Italy dominating in 2011 CEV Girls Youth Championship
The National Girls’ Youth Team of Italy is making shockwaves in the final round of the 2011 CEV Youth European Championship, which is underway in the Turkish city of Ankara.
In their last match, the Italian hotshots marked their third consecutive victory and firmly held the top slot in ranking of Pool I. They crossed their ways with the team from Slovakia. The opponents put up a valiant effort to hinder Italy’s performance but
ended up losing. Italians demonstrated a stellar performance and received huge applause for a clean sweep of Slovakia. They held off Slovakia for a 3-0 (25-23, 26-24, and 25-15) victory. The strategy and game plan of head coach, Luca Pieragnoli is working
perfectly and the team is keeping a great rhythm of victory.
The Italian side took a little time to settle down in the match. After an early exchange of serves, Slovakia showed its attacking power and scored two points. In response, Italy also returned the ball in Slovakian half and broke the ice.
At the first technical timeout, Slovakia enjoyed a two-point lead over Italy. Elena Perinelli set the pace for Italy after the technical break. She supplied plenty of power her crosscourt shots and deceived Slovakian middle-blockers with her amazing bump-passes.
She played an instrumental role in bring her team on the track.
In the meantime, the Italian squad was supported by Monica Gobbi who found the empty slots in Slovakian half to raise her team’s score. Gradually, Slovakia had to step back and Italy rose up. The swift spikes and tricky passes of Italian team created trouble
for Slovakia. Moving at the same speed, Italy chased the score and even surpassed them at the second technical timeout.
Once Italy grabbed the control of operation, they did not stop up till the end. They continued with their striking score and did not allow Slovakia to return in the game. Italy sealed the first set by putting up 25-23 on board.
Slovakia regretted the loss of opening set but did not lose hope. They looked determined to deal with the power of Italian team in the second set. Italy was in better position with one set already in hand.
However, Slovakia started things off with Barbora Kosekova’s serve. Long rallies were exchanged and the players of both sides showed the power of their forearms. The Italian side relied on Bosetti, while Slovakia attacked with Nikola Pistelakova.
The second set turned out to be heated competition in the early few minutes. Slovakia led the game with 8-7at the first mandatory stop. Afterwards, the score shifted up with a close gap of points. Both sides traded lead regularly but Italy was ahead of Slovakia
at the second technical timeout (16-15).
The Italian side suffered a little setback due to reception errors, which helped Slovakia to once again take the lead. The last few minutes of the second set moved the audience back and forth in their seats. Finally, the Turks got the perfect chance to extend
their lead to 2-0. They claimed the second set by posting 26-24.
Slovakia lost the spot in third set, while Italy got the groove. They started out with a 4-point lead and kept an upper hand on the rivals until the end of third set and managed to win.
The Italian head coach, Luca Pieragnoli expressed his views after the match.
He stated, “We played pretty well but we still have some problems in reception. We will try to get rid of this weakness for the next games.”
Likewise, his Slovakian counterpart Eva Kosakova said, “We started well in set 1 and 2 but we could not finalize our quest in the money time.”
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