Italy ace 13 times to beat Brazil

The third competition week in the men’s Volleyball Nations League 2023 got underway with Italy’s victory over Brazil in a Pool 6 game in Pasay City on Tuesday. With this success, the reigning world and European champions rose to fifth place in the current standings on a 6-3 win-loss record and 18 points. Also on 6-3, but with 19 points, Brazil are in third place.

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While the South Americans outspiked the Europeans with 59 attacking points against 50, the Italian team dominated on all other counts and especially in serving with as many as 13 aces against three. Opposite Yuri Romano led the pack with four aces towards a match-high 20 points, followed by outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto with 17 points (three aces), while middle Gianluca Galassi impressed with four kill blocks towards a 12-point tally. Outside Henrique Honorato was Brazil’s best scorer with 15 points.

The first set was really tight and the only things that made the difference statistically were one kill block and one opponent error in favour of Brazil. The only time the gap exceeded two points was at 20-17 Brazil’s way, but the score was level again at 21-21. Finally, Henrique Honorato converted his team’s second set point with a block-out shot for 25-23. Brazil showed some great spiking in the second set, but also committed way too many unforced errors, which prevented them from holding on to the 4-0 early lead. Capitalizing on the opponents’ mistakes and with Alessandro Michieletto leading the attack, Italy turned it around to a 25-20 close on Michieletto’s block-out hit for the winning point.

In the third set, Brazil held up through 6-6, after which Italy’s aggressive serving and excellent blocking turned it into a completely one-sided affair, 25-15. After a tight battle through 19-19 in the fourth, Italy scored three in a row to break away for good. Yuri Romano was on fire, leading the team with eight points, and finally outside Daniele Lavia hammered the 25-21 match winner with an ace.

“I’m very happy! We played a very good match tonight, a very difficult match, and the victory is very important for us,” said Michieletto after the game. “We are playing a very important tournament at a very good level and I hope that we progress.”

Brazil’s next match will be against the Netherlands on Thursday at 11:00 local time (03:00 UTC). After that, Italy will take on Canada at 15:00 (07:00).

Later on Tuesday, Japan will meet China in Pasay City at 19:00 local time (11:00 UTC). The day’s programme also includes two Pool 5 games in Anaheim, between Argentina and Serbia at 13:00 local time (20:00 UTC) and between Iran and France at 16:30 (23:30).

**Volleyball Nations League 2023: full schedule and results**

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