LJUBLJANA (SLOVENIA)- Italy, which today celebrates qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, already achieved at the end of week 2, finds its second defeat in the Volleyball Nations League by 0-3 (22-25, 21-25, 22-25) with the European champions Poland in the first of week 3 in Slovenia. 18 points from Leon, best scorer of the match, followed by 15 from Kurek, with 8 point blocks as a team which allowed Poland to get the better of an Italy who battled, as underlined by the Italian coach, for the entire competition. Luca Porro stands out among the Azzurri, with 11 personal points, like those of Bovolenta, both making their first start from the start.
Italy slips to third place in the VNL ranking, passed by Poland for best set ratio, both with 21 points, behind Slovenia, first at the moment.
Debut day for Marco Gaggini, his first with the senior national team shirt after the exhilarating season concluded with the Scudetto Final with the Monza shirt.
Captain Sbertoli and his teammates will return to the field tomorrow for the second match of week 3 against former Italian coach Gianlorenzo Blengini’s Bulgaria at 4.30pm. The race will be broadcast on the DAZN and VBTV platforms.
In the first set De Giorgi sends captain Sbertoli onto the court diagonally with Bovolenta, Recine and Luca Porro as spikers, Sanguinetti and Mosca in the center (the only one on the court at the start not fresh from the first two stages of the VNL) and Laurenzano libero.
The first signature of the match is that of Luca Porro, who scored the 1-0 from the second line. An unscrupulous Italy takes the lead 3-2. First phase of study between the two teams with a renewed Italy compared to the first part of VNL, Poland takes the lead at 5-4. Bienek’s block on Moscow brings Grbic’s team to 8-6. Italy tries to keep up with Poland, Bovolenta’s block out brings the Azzurri to two points behind the Poles 10-8, an ace from Piacenza’s next opponent closes the deficit to one point 12-11. Poland always ahead in the central phase of the first set, Leon’s point in attack makes it 18-16. Inside the Groups for Sbertoli at 20-18, his is point number 19 for Italy, one point behind Poland, Paolo Porro is also on the field to close the diagonal change. Kurek plays with the blue block, Poland ahead 23-21. Leon wins the first set point for Poland who closes at 25-22 with a block on Bovolenta.
No changes among the Azzurri in the second set. A lift from the second line by Porro, Luca, allows Bovolenta to close the point to make it 2-1 for Italy. Sanguinetti takes advantage of the opponent’s block, his goal in the first half is 4-3. Italy did well to maintain their lead, taking the lead to 8-5. Porro’s very narrow diagonal makes it 9-6 for the Azzurri. Poland closes the gap, Leon’s point brings the Azzurri to one point 9-8, the same Polish spiker equalizes the score 9-9. De Giorgi sends Cortesia onto the field for Mosca, Porro unlocks the Polish advance, he carries out the attack which makes it 10-9. Bovolenta’s attacking error puts Poland ahead 12-11. A few too many errors in the blue half of the field, Poland takes off to take a 15-12 lead. Leon’s ace on Porto brings Poland to 21-17, Recine is good at managing the ball with the Polish block, eighteenth point for Italy. De Giorgi changes the diagonal again, inside Gironi and Paolo Porro. Poland wins four set points, taking home the second set at the final 25-21.
De Giorgi also confirms the 6+1 of the previous sets in the third set. Balanced start, 4-4 after the first exchanges. Luca Porro’s second line attack brings Italy to 5-5. Fornal’s one-man block on Bovolenta made it 7-5 for Poland, while Sbertoli’s block on Kurek equalized the score 7-7. Bovolenta finds the point of 9-8, Italy in the lead, Moscow’s block makes it 10-9. Bovolenta is good at closing the 12-12 attack. Italy finds the advantage with Luca Porro’s winning attack 14-13. Kurek stops Bovolenta with a block, Poland eliminates the gap 15-15, another Polish block for the 16-15 advantage of Grbic’s men. Italy regains the lead at 19-18 after a great move based on Sbertoli’s excellent defense. Usual diagonal change for De Giorgi, Gironi and Porro on the pitch at 21-20 for Poland. The Polish block leads to 22-20, Kurek in attack at 23-20. Poland closes at 25-22 and wins its 7th victory, the second defeat for Italy in this VNL.
The words of Ferdinando De Giorgi –
« Today we battled but, especially in the break phase, we lacked a bit of quality, the ability to transform some situations, to be more effective. Then in the end the situations on the side out we were quite good, the boys stayed in the game. Then it is clear that on the other side there is quality. They were better at exploiting the opportunities that were created. In short, I mean, both Kurek and Leon did some important numbers. We have another game tomorrow. We must maintain this spirit, but we must add something from a technical point of view. Especially in the break phase we can do better. The objectives now are that we are the Italian national team, we must nourish our ranking but we must also nourish our identity. There is the opportunity for many players to play real, important matches and these are experiences that accumulate and can be very useful for the fairly near future. I wanted to send a greeting to all the guys who stayed home. Today we collected this hat which celebrates qualification for the Olympic Games, and this was and is an important objective for the entire Noi Italia community. So well done guys, we kept the hat for you too.”
