Volleyball Olympic qualifiers, Italy-Czech Republic 3-1

First victory with a few more worries than expected for the men’s Italy in the pre-Olympic tournament in Brazil. The European vice-champions comeback to beat the Czech Republic and face Qatar tomorrow at 10pm in Italy.

Italy-Rep. Czech 3-1 (24-26, 25-18, 25-22, 25-19)

—

The Czech Republic started strong in the first set which was hard fought. The Czechs (warmly supported by the Brazilian public who see Italy as the most credible opponent in this tournament organized at home) led by the former Lube Hadrava lead a good part of the fraction even reaching 12-7, when Ferdinando De Giorgi asks for time- out to sort things out a bit. The Azzurri, taken by surprise by the aggressiveness on serve and block, recovered to overtake 18-17 but the Czechs ended the set with the advantage thanks also to the seven point errors by Giannelli and his teammates.

Blue answer

—

In the second set Italy shows its values ​​on the pitch. Halfway through the half the game is still a little balanced, but the Azzurri are superior. The set ends with a nice dunk by Romanò 25-18 in 27′. Even the accounts. Balance returns in the third set. Michieletto is targeted on serve and De Giorgi introduces Rinaldi and the spiker from Modena proves to be an effective weapon to keep the Czechs at bay and close the set. In the fourth the Azzurri dominate and Italy closes the score. Eighteen points at the end for Romanò and 14 for Lavia while the central Galassi finishes with 12