Italvolley: Anzani, Balaso and Bottolo dream of the podium

Anzani, Balaso and Bottolo dream big

The joy for the rainbow semifinal reached by the Italian expedition is tripled at Lube’s home because of the presence of the three seamers in the ranks of the Italian national team. After eliminating Cuba and Marlon Yant in the round of 16, on Wednesday the group with Simone Anzani, Fabio Balaso and Mattia Bottolo prevailed in a tie break in the quarterfinals with France’s another red and white player, Barthelemy Chinenyeze. The French powerhouse greeted the event with 52 points to his credit, thanks to 42 winning attacks (77 percent), 10 point walls and 1 ace. Against the Olympic champions, concreteness at the wall and on serve and fewer errant attacks made the difference, but what shifted the needle of the scales was the stretch at the tie break and the ability to grit one’s teeth in the face of a France on the rise in the decisive exchanges.

In the South American derby with Brazil, on the other hand, the ambitions of Luciano De Cecco and his Argentina team, which left the scene yesterday with a 3-1 scoreline, were extinguished. The captain of Lube and his national team missed the feat despite countless amount of applaudable risers and 15 personal points in the rainbow review (7 attacks, 6 walls and 2 aces).

Opening the day of the Semifinals in Katowice scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 10, at 6 p.m., will be the face-off between the host Polish sextet and Brazil, while Italy will be back on court again on Saturday, however, at 9 p.m. against the Slovenian selection.