Ankara,
Turkey, September 1, 2013 – Italy triumphed with the bronze medals from the
FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship in Turkey. The European champions won
the third place classification match against France after a dramatic ending
that shaped up the final 3-1 (25-21, 25-16, 20-25, 28-26).
Italy
managed to come from behind in the first set and win it by 25-21. They completely dominated in the second set
and doubled their advantage after a convincing 25-16. However, the Italians lost some of their
concentration in the third set, but still attacked successfully. France showed some great blocking
to take the edge. They were the better
team in the conclusive moments of the set to win it by 25-20. In set four France were cruising towards a
tie-breaker as they had a six-point advantage at 21-15. However, they could not hold on to it and
their opponents managed to catch up and level the score. France were ahead again at 24-23, but could
not capitalise on three set points before an ace by Edoardo Picco and a
successful block by Enrico Diamantini gave Italy the two break points they
needed to win the set by 28-26 and the match by 3-1.
Italy’s
Luca Borgogno and France’s
Julien Winkelmuller emerged as the best scorers of the match with 15 points
each. Substitute Gabrielle Nelli
contributed another 14 points to his team’s victory.
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