Savino del Bene Scandicci on Saturday. Giulia Rondon played the entire first game at setter and started in Saturday’s loss, but Cyr came in and started the last two sets. The team landed 23% of their swings with Rondon as setter, which improved to 31% with Cyr at the set – thought the overall result for the 3 sets were the same.
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