Italian
The first friendly match of the Italian women’s volleyball national team sees a very experimental squad decisively beat France 3-0
BIELLA – Good first match. We left off with the World Championship victory in Bangkok in September 2025, and from there we started again with a much younger and experimental team, but the result hasn’t changed. We easily defeated France 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-14), giving coach Velasco the opportunity to evaluate new profiles for the team.
In the absence of all the big names, but with some familiar faces like Cambi, Omoruyi, Nervini, Fersino, and Giovannini, the standout was the surprise Linda Manfredini, named MVP in her debut for the National team.
At the Palaforum di Biella, it was a festive evening for the 2500 spectators who came to support the first BPER Test Match. And the show did not disappoint, with the Azzurre skillfully keeping the game under control. Italy took the field with Cambi and Adigwe in diagonal, debutants Meli and Manfredini in the center, Omoruyi and Nervini as spikers, and Fersino as libero, in their first match without Monica Moki De Gennaro, who retired from the National Team.
This evening at the PalaIgor in Novara, always at 9 PM with live broadcast on Rai Sport, Sky Sport Uno, and Sky Sport Arena, the Azzurre will return to the field for the rematch against the French.
The scorecard
ITALY-FRANCE 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-14)
ITALY: Cambi 1, Manfredini 11, Nervini 10, Omoruyi 10, Meli 5, Adigwe 10. Fersino (L). Tanase 1, Spirito, Marchesini 5, Giovannini, Diop 4, Scola. N.e. Akrari. Coach: Velasco.
FRANCE: Depi 8, Fanguedou 12, Rotar 6, Ratahiry 7, Sylves 2, Danard, Gelin (L). Chameaux, Jaegey, Rovira 2, Bah. Ne: schalk, Fidon, Mathi, Sebiti, Massuel.
Referees: Venturi, Goitre
Duration: 23’, 25’, 26’
spectators present 2,500, €57,000 in revenue
Italy: a8 , bs 6 , mv 7 , et 13.
France: a 1, bs 5 , mv 6 , et 25.
The statements
Linda Manfredini: “I am very happy with my match this evening. I want to thank all my teammates because they helped me a lot in my first match with the national team. I also thank the audience in Biella. Tomorrow in Novara, France will definitely come out with more aggression; today they were, in my opinion, a bit below their normal level. On our part, we will try to replicate all the good things we did today. We have been training together for a few weeks with many new additions, we are very united and we always maintain a very high pace both in the gym and on the field, and this helps us a lot.”:
Eleonora Fersino: “It’s a new beginning for all of us, we are very happy, we started well, we need to demand a lot from ourselves, but at the same time we need to have a bit of patience. There is a lot of work to do, but we are here for each other.
For us, it’s always a pleasure to play in front of our audience, it’s nice to feel their warmth, unfortunately when we play in VNL we are abroad and we miss that warmth. It was a lovely evening.”
Photo Credits: Federvolley.it
