Kalina Veneva failed to score in Brescia's away match against Milano, but her team became only the second this season to win a set against the team led by Gianlorenzo Blengini, head coach of the Bulgarian men's national team.
Milano achieved its eighth consecutive victory in the Italian Women's Serie A1, after winning with3:1 (27:25, 23:25, 25:18, 25:20)in a match from the eighth round, played in the "Allianz Cloud" hall.
Before this match, Blengini's proteges had lost only one set in the first seven rounds – in their 3:1 victory over Macerata. The other six matches were won by 3:0.
Brescia, however, put up serious resistance against one of the two undefeated teams in the championship. The visitors dramatically lost the first set 25:27, but in the second, they managed to win 25:23 and equalize the score.
Milano reacted in the third set, which they won 25:18, and in the fourth, they closed the match after 25:20.
Kalina Veneva, who wears №19 for Brescia, did not score a point. In the official statistics of the Italian league, one error is recorded against her name.
Paola Egonu was once again the main figure in Milano's attack.The Italian international finished with 32 points, of which 29 were from attack and 3 from block. Haleigh Washington added 13, and captain Anna Danesi – 10 points, including 4 successful blocks.
For Brescia, Andrea Mihajlevic was the top scorer with 19 points. Andjelka Novosel finished with 11, and Bozica Markovic added 10, of which 4 were from block.
Milano had an advantage in attack points (58:48) and especially in blocks (14:8). From service, the two teams scored 3 and 2 aces respectively. The visitors received 30 points from opponent errors against 25 for the hosts, but this was not enough to achieve more than one won set.
After eight rounds, Milano and Conegliano remain the only two undefeated teams in the Italian championship.Both teams have 8 wins and 24 points each, but the champions from Conegliano are at the top thanks to their impressive set ratio of 24:0. They have won all their matches by 3:0.
Blengini's Milano is second with a set ratio of 24:2, having six wins by 3:0 and two by 3:1.
Thus, although Brescia left without a point for the standings, Kalina Veneva's team managed to achieve something that until now only Macerata had been capable of – to win a set against Milano. Thus, the two teams with Bulgarian national players took sets from one of the leaders in the championship.
photo:legavolleyfemminile.it
