Italy and Slovenia to meet again after thrilling EuroVolley final

On Saturday, Italy and Slovenia will meet again for the first time since a nail-biting 2021 CEV European Championship final. Their Volleyball Nations League 2022 encounter in Quezon City will start at 19:00 local time (11:00 GMT) on Saturday.

· Watch all VNL 2022 matches live on Volleyball TV.

So far in the VNL, Slovenia have won three and lost three matches. In their last game on Thursday, they defeated Olympic bronze medallists Argentina in four sets to stand eighth in the current table on nine points. Italy had been on a four-game winning run until Friday, when they lost to Japan in five sets to stand sixth on a 4-2 win-loss record and 13 points.

Italy and Slovenia’s only previous VNL meeting occurred on May 29, 2021, when the Slovenians mastered a 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-15) shutout of the hosts in Rimini. In that match, opposite Ziga Stern was the team’s best attacker, while middle Jan Kozamernik was their leading blocker. Italian middle Gianluca Galassi was his side’s top scorer. All three of these players are on this week’s squads in the Philippines, and are likely to take part in Saturday’s match-up.

Slovenia finished the 2021 Preliminary Round in third place on a 12-3 win-loss record, advanced to the Finals and earned a fourth place in the final standings. Italy finished 10th with seven wins in 15 matches.

It was the first time the two teams met at a major world-level competition after Italy’s four-set victory at the 2018 FIVB Volleyball World Championship. They had also faced each other in a EuroVolley 2015 semifinal, when Slovenia celebrated a four-set win.

Italy and Slovenia crossed ways twice at September’s EuroVolley 2021. The Italians clearly dominated their opponents in the pool stage of the continental tournament, but the gold medal match in Poland offered a five-set thriller. Italy managed to come back from a set down twice in the match before winning by 3-2 (22-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-20, 15-11) to claim the European title. For Slovenia, it was the third EuroVolley final they lost in the last four editions of the competition.

There is an almost full overlap between Italy’s European Championship squad and the squad currently in Quezon City. As many as 12 of the 14 continental champs are available to take on Slovenia on Saturday. They include EuroVolley’s Most Valuable Player, setter and captain Simone Giannelli, and All-Star Team outside hitters Daniele Lavia and Alessandro Michieletto.

Slovenia are also relying on many of their EuroVolley heroes in the Philippines this week. Nine of their silver medallists are in Quezon City, led by outside and captain Tine Urnaut and playmaker Gregor Ropret, voted Best Setter of EuroVolley 2021. The Italians will also need to watch out for rising star Rok Mozic, the 20-year-old scoring machine, who has been Slovenia’s best point-maker in the VNL so far, with 94 points over six matches played.

Italy’s last match in the Philippines will be against China on Sunday. On the same day, Slovenia will face Japan. In the last week of the Preliminary Round, both teams will play in the pool in Gdansk.

Saturday’s schedule in Quezon City will open with a match between Argentina and the Netherlands, continue with an encounter between Japan and France and close with the game between Italy and Slovenia. The programme in Sofia also includes three fixtures – Canada v Iran, Poland v Australia and USA v Bulgaria.

Volleyball Nations League 2022: Schedule and results

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