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A. Carraro Imoco CONEGLIANO continue their winning streak in the Champions League, after beating Savino del Bene SCANDICCI in their second quarter-final meeting this season. Both teams were known for delivering a five-setter battles when facing each other in this competition, with the first leg encounter being no different in that respect. But Conegliano proved to be determined to secure their semi-final spot without challenges, as they delivered a flawless straight-set result against their fellow Italian team.

The second leg match between A. Carraro Imoco CONEGLIANO and Savino del Bene SCANDICCI started as heated as the previous match ended. The two teams battled point by point through first half of the set, Scandicci coming in strong with their serves and Conegliano responding with excellent attacks. A block by Folie on Stysiak sets a decisive point for the home team and forces coach Massimo Barbolini to call the first time out of the game at 20-17. He is forced to use another time out soon after as long action puts Conegliano 22-18. The first point of the entire season by Caravello and a spike by Egonu hand the first set to Conegliano at 25-20.

Early in the second set Conegliano get ahead of the game with four consecutive serves by their middle blocker Folie, who also shines with a couple of powerful defensive moves. Mistakes by Scandicci allow the home team to keep scoring and at 11-8 coach Barbolini calls his first time out. But Conegliano keeps increasing the lead throughout the set, excelling both in defense - thanks to amazing actions by libero De Gennaro - and in attack, with Asia Wolosz sending her spikers to attack with no block on multiple occasions. Scandicci call another timeout at 18-12, when Paola Egonu scores with a powerful spike at the end of a long rally. Conegliano didn’t leave anything to chance and gained their biggest lead yet at 23-15, before sealing the deal with Egonu and Hill at 25-17.

The path to keeping their chances alive became very steep for Scandicci at the beginning of the third set, but coach Barbolini didn’t give up and tried to motivate his team. In a bid to stop the series of points scored by Conegliano early on, Barbolini called a time out on 6-3. Conegliano showed off some of their best plays, their defense making the difference, but Scandicci slowly thins out the home team's advantage and coach Santarelli calls his first timeout of the game at 19-18. Coach Barbolini follows shortly with another timeout after Conegliano rebuilt some of their advantage 21-18. Despite the incitement from the coach, Scandicci made a couple of fatal mistakes at the end of the set and Conegliano deservedly gained the qualification to the semi-finals, winning 25-20.

• Kimberly Hill was named MVP of the match, scoring 13 winning spikes with 45% efficiency

• Paola Egonu was the top scorer of the match with 16 points

• On the other side of the net Magdalena Stysiak scored 13 points for Scandicci

• Conegliano outscored Scandicci in block, with 5 points collectively to 3 of their opponent

Joanna Wolosz, setter of A. Carraro Imoco Conegliano: “We are so happy after this game, also because we played really well. It was a very different game from the first one and we are so happy to be in the semi-finals. I am proud of my team, because we showed character and our best volleyball.”

Massimo Barbolini, coach of Savino del Bene SCANDICCI: “Congratulations to Conegliano, because they played a really good game. They blocked well, defended a lot and were not making mistakes in crucial moments. It’s a well-deserved victory on their part. For our part, we must understand that against certain rivals we must have the humility to try to do simple things: we did them in the first leg very well, tonight we didn't. When you play against such a strong team, it is obvious that when they put pressure with their game, such a result is normal.”