The words of Riccardo Sbertoli –
« We are very happy for the qualification for the Olympic Games with everyone’s work. A not easy start in week 3 against the European champions, we wanted to be there for the whole match, close by and we were there. Obviously we weren’t perfect, we could have done a little more in my opinion to take away a set that perhaps would have changed the momentum a little. We must also be satisfied with a performance that is never taken for granted, always being in the game and always attached to a team like this. Tomorrow Bulgaria, for us all the matches are important because we want to make the standings, we want to play at our best, we want to show what we are worth so I think that Bulgaria, Poland, Turkey, Slovenia will all be important matches. We must applaud these guys who trained a lot in Cavalese before arriving here, playing a little so far and they have their chance now, we have our chance because I too haven’t played a lot up until now, so there is certainly a lot of energy and everyone wants to demonstrate something good.”
The words of Luca Porro-
« It was a difficult match against Poland today. In my opinion, they played very well. We also played a good game. We were always attached there, sometimes even above. Perhaps the only fundamental in which we lacked something is the serve. Today we struggled, a lot of errors and few aces. And in any case even a few balls thrown there. However, we can consider ourselves quite satisfied. We are, as the coach says, all resources, we are all players who have all the same opportunities, everyone is having them and we hope to do well. Our goal is to play good volleyball every game. Tomorrow against Bulgaria will be a complicated match, they are a strong team, like all the others. This VNL is at a very high level, but we will try to give our best and play well.”
The scoreboard-
ITALY – POLAND 0 – 3 (22-25, 21-25, 22-25,)
ITALY: Recine 8, Sbertoli 1, Sanguinetti 2, Bovolenta 11, Mosca 2, Porro L. 11, Laurenzano (L), Porro P. 0, Cortesia 0, Gironi 3. Ne Bottolo, Rinaldi, Gaggini, Caneschi. All. De Giorgi.
POLAND: Kurek 15, Leon 18, ?liwka 0, Kochanowski 3, Janusz 1, Bieniek 8, Zatorski (L), Komenda 0, Bednorz 0, Fornal 7, Bo??d? 1, Huber 1. Ne Popiwczak (L), K?os 0, All. Grbic.
REFEREES: Cespedes Lassi Denny Francisco (DOM), Dziewirz Scott (CAN)
Set duration: 25′, 26′, 26′ Total: 77′
Italy: 1st, 17th, 2nd, 21st.
Poland: 2 a, 22 s, 8 mv, 27 et.
ALL THE RACES OF WEEK 3 BETWEEN LJUBLJANA AND MANILA –
Week 3
Pool 5 (Ljubljana, Slovenia)
Bulgaria – Türkiye 3-1 (27-25, 25-20, 12-25, 25-22)
Slovenia – Argentina 3-0 (25-23, 25-2, 29-27)
Cuba – Serbia 2-3 (25-22, 25-21, 16-25, 21-25, 12-15)
Italy – Poland 0-3 (22-25, 21-25, 22-25)
20.06 13.00 Türkiye – Argentina
20.06 16.30 Bulgaria – Italy
20.06 20.30 Cuba – Slovenia
21.06 13.00 Argentina – Poland
21.06 16.30 Bulgaria – Cuba
21.06 20.30 Türkiye – Serbia
22.06 13.00 Bulgaria – Argentina
22.06 16.30 Serbia – Poland
22.06 at 20.30 Slovenia – Italy
23.06 13.00 Cuba – Poland
23.06 16.30 Türkiye – Italy
23.06 at 20.30 Serbia – Slovenia
Pool 6 (Manila, Philippines)
Netherlands – Brazil 1-3 (26-24, 23-25, 29-31, 20-25)
Canada 3-2 Japan (25-21, 20-25, 25-15, 20-25, 15-10)
Germany 3-1 France (25-23, 25-27, 25-20, 25-23)
Iran – USA 3-2 (26-28, 25-23, 25-18, 26-28, 15-13)
20.06 05.00 Germany – Canada
20.06 09.00 Iran – Holland
20.06 13.00 Brazil – USA
21.06 05.00 Iran – France
21.06 09.00 Canada – Brazil
21.06 13.00 Holland – Japan
22.06 05.00 Germany – USA
22.06 09.00 Canada – Holland
22.06 13.00 France – Japan
23.06 05.00 Germany – Iran
23.06 09.00 France – Brazil
23.06 13.00 Japan – USA
