Russia and Italy will fight for a gold medal at the U21 FIVB Volleyball World Championship, after beating Argentina and Poland in spectacular semifinal clashes. Russia reached the final with a victory over Argentina in three sets (27-25, 28-26, 25-17), while Italy managed to turnaround 0-2 in the match against Poland and after the battle in 5 sets (20-25, 20-25, 25-11, 25-20, 15-12) entered the grand final.
Stanislav Dineykin, opposite of Russia: “We knew that Argentina were a strong team, and we were prepared to face them. We are now in the final, and, of course, we want it all! Tomorrow, our goal is the gold.”
Alessandro Michieletto, outside hitter of Italy: “Things changed when we were able to show power on the serve. In the first two sets, we couldn’t emerge victorious after point-for-point games. Instead, in the next three sets, we showed that when we were leading, we played our game. This is something that we have to work on – we have to improve in such situations, because the set is not lost until you lose it. This will be our lesson for tomorrow’s final.”
Semifinals
Russia – Argentina 3-0 (27-25, 28-26, 25-17)
Italy – Poland 3-2 (20-25, 20-25, 25-11, 25-20, 15-12)
Gold medal match
Russia – Italy
Bronze medal match
Argentina – Poland
