Reale Mutua Fenera Chieri were the sensations of the quarterfinal round of the Coppa Italia Frecciarossa as they eliminated four-time champions and favorites Igor Gorgonzola Novara on Wednesday.

With their victory, the team from the Piemonte region booked its ticket to the ‘Final Four’ of the 46th edition of the tournament, which will be held on February 17-18 in Trieste, where they will meet defending champions Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano, Allianz Vero Volley Milano and Savino Del Bene Scandicci, who triumphed in the other three quarterfinals.

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Reuniting the teams ranked fourth and fifth in the 2023-2024 Lega Pallavolo Femminile Serie A Tigotà, the duel between Novara and Chieri was the most unpredictable of the quarterfinal round and ended up having the most surprising outcome with the lower-ranked Chieri securing a 3-1 (25-17, 25-21, 23-25, 25-23) victory on the road.

Belgian opposite Kaja Grobelma was pivotal to Chieri’s upset as she left the court with a match-high 23 points (21 kills, two blocks). American outside hitter Avery Skinner also played a major role, adding another 16, all in kills.

"We're so happy," said setter Ofelia Malinov. "It was a very important match and we wanted to win after losing the two Italian League matches to Novara. I'm very proud of the team because we started the match very focused and were able to continue this way until the end."

Novara had opposite Vita Antropova as their main scorer with 19 points (18 kills, one ace) and three other players scoring in double digits in middle blocker Sara Bonifacio (16) and outside hitters Anne Buijs (11) and Caterina Bosetti (ten).

Coppa Italia - Match Schedule and Results

The third-placed team in the Lega Femminile standings, Scandicci had difficult moments against Wash4Green Pinerolo, but managed to secure a 3-1 (25-20, 21-25, 25-17, 25-17) victory in front of their home fans in Firenze.

Italian national team opposite Ekaterina Antropova was Scandicci’s main scorer in the match with 21 points (13 kills, five blocks, three aces) – Chinese superstar Ting Zhu, Brazilian Olympic medalist Ana Carolina ‘Carol’ da Silva and Italian middle blocker Linda Nwalakor also reached double digits in scoring, with 16, 11 and ten points respectively.

“It was a tough match, as we expected,” Scandicci’s head coach Massimo Barbolini reflected. “Although we won the last two sets with a few points to spare, they were in the game until the end. But we did a good job of keeping that safe lead. We struggled in the second set, but played at a really high level in the last two, so it was a good match for us.”

Imoco and Milano advance with sweeps

The two best teams in the Italian League, Imoco and Milano had fewer problems to win their matches and move forward. Playing at home, the defending champions swept Il Bisonte Firenze 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-19) to advance.

Opposite Isabelle Haak led the Panthers’ offense with 19 points (16 kills, two aces, one block), followed by American outside hitters Khalia Lanier (12) and Kathryn Plummer (11).

“We hadn’t played our best in the last few matches, but today the real Imoco showed up,” Lanier commented. “We were careful, didn’t make many mistakes and managed to play at a quick pace, putting Firenze under pressure. We wanted to advance and we did it. Now we need to continue improving because the next matches will be even more important than this one.”

Milano were faced with Roma Volley Club and had an even stronger performance, moving to the semifinals with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-5, 25-15) win.

Star opposite Paola Egonu fired a match-high 21 points with 11 kills, impressive seven aces and three blocks, while fellow Italian national team member Myriam Sylla contributed another 11.

In the semifinals, set to take place on February 17, Imoco will face Chieri while Milano meet Scandicci. The Coppa Italia final is set for February 18.

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