Francesca Piccinini swinging for one of her 12 points
Rome, Italy, September 24, 2014 - Italy won 3-0 (26-24, 25-15, 25-11) over Croatia on Wednesday in Pool A of the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship Italy 2014 to improve to 2-0 while Croatia fall to 1-1.
Key Facts- In the third set, Croatian coach called his two timeouts after only seven total points.- Italy won the match in just over an hour.- Italian block with Cristina Chirichiella and Valentina Diouf was fundamental to win this match. Eight block in two.
Best spiker of the match was Italian Captain Francesca Piccinini with 9 attack points and a team-high 12 overall points. Costagrande added 11 points in the victory. Best blocker for Italy was Cristina Chirichiella with five successful blocks, Croatia captain Maja Poljak had six blocks as part of team-high 10 points.
Italy won the first set 26-24. At the start of the match there was the home team to the service with Jogunica Senna Usic. The first point is for Italy thanks to a spike of the Italian captain Francesca Piccinini. An ace by Piccinini and Italy went up 3-1 ahead. The start was very close and both teams played point for point, but Italy arrived at the first technical timeout leading 8-6 ahead. A wonderful spike of Valentina Arrighetti by the score 10-7 ahead. Vercesi called the first timeout by the score of 17-12 under. A display of good attacks allowed Croatia to level the Italian margin of advantage and Italian coach Bonitta called his first time out at 14-12. At the mid set Croatia got the draw by the score of 15-15. At the score of 16-16 went in on the court Valentina Diouf for Eleonora Lo Bianco and Noemi Signorile for Nadia Centoni. Italian coach called the second timeout trailing 20-16. An ace of Carolina Costagrande on the score 20-17 under. Vercesi called the second time out when the score was 20-19 for Croatia. Match continued very close and Italy got the draw by the score of 21-21. The host team won the first set thanks an ace of Italian Captain Francesca Piccinini.
The second set started as the initial set, with both teams fighting point to point. Italy tried to break away going up 6-4. Italy maintained a high pace and when the first technical timeout arrived the score was 8-5. Italy seemed more focus of the initial set, but the home team was a strong opponent. A wonderful block of Cristina Chirichiella and the host team went up 11-6. Vercesi called the first time out by the score of 11-6 under. Croatian coach changed Bernarda Brcic for Sanja Popovic and Samanta Fabris for Ana Grbac. Croatia did a foul of training by the score of 12-8. Italy created a good margin going up 16-11 and the home team seemed could not stand the pace of their opponents. Italian block was impossible nut to crack. At 18-12 for Italy went in on the court Nadia Centoni for Eleonora Lo Bianco. On 20-13 ahead, Bonitta changed a great Valentina Diouf for Noemi Signorile. Croatian substitutions didn’t change the score and Italy won also this set thanks to an error on game-building of opponents.
Vercesi called timeout trailing 4-1 and after a short time he called the second timeout. Croatia tried to build something, but it wasn’t successful to stand the pace of their opponents. Italian block played in a wonderful way, it was impossible to ease past. There wasn’t the comeback of the home team, Italy managed the match very easily. A wonderful pipe of Italian captain Francesca Piccinini by the score of 17-9 ahead. At 19-10 went in on the court Nadia Centoni for Eleonora Lo Bianco. With three consecutives spikes of Nadia Centoni Italy went up 22-11. Italy won this set 25-11 thanks to the block of his captain Fancesca Piccinini. Italian block was fundamental to win this set and the match.