European champion Italy rallied from 2-1 down to beat Serbia 3-2
in Osaka on Tuesday for its fourth straight win at the 2007 women's
volleyball World Cup.
Simona Gioli and Taimary Aguero scored 17 points each to lead
the Italians to the 23-25, 25-14, 16-25, 25-17 and 15-7 victory in
a repeat of last month's European Championships final, where Italy
won in straight sets.
"We are happy to win, but it's still too early to talk about the
chance to win the title or to qualify for the Olympics," said
Gioli, who had 11 kills and six blocks in the match that lasted for
94 minutes.
"We did not play very well, we made too many errors," she added.
"I think we can play much better in the next games."
Italy conceded 27 points through errors, but also reaped 36
thanks to mistakes of Serbia, who suffered its first defeat in four
matches.
"We prepared quite well for this match, but our players had good
points and bad points," said Serbia head coach Zoran Terzic. "It
was difficult to keep them in consistent form, and eventually we
lost the game."
It was fiercely contested in the first set where Serbia broke
the deadlock at 19-all with four unanswered points to go up at
23-19. Francesca Piccinini drove a ball out of bounds and Antonella
Del Core smashed home to help Italy pull within 24-23, only to see
a serving error of Jenny Barazza award the opener to Serbia.
In the second set, Italy got a flying start, racing to a 4-0
lead. After Serbia cut it to 7-6, Italy surged away again with a
14-3 burst and never looked back.
The Italians could not maintain the momentum in the third set,
but recovered to clinch the fourth with a set-ending 9-0 run. In
the tie break, Italy met no serious challenge.
"We did not play very well, but winning 11 games perfectly will
not be easy," said Italy coach Massimo Barbolini. "I am happy with
the result, and it's important to try to win more to get a good
ranking before the fourth phase of the tournament."
In Sendai, the United States swept Kenya 25-9, 25-20, 25-10 to
improve its win-loss record to 4-0.
"We started out strong, but in the second set Kenya played great
volleyball with some very good blocking and defensive play," said
US head coach Lang Ping.
"Winning is important, but we also need to improve our skills.
We still have seven matches to go and the way is still pretty
difficult and there will be a lot of tough matches waiting for us.
We need to be patient and take each one as it comes."
The United States will face Brazil on Wednesday.
"I think Brazil is a team with no weaknesses. All the skills are
there and they play very well," said Lang. "So, we have to play
perfectly as well to have a chance."
"It will be a tough match and we haven't beaten them for three
years, so it's a big challenge for us," she added.
(Xinhua News Agency November 6, 2007)