Volleyball Discussion | Qualification to Summer Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 Road to LA 2028

[phelps 8,766]

Conegliano does it again!

 

they just won game #4 of the Finals against Milano by a score of 3-0 and won the series 3 games to 1.

 

It's their 9th title, the 8th in a row 

[copravolley 656]

Milano is much weaker, than before this season, so this isn't surprising. Congeliano is at a similar level. Unfortunately, Bosio and Piva aren't the right players for a team that wants to be champions of Italy. Congeliano isn't playing great either, and in my opinion, they might struggle to beat Vakifbank in the Champions League this year.

[hoversaBR 883]

Honestly, in every position Conegliano has perhaps the best player in the world (of course, some are more controversial than others). Any team that wants to challenge them will need a lot.

[copravolley 656]

But Boskovic and Markova are very good and Zhu isn`t so good, than some years ago. 1/2 final: Congieliano-Vakifbank will be an early final. Scandicci will play 1/2 against Eczacibasi on May 2nd and their last match was at the end of March – they may have trouble finding good match rhythm.

 

 

Haak- Boskovic? 50/50,

Markova- Zhu? Now, Markova it`s a better and younger.

 

 

Congeliano has the better 2 OH: Gabi vs. Cazaute? (I don't remember who's playing in Istanbul), as well as a better setter (Wołosz) + a better libero (de Gennaro). MB is more of a 50/50. Congeliano is a slight favorite, but it's only one match and everything is open. It's good that Congeliano is in match rhythm and they have 1 week to prepare for F4. The arena is in Istanbul, but it's Fenerbahce's home, so I don't know who will have the advantage of fans there?

Edited April 22 by copravolley

[copravolley 656]

To truly make history in European volleyball, Congeliano needs to win the Champions League again 2/3 times and catch up with Vakifbank and Bergamo (the hegemons until 2010). Congeliano currently has "only" 3 Champions League victories (2021, 2024 and 2025), which is a bit low considering their dominance in Italy for the last 10 years, so this match against Vakifbank in the semifinals will be a double the weight: now and historical.

Edited April 22 by copravolley

[copravolley 656]

Where is Piva? Pietrini and Lubian are out all time, when Velasco will be the coach. Antropova will play on OH this summer in NT, so when Egonu come back, they will be play together on the court- probably only on the European Championship.

 

https://www.volleyball.it/2026/04/28/notizie/argomenti/vnl-femminile/articolo/italia-femminile-ufficializzate-le-liste-delle-atlete-per-la-stagione-2026.html

Edited 20 hours ago by copravolley

[hoversaBR 883]

19 hours ago, copravolley said:

Where is Piva? Pietrini and Lubian are out all time, when Velasco will be the coach. Antropova will play on OH this summer in NT, so when Egonu come back, they will be play together on the court- probably only on the European Championship.

 

https://www.volleyball.it/2026/04/28/notizie/argomenti/vnl-femminile/articolo/italia-femminile-ufficializzate-le-liste-delle-atlete-per-la-stagione-2026.html

It seems to be a trend nowadays, right? Turkey had already done it, putting Vargas and Karakurt on the court at the same time. I think Brazil could try something similar with OH, putting Ana Cristina, Julia Bergmann, and Gabi together on the court (Actually, we were going to try it, if it weren't for Ana Cristina's injury last year).

 

I don't know if it's a good sign for the level of women's volleyball currently if you consider that these are the 3 best teams in the world, but it's interesting.

[phelps 8,766]

the problem with  is that we're really short of outside hitters right now, especially because most OHs in the Italian league are foreigners, even among the bench players  

 

and those 2/3 who could help -like Pietrini or Piva- are on Velasco's black list because of behavioural issues

 

so, having one between Egonu and Antropova being a reserve player it's a big waste of talent, which makes it quite obvious to try and see if they can co-exist on the court at the same time

 

I truly hope the experiment works well, because we can't win another world title or the Olympics with Nervini and/or Giovannini in the starting 6

Edited 22 minutes ago by phelps