Italy tops Finland in three sets at 2012 European Olympic Qualifiers – Volleyball news
Italy and Finland fought a great battle on the opening day of 2012 European Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament and staged a five-set thriller.
It was a hotly contested match, which continued for more than two hours. However, Italy marched away with victory after posting 3-2 (25-21, 16-25, 30-28, 16-25, 16-14) on board. Arena Armeec competition hall in Sofia hosted the match and 1,200 fans witnessed
the action.
Italy’s Michal Lasko topped all the scorers with his match-high 24 points. On Finland’s team, Olli Kunnari charted team-high 19 points. Furthermore, Finnish Mikko Oivanen contributed 18 points, in the failing effort.
Finland opened the match with fine delivery of serves and put early scores on board. As the game progressed, they added more points and did now allow Italy to come up. The scoreboard showed three-point lead of Finland at the first technical timeout (8-5).
However, Italian players grasped the game plan of opponents and hit back. They traded lead with Finland and improved to 16-13 at the next mandatory stop. Thereafter Italy led the scores and eventually closed first set with 25-21 win.
Following the dramatic first set, which left the Finnish team in utter shock, the team of head coach Daniel Castellani struggled with a new ambition. It was difficult to break the rhythm of charged-up Italians but Finnish men managed to hold them off. Finland
rallied from 8-7 to 16-10 and quickly covered the length of second set. They captured the second set with nine-point margin and hit the equalizer.
Italy came up with strong offence in third set and built a strong lead in early few moments. Finland trailed behind and did not give an easy time to Italy. The game of hit ‘n’ run continued for 35 minutes and finally Italy pulled off success with two points,
30-28.
In the fourth set, Finland made a great comeback and created the dead-lock of 2-2 by claiming better status. Nevertheless, Italy put an end to the affair by winning final decisive set and grabbed match victory.
“Finland played much smarter than us and, to be honest, they deserved to be the winners today. We were lucky enough to get the big points in the game. Actually, there was only one player, who did his job well on the field, I expect much more from the others,”
said Italian mentor Mauro Berruto after the match.
Italian skipper Cristian Savani shared his thoughts about the match in the following manner. He stated, “We must be very happy for that win, because Italy was far from its full potential today. Our first match happened to be so important and we got the maximum
from it.”
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