Italy defeats Finland 3-1 in quarter-finals: 2011 CEV Volleyball European Championship
The Italian and Finland squads were matched up with each other on September 14 in the quarter-finals of the 2011 CEV Volleyball European Championship.
The match between the two sides took place in Vienna, Austria. By the time it was decided which team will be moving on to the semi-finals, the Italians were celebrating their win at 3-1.
The first set of the match was fairly one sided as the Finns only challenged the Italians in the early part of the first set but slackened their pace later on. The confidence generated by winning the first set of the game led the Italians to bag the second
set as well. The Finns were sent a wakeup call after a loss of two sets and they put up an impressive display of skills that got them to the fourth set of the game. However, the Italians proved to be the better side as they sealed the deal on the match at
the following final set scores: 25-18, 25-20, 29-31 and 25-21.
The Italian coach, Mauro Berruto, made the following comments at the press conference after the match regarding the outcome of the match: “We have to be honest – the schedule was an obvious advantage for us. But they played really good, so we had to fight
hard. After we lost the third set, we mentally overcame the situation very well.”
On the other hand, the Finnish coach Daniel Castellani expressed his views in the following manner: “In my opinion Italy’s has better abilities in serving and blocking. Moreover, they are able to convert their counter attacks more efficiently.”
The start of the first set of the game remained competitive as both teams were putting on a good show to be able to take the lead. However, the lead rested with the Italians at 14-11, an advantage they were able to stretch to 20-13. It was only a matter
of time before the Italians had gotten themselves the first set of the game at 25-18.
The Finns started the second set with a different line up that seemed to work until the second technical time out as they were able to keep the score close at 16-15. However, after the two teams came back onto the courts, the Italians were able to increase
their pace and head off towards a win at 25-20.
The Finns came out aggressively in the third set that got them the lead at 11-6. After a hard fight, the Finns were finally able to bag a win at 31-29. However, that was the only moment of glory that the Finns could manage as the fourth set was sealed by
the Italians at 25-21.
The top scorer in the match was the Italian captain, Cristian Savani, with 22 points while the player that was able to top the Finnish team was Mikko Oivanen after he registered 17 points.
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