Kraljevo, Serbia, May 25, 2018 - Italy kicked off their 2018 Nations League with a winning start on Friday as they swept past Germany 3-1 (25-18, 25-19, 23-25, 25-20) thanks to a ruthless Ivan Zaytsev.
The outside hitter of Russian origin top-scored for Italy as he added accurate serving to his finishing ability: three aces and 18 points helped Zaytsev lead the way for the Azzurri.The Sir Safety Perugia player was backed in his solid performance by his Cuban-born counterpart Osmany Juantorena. The Cucine Lube Civitanova hitter had a strong showing with 10 spikes and two blocks.
Germany simply made too many errors to be able to mount a challenge against an Italian side widely considered as one of the best in the world currently. Moritz Reichert and Simon Hirsch shared the spoils with 11 and 13 points each.
Italy won their last four encounters with Germany and the Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallists seemed in no mood to change things and let the Mannschaft claim their first world major level victory over the Azzurri since 2003.
Ivan Zaytsev was on target early on to give Italy a healthy lead (14-8). After its second technical time out, Germany seemeed responseless despite Tobias Krick and Christian Fromm splitting Italy's block (16-10)... Especially as Osmany Juantorena struck back immediately. A last minute effort saw Germany rally to put Italy under pressure but two unforced errors, out of the Mannschaft's nine in the first set, sealed the deal for the Squadra Azzurra (25-18).
Serving errors continued to cause Germany problems in the second half but, luckily for them, Italy wasn't as dominant despite another strong showing by Zaytsev (12-10). Another master block from Italy gave Gianlorenzo Blengini's a confortable cushion as Zaytsev claimed two aces (25-19).
It was more of the same in the third set with Germany's mistakes preventing them from putting sufficient pressure on Italy's shoulders (8-6). Moritz Reichert and Simon Hirsch kept Germany's hopes alive but the Azzurri were simply too strong as Zaytsev spiked again (16-14). A gritty rally, however, saw the Germans claw back into the game (22-22)... Italy then uncharacteristically completely collapsed and made back to back errors to allow Germany to come back at 2-1 (25-23).
The come from behind win seemed to have woken up the Mannschaft as they raced to an early 5-2 lead which forced Italy's coach to call a time out. After the quick brea, Zaytsev's immediate response lead the way as the "Tsar" spiked to keep his teammates in the game (7-7). Germany had a chance to claw back but squandered it to let Italy leapfrong in front (11-8). Another Zaytsev spike was the beginning of the end for Germany who were not match for Italy's strong block despite a Lukas Kampa ace (16-11). A deft play and another strong performance from the block lifted Italy within grasp of victory as Germany made another unforced error (20-15). A final German mistake got the job done (25-20).