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Italy, Poland secure second straight wins at Men’s U23 World Championship qualifier
- Updated: July 29, 2016
Zagreb, Croatia, July 28, 2016 – Italy extended their winning streak on the second day of the European qualifier for next year’s FIVB U23 Men’s Volleyball World Championship after making up for a slow start to eventually pull out a 3-1 win in their matchup with Slovenia (17-25, 28-26, 25-20, 25-10). Italy have collected maximum points – six – from the two matches they have contested so far.Later in the afternoon pre-favourite Poland emulated the Italians and cruised to their second straight win as well routing Bulgaria by three sets to none. To complete the programme of the second competition day, Turkey claimed their first victory in Zagreb edging hosts Croatia 3-1.The eventual winners and runners-up of the single round robin tournament taking place in the Croatian capital will qualify for next year’s World Champs in Egypt – Russia are already qualified for they top the current FIVB ranking in this age group.Italy v Slovenia 3-1 (17-25, 28-26, 25-20, 25-10)Team Slovenia caught a flying start as they had done in Wednesday’s matchup with Bulgaria. They could rely on a solid reception and did not have any major problems to attack and score as their setter Uroš Planinšić made good use of all players on court. At some point Slovenia piled up a lead of as many as 11 points and easily won the opening set 25-17.However, the course of the match changed in the second set where Italy showed they could play a lot better. Opposite Sebastiano Milan – who eventually top scored with 18 points – was evidently the most valuable addition to the Italian starting six and he delivered a superb performance from the start to the end of the second frame. Italy put a lot of pressure on Slovenia with their serve so that their opponent’s efficiency in attack immediately went down. Italy’s block worked fine too but Slovenia fought back and had a set ball, which they failed to cash, as Italy scored three points in a row to level the match (28-26).Setter Riccardo Sbertoli – who amassed seven points in the end – put pressure on Slovenia with his serve also in the third set and distributed with accuracy and efficiency among his spikers and middle blockers. Slovenia could not keep the Italian pace and the ‘Azzurrini’ deservedly claimed the third set 25-20.The fourth one was some kind of training for the Italians who did not find any more resistance from the Slovenian side of the court (25-10). Even Slovenia’s top scorers Tonček Stern and Jure Okroglić (16 and 14 points, respectively) could not pose a real threat to the Italian machine.Italy setter Riccardo Sbertoli said: “We did not start in the best way whilst Slovenia came in and showed a very good attitude. We started pretty bad and our approach to the match was not the one we should have displayed. We came back strong in the second set and …
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