Luxembourg, March 5, 2021. As many as three Italian teams made it among the last four in CEV Champions League Volley 2021 - Women, which means the host country of the Superfinals will be represented by at least one of its women’s clubs at the big event on May 1 in Verona.
The all-Italian semifinal match-up, set up by the outcome of this week’s quarterfinal action, is a clash of titans between reigning club world champions A. Carraro Imoco Conegliano and defending Champions League continental crown-bearers Igor Gorgonzola Novara.
For Imoco, this will be the second consecutive Champions League encounter with fellow Italians. In the quarterfinals, the girls from Conegliano claimed two wins over Savino Del Bene Scandicci. And while last week’s first match in Scandicci was a tough five-set battle, the game they played this week in Villorba was a relatively one-sided three setter with Paola Egonu scoring “only” 16 points.
In fact, all winners of the four first-leg matches claimed the victories in the second-leg games as well. Igor proved stronger than Fenerbahce Opet Istanbul again to snatch another four-set win over the prominent opponent, this time at home in Italy.
“We are ready for the next step,” said Igor’s middle blocker Cristina Chirichella. “It was very important to reach the semifinal stage. Now we will have a little bit of rest, and then start preparing for the upcoming matches."
Unet e-work Busto Arsizio (pictured above) did the exact same thing in the other Italian-Turkish duel with Eczacibasi VitrA Istanbul, only the second four-set victory took place right by the Bosporus.
The squad from Busto Arsizio now have another Turkish giant lined up as a rival for the semifinals. VakifBank Istanbul became the only non-Italian club to join the big four of the Champions League this year after two straight-set victories over Poland’s Grupa Azoty Chemik Police. In Thursday’s rematch at home in Istanbul, VakifBank’s Swedish star Isabelle Haak put her scoring prowess on display again delivering the match high of 19 points for the win.
The first leg of the semifinals will take place between March 16 and 18. The second is scheduled for a week later, between March 23 and 25.
