Italy hand Japan first defeat

Italy put an end to Japan’s amazing winning streak of 10 victories in Volleyball Nations League 2023. In a Pool 6 game in Pasay City on Saturday, the reigning world champions managed a hard-fought win over the table leaders to rise to second place in the current standings on a 9-3 win-loss record and 26 points. Japan are still top of the table on 11-1 and 27.

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Italy raised as many as 13 kill blocks to stop Yuki Ishikawa and his teammates on the way to an 11^th win. Five of those were credited to middle blocker Gianluca Galassi. Opposite Yuri Romano led the team with three kill blocks and three aces towards a match high of 22 points, followed by outside hitter Daniele Lavia with 18 points (2 blocks, 1 ace).  Captain Ishikawa was Japan’s best scorer with 21 points (3 blocks, 1 ace). Opposite Yuji Nishida added another 20 (3 aces, 1 block).

Inspired by the incredible atmosphere on the stands, Italy and Japan put up a spectacular battle throughout the first set, when the gap hardly ever exceeded a point. Italy were the first to reach set point, but Japan turned it around to push it deep into overtime. The Europeans denied three Japanese opportunities to close the set before an ace by Yuri Romano and a monster block by Daniele Lavia brought in the two consecutive break points needed for a 29-27 close. Helped by three aces from Yuji Nishida, Japan were well in control for most of the second set to reach set point at 24-21. After Italy sided out on setter Simone Giannelli’s kill on two, their 21-year-old sub-in outside Tommaso Rinaldi nailed three consecutive spikes to turn the score around and push the set to overtime again. The Asians saved the first two Italian set points, but on the third, Rinaldi again closed it off at 28-26.

Italy had control over the scoreboard during the first half of the third set, opening a gap as wide as four points at 11-7. Spearheaded by outside Tatsunori Otsuka, Japan came back and took their turn in the lead, piling up a three-point advantage at 22-19 before reaching set point at 24-22. On their second opportunity to close the set, Yuki Ishikawa did so with a block-out shot for 25-23. Leading through most of the fourth set, Japan seemed to be zooming in on a fifth-set decider. After 19-16, however, Italy went on a six-point run, crowned by a Romano ace and highlighted by three Gianluca Galassi monster blocks, to step in front. After another three points in row, the last two of which also came from Galassi monster blocks, the Europeans celebrated the victory at 25-20.

“I am very happy for this win, because Japan played very well. It’s not so easy to play against a team like Japan, but we are the first team to win against them and we are very happy,” said Roberto Russo after the game. “It is very important that we did not lose focus during the match and that the entire team contributed. That’s why we can play at this level.”

While Italy are now done with their Preliminary Phase matches, awaiting their quarterfinal opponents, Japan have one more game to play in Pasay City. On Sunday, they will take on Finals hosts Poland at 19:00 local time (11:00 UTC).

In fact, Italy booked their spot at the Finals on Friday, when they mastered a shutout of already qualified Slovenia. Yuri Romano led the team on a 16-point match high, including three aces and two kill blocks. The Italians put up quite a blocking performance, with Daniele Lavia and Roberto Russo excelling with five and four stuffs, respectively. With this loss, Slovenia went down to seventh in the standings on a 7-4 win-loss record and 22 points.

Also on Friday, Japan claimed their 10^th consecutive victory since the start of the competition, over the Netherlands, with captain Yuki Ishikawa leading the way with 17 points, including two kill blocks and an ace. Wouter Ter Maat produced a match-high 21 points for the Dutch, who are still hanging by the edge of the red line for the Finals, in eighth place on 5-6 and 22 points, with two teams, France (5-5 and 15) and Serbia (5-6 and 13), still with a shot at overtaking them on the way to Gdansk.

Two straight-setters were played earlier on Saturday. First, Brazil ran over China with a shutout to finish the Preliminary Phase on 8-4 and 25, currently standing fifth. Felipe Roque put away four kill blocks and an ace towards a 17-point match high. Then, Poland hammered out a victory over Canada and now stand third on 9-2 and 22 points. Canada’s Samuel Cooper scored a match-high 19 points, including three aces and a block, while Norbert Huber and Kamil Semeniuk led Poland with 11 points apiece.

Canada are 14^th and China are 16^th in the table, with Cuba sandwiched in between. Each of the three challenger teams is on a 2-9 win-loss record and six points and they are separated on set ratios. As China and Canada go into a head-to-head collision on Sunday, the winner of that match will be saved from relegation. Whether the loser or Cuba finish last and go to defend their spot in VNL 2024 at the Volleyball Challenger Cup later this month will also depend on the outcome of Cuba’s last Pool 5 match against Iran in Anaheim.

Saturday’s VNL action continues in Anaheim with a southern European derby between Bulgaria and Serbia at 13:30 local time (20:30 UTC). Then Argentina and Iran will meet at 17:00 (midnight UTC), before hosts USA and France close the competition day facing each other at 20:30 (03:30 on Sunday).

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

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