21-Nov, start time: 18:05, end time: 19:21 - Attendance: 4,300

ITA	3	25	26	25	-	-	76
FRA	0	22	24	20	-	-	66

Match Description:

Italy Back to Winning Ways
European champions Italy got their World Cup campaign back on track when they inflicted a third defeat on France with a 3-1 victory in the final Site B match in Hamamatsu.

Italy bounced back from their earlier loss to Brazil by posting their fourth win in five games, resisting a French fight-back in the second set before emerging 25-22, 26-24, 25-20 winners.

Both teams' offenses enjoyed the upper hand at the start of the opening set, before a block from Luca Tencati and an ace from Luigi Mastrangelo gave the Italians an 11-8 lead. A block and spike from MIP Samuele Papi and some powerful hitting from Andrea Sartoretti enabled the Italians to extend this lead to five points, and although France closed it to 23-22 they were unable to save the set.

The serving of Philippe Barca-Cysique and Loic De Kergret appeared to give France the edge in the second set, and although they trailed 8-11 they fought back to lead 20-15 with a pair of Barca-Cysique aces. But Sartoretti produced a superb passage of powerful spiking as Italy saved one set point before going two games up with a Sartoretti block.

The third set produced a number of spectacular rallies as French coach Philippe Blain looked to Jean-Charles Monneraye and Marc Schalk to change his team's fortunes. But Mastrangelo and Matej Cernic had other ideas. Cernic was especially influential with his spiking from the sides while Mastrangelo patrolled the net and secured a number of points at crucial moments.

Comments:

"Before this match both teams knew how important the result would be. If France lost it would be their third defeat and if we lost our second, which would then make it very hard for both of us to make the top three and get an Olympic spot. Because of this we started with the same tension as in the game against Brazil. But then we relaxed. I was very happy with the way we responded in the second set and the options we took."
GIANPAOLO MONTALI
Head coach, Italy

"It was an important win for us. After losing against Brazil the first set was always going to be the key for us today. We had to make a good start, which we did so I am very happy."
ANDREA SARTORETTI
Italy

"Italy played very well today. Unfortunately when we were three points ahead late in the second set we were not able to take advantage. We also had problems with our blocking at the sides. When this happens it is very hard to win a match."
PHILIPPE BLAIN
Head coach, France

"We made too many mistakes today to win the match. Italy made less errors than we did. We did not pass or set the ball very well. We tried to improve our communication but did not manage to."
JEAN-CHARLES MONNERAYE
France

Official Result:

Match statistics (P-2) - PDF