Gianlorenzo Blengini started his new adventure in women's club volleyball in the best possible way. The coach of Bulgaria led Numia Vero Volley Milano to a convincing 3:0 (25:20, 27:25, 25:19) victory over Savino Del Bene Scandicci and qualified the team for the Courmayeur Cup final.
This was Blengini's first official match at the helm of Milano and his first match ever as a coach in women's volleyball. Just a day later, the Italian specialist will have the opportunity to win his first trophy.
Blengini relied on Milano's well-known core from last season. Francesca Bosio started as setter in diagonal with Paola Egonu, Hena Kurtagic and Anna Danesi were middle blockers, Cailia Lanier and Rebecca Piva – outside hitters, and Eleonora Fersino – libero. Egonu became the big figure of the semifinal. The Italian international finished with 21 points and was deservedly chosen as MVP. Lanier added 11, Danesi 9, and Kurtagic 8 points. For Scandicci, the most effective scorer was Keira Van Ryk with 14 points, followed by Avery Skinner with 10.
Milano took the initiative already in the first set. Egonu scored 7 points with 66% attack efficiency, and Lanier added 6, and Blengini's team closed the set at 25:20.
The real battle came in the second set. The two teams went practically shoulder to shoulder, with Egonu and Van Ryk leading the attacks from both sides of the net. At 25:25, Milano's star first found the sharp diagonal, and then finished down the line for 27:25.
Scandicci tried to react in the third set and took the lead early, but a service run by Bosio turned the tide. Fersino made a series of excellent saves in defense, Kurtagic added four important points, and Egonu another five. Milano pulled away and finished the match at 25:19.
The difference is clearly visible in the team statistics. Milano finished with 47 successful attacks against 40 for Scandicci, made only 5 attack errors against 8 for the opponent, and won the block battle 5:2. In serving, both teams finished with 3 aces each, with Milano making 10 errors and Scandicci – 11.
The semifinal lasted only 78 minutes in front of 1917 spectators in Courmayeur.
In the final, Blengini and Milano will face Conegliano, who also won 3:0 against Novara in the first semifinal. Thus, this year's final will repeat the match between Milano and Conegliano from last year's tournament, but then the two teams played for third place.
The grand final is on Sunday, September 27, at 7:00 PM Bulgarian time. The match will be broadcast live on the YouTube channel of Lega Volley Femminile and DAZN, as well as on RaiPlay, and from 8:00 PM Bulgarian time, the broadcast will continue on Rai Sport. Thus, only 24 hours after his first victory in women's volleyball, Blengini will face one of the strongest club teams in the world with the opportunity to start the new chapter in his career directly with a trophy.