After five very tight sets and the battle lost with a thousand regrets against France, Italy immediately gets back up. Very heavy victory for De Giorgi’s Azzurri against the United States, both in terms of Olympic ranking – 10.31 points won – and for the Volleyball Nations League ranking itself. For Michieletto and his teammates, fifth victory in six games and fifteen points in the tournament ranking, which has now reached the halfway point.
Italy-United States, first two sets suffered: Lavia takes care of it
Italy on the field with the sextet formed by Giannelli as setter, Romanò opposite, Michieletto and Lavia spikers, Galassi and Russo central, Balaso libero. The Azzurri struggled at the start against the exuberance of the Americans. When the ball gets hot, the usual Michieletto and Uno take care of it Lavia unleashed (15 points at the end of the match for him) to take the chestnuts out of the fire for Italy, who come out on top (25-23). Romanò, however, is in difficulty, along the lines of the match against France. In the second half the Azzurri found themselves down by four points (13-17), but had the merit of never switching off. And in the end they made an incredible comeback, overtaking their rivals (26-24).
Giannelli’s aces and Galassi’s happiness: Olympics close
In the third set Bovolenta, in place of Romanò, is another of the certainties for Giannelli, who distributes balls with the usual lucidity and in the end also takes action on his own (6 points), with a series of aces in succession that split the match in two. Italy even finishes easily (25-20), getting closer to an Olympic qualification that is now really close: for Michieletto e Galassi 10 points each. The center back was very happy at the end of the match: “We played point to point but we were very focused in the key moments. We will give our best to get to Paris as best we can. What a game we played. Let’s continue to live this dream, this Olympic qualification.”
Volleyball Nations League, Italy’s next matches
Third match in a day and a half for the Azzurri, now awaiting the challenge of the always treacherous Cuban national team. Sunday’s match against the Netherlands will close the second week of the tournament, for the last week the transfer to Ljubljana in Slovenia is expected. Here are all the challenges on the calendar.
Week 2, a Ottawa
- 7 June at 5pm: Italy-Cuba
- 9 June at 5pm: Italy-Holland
Week 3, and Lubiana
- June 19th at 8.30pm: Italy-Poland
- June 20th at 4.30pm: Italy-Bulgaria
- 22 June at 8.30pm: Slovenia-Italy
- 23 June at 4.30pm: Italy-Türkiye
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Source: Getty
