Italy gets off to good start at World Cup, Paola Egonu top scorer

Good start for the women’s national volleyball team at the volleyball World Cup that began in Phuket, Italy. Velasco’s team overcame Slovakia in three sets with the partials of 25-20; 25-14; 25-17, confirming the predictions against a technically inferior opponent.

The Olympic champions, fresh from their triumph in the Nations League, scored their 30th consecutive victory, once again proving to be a well-oiled and tight-knit group. The top scorer of the match was Paola Egonu, scoring 15 points, while Ekaterina Antropova always took over in the final part of the three sets. The best of the Slovaks was Sunderlikova with 12 points.

Italy thanks to this victory moved to the top of Group B together with Belgium, which beat Cuba in the other match of the group. Cuba itself will be the Azzurre’s opponent on Sunday, Aug. 24, while on Tuesday there will be a match against Belgium, which will presumably decide the group leadership.

The Italian team will play in the first group.