Italia-Austria
The first set of this match was by far the most interesting one. Despite making too many unforced errors, Austria had the upper hand through pretty much the entire set and reached a 5-point advantage at 14-9. It could see itself as the winner of this first part of the match as it had 4 consecutive set points at 24-20. However, with captain Sebastiano Milan behind the serving line, Italy made a fantastic run and overturned the outcome to 26-24.
Already with the psychological advantage on its side, the team of Andrea Tomasini went quickly through the following two sets. Austria never got the chance to take the lead again. The Italians outplayed their opponents in blocking and offense and piled up a solid advantage to close the second set by 25-17 and the third by 25-13.
Andrea Tomasini, head coach of Italy: “It was a match which decided which team stays in the tournament. In the first set we were afraid, and we did not play so well. Anyway, we succeeded to win it and we played better in the next two sets. Great match for the confidence of the team! Austria is a very good team, and we had to work hard for every point.“
Nina Sawatzki, head coach of Austria: “It was a very difficult match for us. We had 24-20 in the first set, but we lost it. I think that is the reason why we lost the game. I hope we will succeed to play better in the next match.”
Sebastiano Milan, captain of Italy: “We had a very good match today. The Austrian team is very good. First set was very tense, but we succeeded to win it. In the next two sets our spike and block did very well. We were very excited about this match as it is very important for the standings in the pool.“
Florian Ertl, captain of Austria: “I am very disappointed right now. We started the match very well, but we missed 4 set points and then Italy started to play better. I would like to compliment the Italian team. Good game for them! We have to start motivating ourselves for the next match against Belgium.”
To read more news from this competition click on Youth European Championship 2013 M.
