Italy beat Serbia 3-2 in Bologna and consolidate their second place in group 1
Bologna, Italy, June 7, 2015 – It’s payback time for Italy at the PalaDozza Arena as the Azzurri beat Serbia 3-2 (25-14, 18-25, 19-25, 25-20, 15-12) in a very entertaining match. Italy thereby consolidate their second place in 2015 FIVB Volleyball World League group 1, kicking back the Serbians to a four-point trail.
Dragan Stankovic, Serbia captain: "The first set was really disappointing, it reminded me of our second match against Brazil… Then we managed to play very well for two consecutive sets. We had our chance to close it in the fourth, but we lacked attention in the key moments."
Nikola Grbic, Serbia coach: "Obviously I’m not happy about the defeat, but I really cannot complain about how my team played: we had physical problems and we tried to overcome them. If only we had kept Italy under pressure with the serve in the fourth set, we would have gone home with a win tonight."
Dragan Travica, Italy captain: "It was important for me to win the first home match as the captain, but winning a tie break was the most important thing tonight: we are a young group with a lot to learn from each other, and tonight was a big step forward."
Mauro Berruto, Italy coach: "Block and serve were the keys tonight: first we were good, then bad, then good again. The serve, in particular, is one of the keys for our growth: almost 50 mistakes in two matches are far too many, but more important than how many mistakes you make is when you make them, and in the tie break we were really good."