Italvolley to World Cup quarterfinals, crushed 3-0 l'Argentina

A beautiful Italy gives itself access to the quarterfinals of the World Championships, thanks to a 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-22) victory over Argentina, at the end of a really well-played match. The Azzurri will return to the court on Wednesday, Sept. 24 against the winner of the Belgium-Finland round of 16 (today at 2 p.m. Italian time).

As a starting lineup De Giorgi lined up the Giannelli -Romanò diagonal, Michieletto and Bottolo the setters, Russo and Gargiulo the middle hitters and Balaso the libero. Mendez chose De Cecco at setter, Koukartsev opposite, Palonsky and Vicentin hammers, Gallego and Loser center with Danani free.

In the first set the Azzurri started a bit contracted, yielding court to the opponents who immediately went ahead; as the minutes passed, however, Giannelli and his teammates began to play with more fluidity and thanks to 3 consecutive walls they managed to tie at 9-9. In the next stages the situation repeated itself with the Albiceleste that, point after point, accumulated a new +3 (16-13) promptly recovered by the Azzurri, thanks to a good Giannelli’s service turn and good wall effectiveness (4 in the partial and 20-19 ahead for the tricolor formation). The ending was really exciting, the two formations traveled in parity until 22-22, when the Azzurri placed the decisive break: 25-23 final signed by captain, Giannelli after a failed first set ball on 24-22.

The plot of the match did not change in the second set with the teams in contact and the Azzurri good at fouling many balls of the opponents at the wall, a factor that allowed De Giorgi’s boys to accumulate a good lead (+4 and 15-11).

The next actions saw Giannelli and his teammates keep their concentration high, keeping their opponents at a distance until 25-20, which again came at the hands of an attack by captain Giannelli.

During the third partial, Mendez gave space to Gomez in place of Koukartsev, a move that nonetheless paid off considering that the Argentines were able to take back the lead (17-16, 18-17) after many actions spent chasing. Despite some difficulties Italy was still able to react and find parity at 19-19. In the final decisive was an excellent service turn by Romanò, author of 3 consecutive aces (24-20). Italy missed the first two match-points (24-22), before Bottolo’s attack that gave the victory and the quarters to the rainbow title holders 25-22.