Merciless Italy shuts out China in Hong Kong

Rome: The big women’s Volleyball Nations League match of the day in Hong Kong was resolved in just three sets. Although hosts China managed to push defending titleholders Italy to overtime in one of the sets, the reigning Olympic champions mercilessly disappointed the home crowd with a speedy sweep. They remained undefeated in eight matches played, now holding 22 points on top of the current VNL standings. China are in sixth place on a 5-3 win-loss record and 15 points.

Riding the momentum of an epic second set win, Italy was in complete control of the third set to cruise to a 3-0 (25-21, 32-30, 25-11) shutout of China, with a monster block by middle blocker Sarah Fahr for the match winner setting off the victory celebrations. In that nail-biting epilog of set two, China denied four Italian set points and then wasted three of their own, before a three-point run by the Europeans, crowned by Alice Degradi’s two back-to-back kills for the win, put an end to the drama.

Italy’s star opposite Paola Egonu was in her usual top scorer role as she contributed a match-high 21 points towards the victory. She spiked 19 points at a 51% success rate and put up two kill blocks. Outside hitter Degradi chipped in with 14 points, all in offense at a 56% success rate. Her 21-year-old cross-court teammate Stella Nervini signed off with 12 points, including an ace.

“I think the secret is hard work and teamwork. We practice a lot together to avoid the little mistakes, to make everything as perfect as possible. And for now, it’s working, so we are going to keep practicing to get better and better every day,” Italy’s middle blocker Linda Nwakalor told VBTV after the match. “We were focused on the match, on what we had to do, and that got us to the win. We are really happy about what we have done until now and we’re going to keep going like this.”

In the absence of Wu Mengjie, who sustained an injury while scoring the winning point against Japan on Saturday, China were led by 19-year-old outside Dong Yuhan, who put away 19 points, including one ace and one block. The other outside, 21-year-old Tang Xin, also reached the double digits with 10 points to her name.

“The matches here in Hong Kong challenged us so much! I will be looking forward to have a good performance in the next matches,” said Dong. “I think our team will have a bright future and we will follow the high sporting spirit.”

Korea and the Dominican Republic are currently playing a fifth set in Istanbul, while the game between France and USA has started in Belgrade. The last day of the women’s VNL competition week will continue with Turkiye and Brazil locking horns in the day’s highlight in Istanbul, serving off at 19:30 local time (16:30 UTC). Serbia v Poland is the last fixture scheduled in Belgrade.