The second defeat in three matches in this week 3 in Ljubljana arrives against Slovenia. In front of their fans, Urnaut and his teammates dominate a very experimental Italy, with the big names at rest given the qualification for Paris and the Finals already achieved. A 0-3 (18-25, 21-25, 19-25 partial scores) without history which allows Slovenia to overtake the Azzurri in the world rankings with only one match left until the end of the group stage in the VNL. This means that they would currently be the third seeded team (along with Poland and France) for the Olympic draw. We return to the pitch on Sunday 23 June against Turkey.
read also
VNL, Italy-Poland 3-0: Japan is in the final
The story of the match
De Giorgi changes something compared to the first two matches: Sbertoli directed with Bovolenta opposite to, Bottolo – man of the match against Bulgaria, with Leek in band, Caneschi And Fly in the center, Laurenzano free. Very successful for the hosts of this week 3 with the many acquaintances of our Super League including Kozamernik, Ropret, Urnaut And Cebulj. The start was rather balanced with Italy overcoming the initial -2 thanks to a couple of great plays from Bottolo. The first important break comes for Slovenia with the Kozamernik block on Bovolenta (12-16) and it is a +4 that the Azzurri are no longer able to recover also due to several service errors. And it is precisely a wrong serve from Bovolenta that closes the first set at 18-25.
The second set begins exactly as the first ended: service errors for the Azzurri, lethal break phase for Slovenia which immediately goes up to +4 with Cebulj’s ace (2-6). This time, however, Italy reacts and gets back to -1 with the block in Moscow (6-7), but a series of five wrong serves prevented De Giorgi’s team from reaching Sanguinetti’s block which made it 16-16. Having reached the draw, Italy still fails to overtake, in fact it is the home team who extends the lead with Bracko’s ace first and then Bottolo’s pipe error (19-23). A block from Stern on Porro also gives Slovenia the second set.
Even in the third set, Slovenia started strongly (3-6), but a sensational defense by Laurenzano woke Italy up which takes it to 6-6. However, the equalizer was only temporary as the Azzurri immediately suffered a counter-break which cut off De Giorgi’s young players (6-10). The coach tries some changes but the situation doesn’t change. Slovenia deservedly wins, closing the third set at 25-19.
