Italy advanced to the semi-finals of Olympic men’s volleyball by overcoming a mid-match wobble to defeat upset-minded Poland in five sets on Wednesday.
Up 2-1, Italy failed to convert on several match points in game four and Poland tied the tense affair with a 28-26 win. Italy pulled out a 17-15 triumph in a dramatic tie-breaker.
Both teams engaged in a war of words and Italy felt the episode let Poland back into the match.
“If we were playing without speaking, we would have won 3-0, but they started to fight with words under the net and for us, some players got nervous,” said Italian setter Valerio Vermiglio.
“We wanted to fight, fight, fight and not to play volleyball. The coach told us to only play volleyball, and at the end we changed things.”
Italy, who won 25-19 25-22 18-25 26-28 17-15, are likely to face Olympic champions Brazil in the semi-finals. Home town underdogs China meet Brazil later on Wednesday.
Earlier, Russia had trouble waking up but the 2004 bronze medalists beat Bulgaria 4-1 after an eye-opening first-set loss.
“I think it was such an early start of the match, it’s impossible to play good volleyball at 10 o’clock in the morning,” Russian player Alexey Verbov said following the victory.
“After the first set it was better, both teams started to play better. I think we woke up.”
The Russians will have to stay awake in the semi-finals where they will face the winner of the United States-Serbia game later on Wednesday.
from: reuters.com
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