Inside Volley Board

Di Iulio was subbed out before the first rally, maybe she hurt herself during warm-up

Dinamo Krasnodar has really awful reception but also they are lucky because of Startseva.

Both teams are working well in block...it's a pity we don't see Petrauskaite, Ana Paula and Bukreeva in any NTs

Congrats to Urbino.

Urbino played better in all elements and especially more as team. In Krasnodar only Ana Paula and sometimes Bukreeva played well.

> Urbino-Krasnodar

Quoted from "Ömer"

Congrats to Urbino.

Congratulations to Urbino!!!Deserved the victory!

Krasnodar-Urbino: Statistics
Urbino-Krasnodar: Statistics

who is MVP?

Di Iulio. I think it's hard to choose MVP because Urbino plays very much as team, Leonardi or Wilson could have been MVP too for me.

Di Iulio got MVP prize - she is "la capitana" i.e. the leader of the whole team- but I would give special credits to the setter Ludovica Dalia. She played very well, even when hampered by poor receprion by her team-mates; her serve was quite effective and contributed to keep pressure on Dinamo; she was able to perform either serves for MBs (first match) and serves for OHs, not to mention pipes (as it was mainly in the 2nd. match). If you regard the cup finals as a maturity test, she passed it 'summa cum laude', IMO.
CEV finals just topped a bunch of brilliant performances from her (and the team, of course...) in the A 1 National League, that took her out of anonimity and put her in the spot light.

By contrast, I would recall to mind doubts and questions about her scattered in Italian volley forum last summer; as news spread she had been chosen to replace Marta Bechis (the 20-years rising star in setting, bound to inherit Lo Bianco's role in ITA NT after 2012).
- She's 27 (born 1984) -they said then- but she has little or no experience of top-level volley:
- she spent her youth playing in B-level teams,
- she was never considered by scouts and trainers of our NationalYouth Team;
- she attained serie A1 only in 2008, in Castellana Grotte -a second-rank team from a village close to Bari, Puglia;
- since 2008, she played only with Castellana. Urbino was the first try in a top volley team.

I am happy for Lodovica, for she has been able to disrupt all the prejudices, and I think she deserves in full the praises they are now singing about her.
Brava Ludovica, I wish Barbolini would give you a chance to show your prowess in the National Team (Montreux? World League? Think it over, Massimo...)