Scandicci’s opponent, Ekaterina Antropova, has been the best player so far in the series against Conegliano, who have won the last five championships
The third match of the Scudetto finals of the women’s Serie A1 volleyball will be played on Wednesday evening, between Prosecco Doc Imoco Conegliano and Savino Del Bene Scandicci. The finals are won by the best of five games, i.e. whoever gets to three first wins. For the moment the series is at 1-1: in game 1 Scandicci won 3-2 in Treviso, where Conegliano plays its home matches, while in game 2 Conegliano won 3-2 in Scandicci, near Florence . In both matches, one of the best players was the 21-year-old Ekaterina Antropova (aka Kate), opposite role, who has also been playing for the Italian national team since last year.
The one between Conegliano and Scandicci is a balanced and exciting series, in which two of the best teams in Europe are facing each other. Conegliano, in particular, is the team that has dominated Italian volleyball in recent years: since 2018 it has always won the Scudetto and in May the Champions League will be played in the final against Vero Volley Milano; the match they lost against Scandicci in game 1 was only their second defeat of the season. Scandicci, on the other hand, has only become a high-level team in recent years: in 2022 it won its first trophy (the Challenge Cup, the third most important European cup) and in 2023 it also won the Cev Cup (the second European cup). This year for the first time it reached the Scudetto finals, where for the moment it is managing to play on par against Conegliano.
Antropova and (from behind) Scandicci’s coach, Massimo Barbolini (Maurizio Anatrini/Savino Del Bene Scandicci)
Volleyball is a sport where it is impossible for a player to win matches alone, since they can only make one touch of the ball each. Scandicci has some of the best volleyball players in the league and is coached by the expert Massimo Barbolini. Despite this, the impact Antropova is having in these playoffs is undeniable.
Antropova was named best player in game 1 of the finals against Conegliano, a match in which she scored 31 points (a lot, in volleyball). In game 2, despite Scandicci’s defeat in the tie-break, she was still one of the best and she scored 34 points. In the semi-final series against Vero Volley Milano she was awarded as best player in both matches, which Scandicci always won with a score of 3-0 (in the quarter-finals and semi-finals you just need to win two matches to win the series).
All 34 points for Antropova in game 2 against Conegliano
Antropova was born in March 2003 in Akureyri, Iceland, and lived in Russia from when she was less than a year old until she was 14. In 2017 she moved to Italy: she first played in the Volley Academy Sassuolo and then in 2021 she moved at Savino Del Bene Scandicci. Last year, a ruling from the Administrative Sports Tribunal (CAS) established that her sporting nationality was Italian and, shortly after, she obtained Italian citizenship for sporting merit. You were then called up by Italy for the European Championships last August.
The opponent, in volleyball, attacks from the right (facing the net) and usually has the most offensive responsibility on the team. Paola Egonu, one of the best volleyball players in the world, was already in that role in the national team. The decision of Davide Mazzanti, Italy’s coach at the time, to start Antropova in the first matches, leaving Egonu on the bench, was therefore much discussed. During the tournament the two players then alternated, until Italy lost 3-2 against Turkey in the semi-final: in the end, Egonu said she wanted to take a break from the national team (she will return to play for it next month).
This year in the regular season of Serie A1 Paola Egonu, who plays for Vero Volley Milano, was the player who scored the most points (545); the second was Antropova, with 498. When they faced each other in the semifinals, however, Antropova and Scandicci defeated Egonu and Milano quite clearly.
It is not very easy for opposing spikers to overcome Antropova’s block (Maurizio Anatrini/Savino Del Bene Scandicci)
Antropova is more than two meters tall and is a very powerful attacker, strong at blocking (the fundamental with which in volleyball you try to block opponents’ spikes) and above all at serving: in the regular season she made 60 ace (winning serves), 20 more than the second best hitter, again Paola Egonu (40). Given that the task of those who play in this position is above all to attack many balls and score many points, it can be said that Antropova is an almost perfect opposite. The opposing players have greater responsibilities in attack also because they usually do not participate in the reception, that is, when the opponent’s serve is received.
Each team fields only one opponent on the pitch, but in some cases those who prefer that role can adapt to playing as a spiker, that is, attacking from the left side and participating in the reception. For the moment it is not an idea that the new national coach Julio Velasco intends to take into consideration to have Egonu and Antropova play together, adapting one of the two. In fact, at the beginning of the year Velasco said that for him Egonu is Italy’s starting opposite and Antropova his first reserve.
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