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In Ostrava’s group B it is clear that Italians positioned themselves in first place. In their second last match they beat Slovenia 3:0 (27:25, 25:20, 25:23).

Slovenia created a bigger lead for the first time when opposite Giulio Pinali missed a spike twice and his team was 4:7 down. In the middle of the opening set Italy presented better blocks and improved attacks and started to reduce Slovenia lead. After a successful block by setter Simone Giannelli they equalized (16:16). Both teams then changed their position in the lead but Italy was better in the end. Slovenia made many mistakes and didn’t use their set point. Thanks to that the first set was won by Italy.

The Italian players had a better start in the second set. After Slovenia’s errors they led 6:1. However their opponent’s defence was better and thanks to Alen Pajenk’s blocks, they reduced Italy’s lead (10:8). Despite that, Italy’s cool head and Simone Anzani‘s serve put them back in front (15:13). Gradually they were going for the victory.

Slovenians didn’t want to give up and they fought even in the third set and led 9:7. Though their play depended on Italy mistakes. When the team from the Apennine Peninsula improved their defence and serve again, they turned the score around (14:13) and didn’t let their opponent to win a single set.

Giannelli Simone, Italian setter: “It was a tough game because Slovenia is one of the best teams in Europe. We knew it would be difficult but we did a great job on the court and I am very happy for this result. We don’t want to look too much ahead. It’s because we have a young team so our target is to grow together and to improve our game.”

Jan Kozamernik, Slovenian middle blocker: “Italians played great but the main problem of this match was that our performance wasn’t as good as before. We served poorly and that was the key thing. They had amazing receive and serve as well. Those were the decisive factors.”