Poland and Italy hammered out straight-set victories on the first competition day of the FIVB Volleyball U20 Women’s World Championship. In Kortrijk on Friday, they shut out their Pool D opponents, Belarus and Egypt, respectively.
Women u20 2021
Poland and Italy perfect on opening day in Kortrijk
Two shutouts mark the first leg in Pool D of the U20 World Champs
Published 08:16, 09 Jul 2021
Poland achieved an emphatic 3-0 (25-14, 25-19, 25-17) victory over Belarus in the opening match in Kortrijk. Their outside hitter Martyna Czyrnianska scored the match high of 20 points, including the winning point, which she put away with a back-row hit.
“We did great, especially in service and attack. Our reach in attack is higher, so we had many options to score points,” said Poland’s outside hitter Julita Piasecka, the second best scorer of the game on 15 points. Indeed her team tallied 47 successful spikes and six aces, against only 24 and two, respectively on the Belarusian side.
In a clearly one-sided game, pre-favourites Italy lived up to the expectations and snatched a solid 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-15) win over Egypt. The European side scored as many as 42 successful spikes and 11 kill blocks, against 23 and three, respectively, for Egypt.
Opposite Giorgia Frosini contributed 14 points to Italy’s victory to top the scorers chart of the match. Her teammate, middle blocker Emma Graziani, impressed with six stuffs towards a match total of 11 points. She produced a particularly spectacular ending to the first set, hammering the overpass for the winning point.
“Today our passing was really good and we were very strong in offence. Egypt started really strong and they were a tough opponent. We need to bring our serve to a higher level,” said Italy’s setter and captain Gaia Guiducci.
