Milan, Italy, October 11, 2014 – After the second semifinal of FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship Italy 2014 in Milan where China overpowered Italy with 3-1 win (25-21, 25-20, 20-25, 30-28), the two coaches and captains talked about their feelings.
Italy coach Marco Bonitta: I want to congratulate China because they played this evening the best match of the whole tournament. For the first two sets we did not have a strong serve, so I thought about changing some players. It was right because they gave the team new energy and it worked. I have to think about tomorrow because we have a chance to win a medal. I tried to make some changes, but at the end of the match there were a lot of mistakes from the service line and I had no more changes I could make. It's hard to imagine how the players will react because it was a tough match. At the end we said not to give up because tomorrow it's a different match and there's a chance to win a medal.
Italy captain Francesca Piccinini: I want to congratulate China because they played really well. They had amazing defence, but Italy was there today. We now think about tomorrow because we have a chance to win a medal against Brazil. Italy were very determined and everyone did their best to win but they played better than us.
China coach Lang Ping: The game was going to be difficult because there were a lot of fans. It was a great chance to get experience against an experienced Italian side. I told my players to learn about each other. We made sure we followed and didn't go with a second tempo. We didn't want to worry about errors, just kept our positive thinking.
China captain Ruoqi Hui: Thank you to all our supporters. We are very happy and it was amazing. I think Italy played well today but we had more passion and we paid attention to every ball. The fact we got the win is unbelievable. Maybe the Italians have more experience. The game was very hard. My muscle is tired but no more. We just think about this game. I think we can enjoy the gold medal match. We are all winners so we will just enjoy the game.