MATCH INFO

Sapporo, Japan, November 13, 2011 - Press Conference, Italy v Serbia: Italy finished out third round play in Sapporo with an impressive win against a strong Serbia team that gave them trouble early. Italian captain Eleonora Lo Bianco knows that her team is fortunate to walk away victorious against the European champs.

Italy captain Eleonora Lo Bianco: I’m very happy and satisfied because we know Serbia is strong even if they are young, they are very strong. They started well, but I think we won the game in the first set. I think they were playing very well and we tried to block and defend. and we go point by point and we tried to push to get the set.

On Lucia Bosetti: We played many times with Bosetti at opposite, so we know how to play in this way. I think Lucia can receive well so we can change and cover some opposing players with Lucia.

Italy player Antonella Del Core: I’m very satisfied with today’s victory. At the beginning we didn’t play well, but we concentrated and managed to catch them and won. I’m happy with our consecutive wins.

On Lucia Bosetti: She helped us a lot on defence and did well on attacking. Serena [Ortolani] is absent now, but Lucia is working very well.

Italy coach Massimo Barbolini: I think that we deserve to arrive in this situation. I think we played a difficult match because the Serbian team — despite not having all their players — played very well.

At the end here we won a very important match. And regarding the next round, its very important because we can try to arrive in top three teams. We play Germany and team USA, so I think we have to try to play as well as we can; as we have until now.

On poor showing in World Grand Prix finals in Macau: It’s not normal that a team can stay at the same level for the whole season. We have made a choice to be in a good position for the European Championships and now I think we have arrived at the main point for this year. In Macau we didn’t play well, and the [plan] was to set ourselves up well in European Championships. The European Championships, the World Cup is better.

On the points system: I think that this is the points system we have, so we are to play with this. The only problem is teams that have lost more matches than the other teams can win. So I don’t know if it’s really normal in a long tournament to see a team that has lost one match more end up winning.

On Carolina del Pilar Costagrande’s play in the tournament: Usually I don’t like to speak about only one player because our team… sometimes we have one player contributing, sometimes another. But I think she has been playing well for whole tournament on a team with other strong players. Sometimes one player is on top, sometimes another. As I mentioned before its common for us to have many players in double digits, so this is the main point.

Serbia captain Jovana Brakocevic: First I want to congratulate the Italian team, as well as my own team for a good match today. Italy played well today we didn’t have any solution. We’re tired and had problems concentrating and being consistent. We now have the final round, and I hope we can win all three matches, and finish this World Cup with a smile.

On her hand, and sitting in the third: I’m practicing almost normal and today i had a chance to play two sets and I think that was more than fine for my hand. Everything was normal. I didn’t have pain. I’m really happy with how things are going.

Serbia coach Zoran Terzic: I would like to congratulate the Italian team and my good friend Massimo [Barbolini]. They played well today and in whole tournament. In this kind of situation it was almost impossible for us to win without key players. We tried hard and we had one good game here, and we will try to finish — as Jovana says — with a smile we. We have three games we will try to win them all. And I hope we can finish in the top five.

On the points system: Definitely I don’t like this kind of system. Like Massimo [Barbolini] said, you can win all games in the competition and stay in second or third position. In volleyball you play for victory, not for one or two sets. So in my opinion this is not a good points system.