Flawless Italy defeat Poland as men’s quarterfinal matchups are set in Paris

Italy’s four-set victory over Poland on Saturday, in the second-to-last pool play match of the men’s volleyball tournament of the Paris 2024 Olympics, shaped up the quarterfinal duels of the event, which will reunite the top eight teams in the preliminary phase.

With first place in Pool B in play, the world champions had another solid performance in Paris, dominating the top team in the FIVB World Ranking for most of the match to celebrate an important 3-1 (25-15, 25-18, 24-26, 25-20) victory at the South Paris Arena 1.

The only team to get to nine points in the pool phase, Italy were the best among the three pool winners in Paris and will now face Japan, who emerged as the third-best team in Pool C, with four points.

"Winning our pool and ranking first gives us a lot of confidence, but a new tournament starts now," said Italian outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto. "Every match now is win or go home, but I believe we're ready. Japan are an incredible team, just like every other one in the quarterfinals. We lost to them a couple of times recently and we know it's going to be tough, but we can also play at high level and have been doing it here."

Also undefeated, but with eight points collected, the United States finished at the top in Pool C ahead of the quarterfinals. Their opponents in the first stage of the elimination rounds will be Brazil, who progressed as the third-placed team in Pool B with four points.

Paris 2024 - Preliminary Phase Combined Ranking

Pool A winners Slovenia showed strength in the opening stage of their first-ever Olympic appearance, winning all their three Pool A matches to move forward with eight points secured. In the quarterfinals, they will meet Poland, who were second in Pool B, with five points.

"At this point of the Olympics, I don't think there's a difference between the eight teams that are left," Polish libero Paweł Zatorski said. "All eight teams are pretty strong and whoever we got was going to be very tough. We are a experienced team with quality players and we need to use that to our advantage and keep things simple and play our game."

The fourth and last quarterfinal matchup will reunite defending champions France, who advanced in second place in Pool A after they obtained six points with two wins and a loss, and Germany, who had the exact same campaign in Pool C, where they were also second.

Paris 2024 – Match Schedule and Results

All four quarterfinal matches will be held on Monday at the South Paris Arena 1, starting at 9:00 local time (7:00 GMT), 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT), 17:00 local time (15:00 GMT) and 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT).

Romanò leads Italian victory

Opposite Yuri Romanò was a key piece in the Italian victory as the high-flying, left-handed player led the team's offense, leaving the court with 20 points (15 kills, four aces, one block). Outside hitters Michieletto and Daniele Lavia also had strong performances, with 17 and 12 points, respectively.

"It was a great performance for us," Romanò reacted. "Poland are always tough opponents, but we did a very good job from start to finish. We stayed present in the game and were always ready to push and take advantage when they had difficult moments. We have confidence in our team and we know that when we have fun we can play like we did today."

Poland had opposite and team captain Bartosz Kurek as their main scoring option - the veteran produced 14 points, with 12 kills and two aces. Outside hitters Kamil Semeniuk (ten), who came off the bench, and Wilfredo Leon (nine) and middle blocker Norbert Huber (ten) also delivered strong production.

"We managed to approach the third set in a different way, limiting our errors, and that made us play better," Leon commented. "Unfortunately we couldn't keep it for the fourth set and that's why we lost. We needed more focus in the rallies. We were already qualified and this match didn't make much of an impact for us going forward, so we'll just make sure we're ready for the quarterfinals. Every point will matter, so we'll need to be at our best from the first to the last one."

The Italians were better in every statistical category, beating the Polish in kills (49 to 43), blocks (13 to seven) and aces (six to five), while also getting more points from errors (31 to 24).

The result has brought the two teams closer in the World Rankings after as many as 13.97 points went from the losers to the winners. Poland continue in first place with 409.55, but now see Italy, who moved up from third to second, a little bit closer with 369.06.

Pool play will be completed on Saturday, when Canada and Serbia meet at 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT), for third place in Pool A. Neither team can, however, advance to the quarterfinals.

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