Italy sweep Ukraine and take the last spot in the Round of 16

Italy's title defense at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship continues after the Europeans finished pool play strong and claimed the last spot in the tournament's Round of 16 on Thursday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

After getting a win and a loss in their first Pool F matches in the Philippines, the defending champions needed to overcome Ukraine to progress to the elimination rounds and delivered arguably their best performance in the tournament to do it, triumphing 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-18).

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With the victory, the Italians got to seven points (two wins, one loss) in the pool standings, finishing second behind Belgium, which concluded their undefeated campaign with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-12) victory against Algeria earlier on Thursday to get to eight points. Italians and Belgians will both compete in the tournament's Round of 16.

Alessandro Michieletto was Italy's top scorer in the match with 13 points (12 kills, one block), two more than fellow outside hitter Mattia Bottolo and opposite Yuri Romanò.

"We knew this match was very important for us," Romanò reflected. "We played very well from the start and stayed together in the difficult moments. Now, we want to continue like this. The teams here are very leveled, so we need to play well in every match and be aware that difficult moments will come and be ready for them."

Ukrainian captain and middle blocker Yurii Semeniuk topped all scorers with 14 points (11 kills, three blocks). Outside hitter Illia Kovalov added 12, all in kills.

"We had an amazing summer," outside hitter Tymofii Poluian said. "We played very well in the Volleyball Nations League, and that raised our expectations for the World Championship. Unfortunately, we didn't get the results we wanted here, but we learned a lot. These matches showed where we need to improve, and we'll work on those things to come back stronger next year."

Ukraine's higher number of errors (24 to 13) complicated their task on Thursday, as there was not much difference between the teams in the other statistical categories, with Italy leading in blocks (six to three) and aces (four to three), but trailing in kills (41 to 42).

2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship: Match Schedule & Results

Argentina will be Italy's next opponents in the Philippines in the Round of 16. Belgium, on the other hand, will play Finland. Both matches will be held on Sunday.

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