Italy
The match started at a relatively low pace and it looked like Serbia was struggling to find the right motivation for the last game of a European campaign that had turned into a real debacle for the 2011 FIVB Youth World champions. Italy quickly imposed their tempo (8:4, 14:9) but also found it difficult to dismantle their best play as the quality and intensity of the game were less than impressive. Serbia lacked accuracy and consistency, making it easy for Italy to score (22:16) and the opening set was gone without any real emotions (25-22).
A good serving turn by Luca Borgogno opened set 2 with a comfortable 6:2 run for Italy; the – at least on paper – Serbian star Uros Kovacevic was once again very far away from his usual standards and even did not show much commitment to the cause of his team as he did often spike well off the court. After enjoying an 8:3 lead by the first mandatory stop, Italy stretched that margin (15:5) via a series of blocks and the score got a little embarrassing as Serbia trailed 20:9 going into the final rush. It was just horrible to see how de-motivated the Serbians were playing and Sandro Caci – Italy’s top scorer in the tournament together with Luigi Randazzo – eventually sealed the final 25-13 from the right wing.
The most difficult task for Italy was coming up in set 3: after dominating the scene with so much ease, the young “Azzurri” had to show their capacity of staying cool and keeping concentrated up to the end. They did so quite well (8:4), helped also by the errors of their opponents, and even though Serbia had surged back only for a moment, Italy still went for the second technical time-out with a very promising 16:11 lead. Coach Bonitta started his personal countdown at 23:15 for his guys, an ace by Fabio Ricci piled up 9 match balls and the story was over with a spike killed by captain Simmaco Tartaglione.
