Mercury rising with start of LVF semifinals

The other semifinal match-up will offer a clash between regular season runners-up Savino Del Bene Scandicci and the team that finished just below them in the standings, Vero Volley Milan. The first-leg fixture is set to start at 20:30 local time (18:30 UTC) on Thursday at the Palazzo Wanny in Florence. Savino Del Bene have beaten Vero Volley 11 times so far, while suffering nine defeats at the hands of this opponent. However, Vero Volley won six of their last seven encounters. This regular season, the two teams exchanged away victories in exciting five-set battles, with Vero Volley winning in Florence by 3-2 (23-25, 25-21, 20-25, 26-24, 15-8) in November and Savino Del Bene returning the favour in Monza with a 3-2 (25-22, 26-28, 25-22, 21-25, 15-7) victory in February.

After finishing the regular season in second place, two points clear of Vero Volley, the team from Scandicci went on to knock out seventh-placed Volley Bergamo 1991 with two straight-set sweeps in the quarterfinals. At the same time, the squad from Milan had their first playoff series against sixth-placed Trasportipesanti Casalmaggiore to a third-leg decider after each of the teams won their home game in five sets. In the crucial match, Vero Volley pleased their home fans with a 3-1 victory to progress to the semis.