WL2017/ Iran lost the debut match in straight

Italy started off their 2017 FIVB Volleyball World League campaign with a straight-set home win against Iran. The crowd in Pesaro was pleased to see the home heroes master a 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-22) shutout.

Since 2013, Italy and Iran have met nine times in the World League and this was the sixth win for the European side.

Italy opened the match with a positive attitude and took a 6-2 lead. The very strong serving allowed Italy to maintain a good margin throughout the first set. Despite Iran’s attempt to come back into the match, Italy showed no fear and closed the set at 25-22 with an extraordinary ace by Luca Vettori.

Iran started the second set very well (9-5), but Italy immediately tied it up and even went 11-9 ahead. In the blink of an eye, with Simone Giannelli’s monster blocks and with Filippo Lanza’s great spikes, the Azzurri managed to close the second set at 25-23.

There was a stable balance throughout the third set and the teams swapped points up to 20-20. Milad Ebadipour’s ace brought Iran up for a moment, but with Simone Buti’s ace Italy tied it up again. It was a point-for-point battle, but the Azzurri finally managed to achieve a 25-22 win and hammer out a straight-set victory.