Italy's men's volleyball team beat Slovakia 3-1 at the European Championship on Saturday, but not before losing the second set 27-25 to a side ranked 44th in the world by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB).
The reigning world champions had opened their tournament strongly, beating Sweden 3-0 and then Greece by the same scoreline. Their opening match against Sweden, played at Piazza del Plebiscito in Naples, had been disrupted by lightning and heavy rain, forcing the court to be dried and then covered with waterproof sheeting.
Italy dominate the first set
Against Slovakia, Italy started as favourites and proved it in the first set, racing to an 8-3 lead before pulling away to win 25-17.
The second set told a different story. Slovakia improved their reception of Italy's serves and began finishing more of their attacks. Italy led 4-2 early, but Slovakia levelled at 5-5 and then moved ahead 9-7, prompting head coach Ferdinando De Giorgi to call a timeout to stop the run.
A dramatic finish and a long challenge
The timeout worked, and Italy drew level at 11-11. But Italy's block and serve, usually their strongest weapons, functioned poorly for the rest of the set. A run of points from Romano put Italy ahead 16-15, before both sides traded costly serving errors that left the score tied at 21-21. A failed attack from Romano then handed Slovakia a 22-21 lead.
Slovakia later made an error of their own, giving Italy their first set point at 24-23, which Italy defended successfully. At 25-24, confusion followed a Slovak attack in which the ball appeared to clip the block and the antenna. Officials initially ruled the point against Slovakia, but after a challenge review lasting several minutes, the point was awarded to Slovakia instead. Italy then failed to finish their next attack, and Slovakia punished the error in the ensuing rally to win the set 27-25.
Italy respond in the final two sets
Visibly frustrated by the loss of the set, Italy regrouped and overwhelmed Slovakia 25-10 in the third set. The fourth set was closer but still one-sided, with the world champions closing out the match 25-19.
The final result read Italy beat Slovakia 3-1, with set scores of 25-17, 25-27, 25-10 and 25-19.
