Italy was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Under 19 World Cup of men’s volleyball. The blues were defeated by Bulgaria 3-2 (25-27; 27-25; 21-25; 31-29; 18-16) and greet the competition before entering the medal area. A sad ending for our national team, holder of the world championship title, which had dominated the first five matches played in Teheran (Iran) and which seemed to have all the credentials to get to the end of the competition.
The boys of coach Vittorio Fanizza had taken the strength to 2-1, but in the fourth set they were unable to achieve four match-points (not consecutive) and also wasted a chance at 15-14 in the tie-break. The sextet will have to be content with playing for fifth place, but the feeling is that the victory was really close at hand and that they could aim for the semifinal against the winner of Brazil-Russia.
The exceptional performance of the hitter Luca Porro (33 points) and the 20 seals of the opposite Alessandro Bovolenta (son of Vigor) were not enough to drag Italy to victory. Director Mattia Boninfante (Dante’s son) sent the second hammer in double digits as well Mattia Orioli (12 points) and the central Filippo Bartolucci (10) flanked in the role by Cosimo Balestra (9), Gabriele Laurenzano the free. Bulgaria was taken by the hand by Aleksandar Nikolov (28 points) and Antov Venislav (20).
Photo: FIVB
