EuroVolleyM: Italy and Serbia star in semifinal clash of giants
Preview
Italy and Serbia were on everyone’s list of favorites to take gold at the CEV EuroVolley 2021 Men but only one of the two will keep their dream alive after the teams meet on Saturday, in the semifinals of the tournament, in Katowice.
Six-time EuroVolley winners Italy entered the tournament with moderate expectations as, despite its tremendous tradition, the team is in the early stage of a rebuilding process following the Tokyo Olympics. Things clicked faster than many would have expected for the Italians and they arrive in the semifinals undefeated after claiming their seventh victory in the tournament in the quarterfinals, where they downed Germany in straight sets.
Simone Gianelli“We entered the EuroVolley looking to play good volleyball and start a new chapter. We gave everything we had and got good results, which gave us a lot of confidence. Serbia is a great team, with a lot of talent and experience, and will be a huge challenge, but we have confidence in our game.”
Italy’s Captain
A silver Olympic medalist in Rio five years ago, the 25-year-old setter is leading a group of young Italian players, in which 19-year-old outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto, EuroVolley’s eighth-best scorer (93 points) and third-best sever (17 aces), has been standing out.
Defending champions Serbia have been relying on a more veteran group of players to pursue a second-straight continental title and become the first team since 2005 to do so. The Serbians lost a pool play match to Poland and were on the verge of being eliminated by Turkey in the Eight Finals, but returned to their dominant form in the quarterfinals, knocking the Netherlands out in straight sets.
Nemanja Petric“I’m glad that we managed to make it this far. When you’re the defending champion, everyone is looking to knock you out. But we dealt with the pressure and won tough matches. We have another difficult task ahead of us in the semifinals, but we’re not stopping now.”
Serbia’s Captain
The meeting with the Italians will be special for one of the most veteran Serbian players, 34 year-old middle blocker Marko Podrascanin, who will play in his 55th EuroVolley and become the record holder in the country, surpassing Olympic champions Nikola Grbic and Andrija Geric.
