Italian volleyball players won the European Championship after 16 years. In Katowice, they defeated the Slovenes in a five-hundredth battle and are celebrating their seventh gold overall. The young Italian team did not lose a single match at the championship, they also masterfully went through the Ostrava basic group, in which they also lost the Czech national team (3: 1) and also their current opponents. Then 3: 0, today 3: 2. Two weeks after the women’s national team, Italy celebrates the golden volleyball double.
The Slovenians have already played the third final in the last four Euros, but again they only had to settle for silver. They led 1: 0 and 2: 1 over sets over Italy, but lost the decisive shortened set 11:15. Their journey for second place began with an unexpected defeat in the Ostravar Arena with the Czechs. They finished eighth in the tournament.
The Slovenians started the final battle better, their service and income were successful, and although the Italians reduced the seven-point loss to a minimum, they could no longer do so. However, the card soon turned around, the young Italian team got into the pace and destroyed the opponent’s confidence. The end of the third set was taken over by the Slovenian universal Tončen Štern, who decided on it and approached the Slovenian team to the desired title. His teammates, the blockers, who often found loopholes in the Italian defense, also did well.
However, coach Ferdinando de Giorgi had a lucky hand after another change of sides and stopped the onslaught of Slovenian volleyball players by replacing the universal Roman for Pinali. They still started the decisive act with a three-point line, but the second half of the tie-break belonged to the Italians under the leadership of only nineteen-year-old smoker Michieletto and recorder Giannelli.
–
Bronze medals were won by volleyball players from Poland. After the semi-final defeat with Slovenia, the reigning two-time world champions got a taste and defeated the 2019 champion Serbia 1-0 in front of the home crowd in Katowice.