Italian-National-Team
In, what is likely going to be, the last edition of the Grand Prix under this name, Italy outplayed the 2017 Final Six hosts China by a 3-1 (18-25, 25-23, 25-22, 27-25) in the semifinals in Nanjing. It will be the second-ever Grand Prix finals for the „Azzurre“ (the silver medal they won in 2005 came after a round-robin tournament).
Only small details made the difference between the two sides in this match. As both teams had almost exactly the same attack percentage (Italy 44.7%, China 44.8%), a better blocking performance of Italy (13-8) and more unforced errors that players of the Chinese National Team have committed (29-20) have proven to be the decisive factors at the end.
Paola Egonu, the best player and scorer of Italy in the Final Six, collected 26 points. Zhu Ting made 21 points for China but spiked two balls in a row out of bounds at 25-25 in the fourth set which directly pushed Italy to the finals where they will meet Brazil.
Read the report of the other semifinal encounter Brazil vs. Serbia.
See STATS & VIDEOS from World Grand Prix 2017.
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