Italy and Poland are in the Men’s VNL Semifinals
News
The quarterfinals of the Volleyball Nations League, the first stage of the Finals currently taking place in Poland, have concluded with Italy and Poland making in through to the Semifinals while France and Slovenia are out of the competition.
De Giorgi’s Italy went up against Argentina, a team that has been in such good form over the last few years, managing an impressive bronze medal run at the Tokyo Olympics not long ago, so very few people thought it would be an easy win for the Italians. It was by no means easy, however the Italians, themselves in a period of prolonged success across European and International competitions, absolutely dominated the encounter.
A straight sets win for the Italians, allowing their opponents to reach only 17 points in a set as their highest tally, what an impressive job done by Giannelli and the rest of the team (3:0; 25-17, 25-13, 25-14). The top performers were once again the now experience Michieletto and Lavia, however it was very much an impressive team effort to set up an exciting semifinals encounter with the United States of America, the team that kicked out France in five sets.
The other European team to qualify to the semifinals is Poland, the host of the VNL Finals defeating Brazil in straight sets in a very close matchup (3:0; 26-24, 25-21, 25-20). Once again, Aleksander Sliwka has proved that he knows how to rally the troops around him, giving another man of the match performance. Superstar Wilfredo Leon, despite not having the most glamorous of days in attack, he contributed massively in defense, a performance with sprinkles of his trademark devastating serves.
Poland will now face Japan in the semifinals, after Yuki Ishikawa and his team defeated Slovenia in straight sets. Both semifinals are scheduled to take place this Saturday, 22 July.