Italy maintains winning ways in third week of 2011 FIVB World League – Volleyball news
The Men’s National Volleyball Team of Italy has maintained complete dominance in Pool D of the 2011 FIVB World League. The Italian hotshots played six matches in three weeks and finished with the perfect record of 6-0. The wonderfully assembled team of head
coach Mauro Berruto faced France, Cuba and Korea, respectively. None of them could hinder the performance of the Italian team.
It the first week, Italy downed the French team in two matches. The host team, France, proved to be a weak competitor, while Italy cruised past them without losing a single set. Both matches were played in France but home team couldn’t profit from the advantage
of playing at home soil.
In the second week of the tournament, Italy was featured as the home team in two matches against Cuba. Italian side comfortably captured the first match but went through a lot pains in the second match. Cuban team showed their best side to Italy in their
second meeting and put up great resistance. However, Italy pulled off success in the five-set thriller.
After winning against the French and Cuban teams, Italian clan travelled to the Korean city of Suwon as Korea was next on the list. Italy played two matches against Korea on Saturday and Sunday. Korean team had the competitive edge of playing under familiar
conditions and the stupendous support of fans was another plus point for them. However, none of it worked out for Korea and the hosts dropped both their matches of third-week.
In the first match on Saturday, June 11, Italy posted 3-1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-21, and 25-20) victory over Korea. The native team made an energetic start in the game and produced powerful attacks. Jeon Kwang-In and Choi Hong-Suk raised Korean score through
their offensive attack. Italian side spent a little time to settle down in their positions. Italy lost the opening set with narrow margin of two points. The start was good for Korea but the home squad couldn’t deal with Italian power in the rest of the sets.
Italian team staged a great fight and claimed the following three sets. The game ended in four sets, while Italy was honoured with the tag of winners.
Korean side created a lot of buzz in the second match on Sunday, June 12. They were under psychological pressure but fought till the end. The match spanned over five gripping sets as Italy broke the dead-lock of 2-2 in the fifth set and claimed match victory.
Overall, Italy accumulated a score of 3-2 (25-15, 25-22, 21-25, 22-25, and 15-10).
The clever serving of Italy provided to be the foundations of a good start. They built a strong lead and quickly moved to the finish line. Korean team received an early blow of a 10-point defeat in the first set. The hosts came up with solid blocking in
the second set. They controlled Italian score and went up. They successfully tied the score at the end of second set. The see-saw battle continued in third set as Italy regained the control of operations. Italy extended its lead to 2-1 by winning the third
set.
Koreans carried their momentum into the fourth set and made things complicated for Italy. The interesting twist came after the tie of 2-2 as Korea claimed the fourth set. However, Korean team could not go achieve the same flow in next set. Italy spiked hard
and pulled off success in the final set of the game. Next week, Italy will play against France, while Korean team will be put against Cuba.
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