De Giorgi’s boys win their first victory in a nervous and difficult match. Piacenza’s opposite and Verona’s spiker, who came off the bench with Gargiulo, are decisive
First victory for Italy 3-1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-21, 33-31) in the Nations League in Ottawa. And it’s important not just for the rankings. The match against Massimo Botti’s Germany (after Andrea Giani’s France, Italian coaches are omnipresent) becomes a treacherous territory of quicksand made of nervousness, insecurities and frustration where the Azzurri could be sucked in and from where instead they emerge with character, some good additions from the bench and without losing clarity. The decisive moment is in the third set. Italy is trying very hard to recover from a deficit of minus 3. Luca Porro scores a couple of important points and the Azzurri’s charge increases. However, misunderstandings with the referee are also increasing. The Dominican Ramirez Ortiz makes a series of dubious decisions, little helped by the video challenge whose reliability the Fivb should perhaps reflect on (yesterday in the match against France on at least a couple of occasions the reproduction of the hawk’s eye does not correspond to the action just concluded) and the temperature rises with De Giorgi who, although not transcending, considerably lengthens the protests. At that moment Italy could become wrapped up in nervousness and frustration but no. He comes out by finding the right fit in Sani and rebuilding play and rhythm with team work without stopping. For the next match against Turkey we have to wait until 1.30am on the night between Saturday and Sunday.
the match
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Both teams confirm the teams lined up in the first matches. De Giorgi sends the diagonal Paolo Porro-Rychlicki onto the field, the central defenders Sanguinetti and Mati, the spikers Luca Porro and Bottolo with the libero Laurenzano. Botti responds with Zimmerman-John, the central defenders Krick and Torwie, the spikers Brand and Rohrs, the libero is Schott. The first set started very well for the Azzurri with captain Bottolo achieving an 86% positivity in attack with seven points. while Zimmermann, rather than the opposite John, relies on Tobias Brand, a solid spiker for years in the Polish championship. The set ends without too many worries but in the second Germany comes out, powerful on serve, more relaxed after the victory over Canada, never taking their arm back. The Azzurri switch off, De Giorgi removes Rychlicki who was never really in the game and inserts Bovolenta, then also Gargiulo for Sanguinetti but the comeback fails. De Giorgi confirms them anyway in the third, then inserts Sani for Bottolo and Italy responds well. The Bovolenta Luca Porro couple leads Italy who finds a comeback and takes the lead. The fourth set is a battle. The Azzurri have found a rhythm, Gargiulo makes himself felt in attack and on the block and Sani proves that he isn’t just there for jokes and Pardo Mati is the protagonist of another fearless performance. Germany always very present on the block and in defence, with Brand and Rohrs heavy in attack and Torwie a thorn in the side on the block. The final point to point is unnerving with the first referee still besieged who decides to consult the video challenge on the score of 29-28 for Italy, after several German protests (they had already used all theirs) and to give the point to Germany. Here too, Italy does not disunite, cancels the set ball and on Bottolo’s turn to serve, returning on Luca Porro, definitively closes the match. Best scorer Bovolenta and Brand with 17 points.