Volleyball: Poland wins the European Championships, Italy bows

Italy-Poland 0-3 (20-25, 21-25, 23-25)

This time the party is hosted by the Poles, even if everything was ready to make the blue joy explode. But this time almost nothing goes well for Italy, while for the Poles this is an evening that will remain in history. Leon had never won much since he joined the national team (only one Nations League), but this evening he cashes in and wins the EUR casino of casinos dressed to the nines and in the tricolour. He does everything: serve, attack and even the second line, all it takes is to subdue an Italy that suffers a lot in reception, doesn’t break through in serve and even in blocking loses the comparison with Poland. The structure that Nikola Grbic gave to Poland works wonderfully from the first set and for Italy it is a continuous pursuit and De Giorgi also finds Russo, who trained in the morning and grits his teeth to play (he is Sicilian) in front to the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. So the starting lineup for the Azzurri. Like Poland who deploys Sliwka and Leon diagonally.

Nightmare

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The start is a nightmare: 4-0 with 3 deadly serves from Huber. Italy is in difficulty, struggling (8-4), targeted by the attacks of the Polish players. At 12-7 De Giorgi has already called the two timeouts to try to find a balance in reception. But Poland pushes hard and the Azzurri are always in trouble and with the block the Poles complete the job. Italy gets in some good shots, but is never as loose as in the past and goes down. Poland starts the second set in the same way, but this time the Italian reception makes less water and the Azzurri (again with difficulty) remain attached in the score. The game is less fluid than on other evenings, also because Poland has engaged the turbo and Leon shoots jokes even at 136 km per hour. With Leon serving, Poland also splits this set and for Italy it is increasingly dark. De Giorgi also tries to include Scanferla as an alternative to Balaso. Poland has too high a pace of play, while Italy is far from its best evening. We are 2-0. In the third, Italy started well, driven by a record crowd (with 11,300 spectators present for a total taking of 831,090 euros which shattered any record for volleyball). The Azzurri push harder in their serve, while De Giorgi tries to rotate the formation to try to find the tactical alchemy that surprises the Poles. After two full sets, Poland seem to take their foot off the accelerator a bit, but it’s only an impression because Italy goes from 10-6 to 10-10. Italian reception continues to be in a state of apnea and it is difficult for Giannelli to find gaps in the Polish wall. We play point to point, but Leon is always a thorn in the side of the Azzurri defense. Even when he’s not batting. Italy gradually fades away and lets the Poles celebrate, finishing on the second match point 25-23.

Italy-Poland 0-3 (20-25, 21-25, 23-25)

Italy: Michieletto 10, Russo 2, Romanò 9, Lavia 13, Galassi 6, Giannelli 3; Balaso (L), Sbertoli 1, Rinaldi, Scanferla (L). Ne Bottolo, Bovolenta, Sanguinetti, Mosca. All. De Giorgi.

Poland: Sliwka 9, Huber 12, Kaczmarek 10, Leon 13, Kochanowski 9, Janusz 1; Semeniuk 1, Fornal. Ne Popowczak (L), Kurek, Klos, Bednorz, Lomacz. All. N. Grbic.