Italy are now set to face Türkiye in the tournament’s final, on Sunday, at 19:30 local time (12:30 GMT) - Brazil will meet Japan for third place four hours later. In the first semifinal, earlier on Saturday, the Europeans topped the Asians 3-1 (16-25, 25-17, 25-18, 27-25).
Undefeated since May 2024, the Italians will have the rare opportunity of standing out as the reigning Olympic, Volleyball Nations League and world champions at the same time. The Europeans are guaranteed their fourth medal at the World Championship, having won gold in 2002, silver in 2018 and bronze in 2022.
Subersub Ekaterina Antropova was huge for Italy, coming off the bench during the first set to replace star opposite Paola Egonu and delivering a team-high 28-point performance, with 20 kills, six blocks and two aces.
“We feel great,” Antropova said. “I’m very happy that we could pull it out at the end. It was an incredible match, fun to watch and to play. It was so hard and just as we expected. I’m proud of the team. We didn’t always show our best game, but still managed to stay there. Brazil did an incredible job, and we could tell they were pouring their hearts into the court. Now we need to recover as fast as we can, because we have another final to play.”
