The Pala BigMat in Florence is preparing to turn the spotlight on the most eagerly awaited match of the seventh day of the Serie A1 Fineco .
On Saturday 7 November , at 8.30 pm , Savino Del Bene Volley will host Numia Vero Volley Milano in a match that also recalls the emotions of last season's Scudetto semi-final.
Both teams are in excellent form heading into the match. Coach Marco Gaspari's team sits fifth in the standings with 13 points and is coming off four consecutive league wins, the latest of which came with a resounding 3-0 victory away to Bergamo .
Milan, meanwhile, arrives in Florence in second place with 18 points, the same as league leaders Conegliano. The Lombardy team is still undefeated in the league and has won five of its six matches so far without conceding a set to their opponents.
FORMER AND PREVIOUS
In the ranks of Numia Vero Volley Milano there is only one player with a past in Savino Del Bene Volley:
Giulia Gennari , a setter born in 1996, wore the Savino Del Bene Volley jersey in the 2024-2025 season and for the first half of the 2025-2026 season.
In addition to coach Marco Gaspari , who led the Lombardy team from 2020 to 2024, only one Savino Del Bene Volley player has worn the Vero Volley jersey in the past:
L ise Van Hecke , opposite born in 1992, played for Vero Volley Monza in the 2021-2022 season.
This Saturday's matchup will be the forty-first between the two teams. The record in previous matches favors Numia Vero Volley Milano, with twenty-three wins compared to Savino Del Bene Volley's seventeen.
The last league match between the two teams dates back to March 29, 2026, in Game 4 of the Scudetto Playoff semifinals last season. On that occasion, Savino Del Bene Volley was defeated 3-1 by Milan and eliminated from the Serie A1 postseason .
COACH MARCO GASPARI'S WORDS
We're playing against an opponent who has started the season incredibly well. In the league, they dropped only one set, and even during the preseason, at the Courmayeur tournament, they showed great solidity. They're certainly a team that probably has one of the best break points of all time, and they're gifted with great physicality and quality in the second line. We also know that the main attacker is a player (Egonu) who is really difficult to measure. For our part, however, we know that this period of very challenging matches is raising our level. We're coming off two excellent results against Novara and Bergamo, and we want to continue growing, because right now it's important to consolidate our certainties and improve the aspects that haven't worked very well so far. Therefore, we know that, to play against Milan, we'll need to have great coverage skills, because it becomes difficult to counter a wall like that. At the same time, however, we must try to put our setters in the best possible conditions to develop their game. We'll therefore have to play with an open mind, aware that Milan is currently an extremely solid team and compact. It will certainly be a very difficult match.”
THE OPPONENTS
Numia Vero Volley Milano finished the 2025-2026 regular season in third place in the Serie A1 standings, with 20 wins and 6 losses . With a total of 62 points , the same number as Savino Del Bene Volley who finished second, the Lombardy team earned a place in the Scudetto Play Offs, where after eliminating Megabox Ondulati Del Savio Vallefoglia in the quarterfinals , they overcame the Tuscan team in the semifinals .
Having reached the final series, Numia Vero Volley Milano was defeated in four games by Prosecco Doc A.Carraro Imoco Conegliano .
The Milanese team also faced the Venetian team in the 2025 Italian Super Cup . On that occasion, Milan managed to win in the tie break, conquering the first national title in its history .
Last season Milan also participated in the Coppa Italia A1, exiting in the quarter-finals against Igor Gorgonzola Novara .
In addition to competing domestically, Numia Vero Volley Milano also competed in the CEV Champions League. The team, then led by coach Lavarini, finished second in Group C of Europe's premier tournament, qualifying for the two-legged playoff round, where they eliminated Greek team Olympiakos .
Having reached the quarter-finals, Milan was unable to overcome the Turkish team VakifBank and was eliminated following two tie-break defeats .
This season, Numia Vero Volley Milano has changed its coaching staff. After the mutual termination of coach Lavarini's contract in August, the Lombardy club has decided to appoint Gianlorenzo Blengini , coach of the men's national volleyball team between 2015 and 2021, as the first-team coach. This year, he is coaching the women's top division for the first time.
For the 2026-2027 season, Numia Vero Volley Milano has confirmed nine players. Bosio , in his second consecutive season in Milan, remains at the helm, while Gennari , born in 1996, has joined him after finishing last season in Perugia.
Among the opposites, captain Egonu , in her fourth year with the Vero Volley jersey, was confirmed, while the Dominican Tapia Cruz , born in 2004, was hired to replace Diop , initially expected in the roster but stopped by an injury.
In the center, Milan has retained Danesi , captain of the Italian national team and in her third season in red and white, the Serbian Kurtagic , also in her third season, and Sartori , in her second season with the club.
The department has also been enriched with the Belarusian Dautova , born in 2008, 201 centimetres tall and coming from Volero Le Cannet, a team faced by Savino Del Bene Volley in the last Champions League.
The Americans Lanier , in her second season in Milan, and Piva , also in her second year with Vero Volley, have been confirmed on the spike team. Among the new additions are the Japanese Sato , born in 2001, in her first season in Italy after playing for the NEC Red Rockets Kawasaki, and the Puerto Rican Vazquez Gomez , born in 2001, making her Serie A1 debut after her experience in Serie A2 with èpiù Casalmaggiore.
Completing the libero department are Fersino , in his second season in Milan, and the young Di Napoli , born in 2008, who grew up in the Vero Volley youth sector and was already added to the first team last season.
In the 2026-2027 championship, Milan currently sits in second place with 18 points, tied with league leaders Conegliano. Coach Blengini's team has won all six of its matches so far and boasts a season record of eighteen sets won and one lost.
In the last round of the championship, Numia Vero Volley Milano beat Omag Consolini Volley 1907 3-0 .
This Saturday, Numia Vero Volley Milano is expected to take to the court with the starting six consisting of Bosio as setter, Egonu as opposite hitter, Lanier and Piva as spikers, Danesi and Kurtagic as centers, and Fersino as libero.
ON TV
The match between Savino Del Bene Volley and Numia Vero Volley Milano will be broadcast live on Rai Sport and DAZN .