Italy overwhelms Dominican Republic, 20 points from Paola Egonu. Now Brazil
Italy overwhelms Dominican Republic, 20 points from Paola Egonu. Now Brazil
Second success in Macau for the Italian volleyball team that beat the Dominican Republic 3-0 (25-12, 25-19, 25-21). Velasco's Italy thus won its fifth consecutive victory in the 2024 Nations League, earning other valuable points (6.68) for Olympic qualification through the world ranking. Tomorrow the national team will have a day of rest, waiting for the demanding challenge with world vice champion Brazil scheduled for Saturday. For the Azzurri, 20 points were scored by Paola Egonu. Here is the chronicle of the match and interviews published by the Federvolley website.
“In the first set Italy went ahead thanks to two consecutive aces by Egonu (6-4), then a series of Azzurri errors allowed the opponents to reply (8-10). Sylla’s dunks restored rhythm to the tricolor national team (10-10), which posted a tremendous twelve-to-zero partial (20-10) and effectively bent all opponent resistance (25-12)”.
“Upon returning to the court, Orro and her teammates immediately stretched (8-4), while the Dominican Republic è went into trouble (14-10). In the later stages, space also for Cambi and Antropova, the Caribbean lineup è proved more combative and shortened the distance (16-14). Two walls by the Egonu-Danesi pair gave the Azzurri back a good margin (19-14), before double aces by Ariana Rodriguez kept the Caribbean hopes alive (21-18). A great Egonu in the final fraction launched the decisive breakaway of the azzurre (25-19)”.
“In the third partial, Italy came onto the court with the newcomers; Degradi for Bosetti and Fahr for Lubian. The first exchanges recorded a substantial balance (8-8), before the extension signed by Sylla and her teammates (17-13). At first the opponents tried to react, but Italy firmly kept the ball of the game (20-16). The final stages held no surprises and Velasco's girls scored another crucial victory in the race toward Olympic qualification (25-21)”.
Sarah Fahr: "We are happy, these are more important points that we need for the World Ranking and therefore for the Olympic qualification. I am happy with how the team is doing, these were matches where the other teams had a lot to win and we had a lot to lose, but we were good at not conceding sets and getting as many points as possible. We knew that the first two challenges in Macau were the ones not to be missed and that maybe puts a little more pressure on you, but we approached them in the right way. Saturday and Sunday against Brazil and China we have some very tough challenges ahead of us, the Brazilians are showing high-level volleyball and China è a very good team as well. We will have to take one more step and see where we are in our growth path. Coming back to the national team after almost 3 years è it was really good, I am happy to be here with my teammates. I am trying to enjoy this new experience as much as possible and slowly improve the game".
Alessia Orro: " Today è everything went well, we are satisfied with this 3-0 victory. We won more precious points for the Olympic qualification, now will come the most difficult matches against Brazil and China. I believe that with each passing day we are putting one more piece; tomorrow we will have a day off to study our opponents and train, trying to further improve our understanding. We know very well that the upcoming opponents are very strong, we will have to put in the maximum effort, taking the field with a lot of character and determination. At the end we have been training together for just over a week and as è normal we have to add just a little bit of oil to the game mechanisms and the whole team will improve.
