Italy rose from two sets down on the way to the win that catapulted them to the Olympic Games Paris 2024 men’s volleyball semifinals.
Yuki Ishikawa picked Roberto Russo and Yuri Romano’s defense apart and scored back-to-back off-the-block shots in a swashbuckling deciding set in the Olympic Games Paris 2024 men’s volleyball quartefinals on Monday, August 5 (Philippine time).
But the third time the Japanese star soared high for another highly-charged spike, Russo made sure it was not going through.
Russo then exploited a moment of confusion from the Japanese blockers, squeezed in a quick hit, and Italy hacked out a sensational 20-25, 23-25, 27-25, 26-24, 17-15 comeback win at the South Paris Arena 1 in the French capital.
Russo finished with a game-high five blocks for 10 points, as Italy arranged a semifinal clash against either France or Germany.
While Russo was Italy's star at the end, it was the 22-year-old Alessandro Michieletto who topscored for the Italians with 24 points, including the tough crosscourt kill that gave them a 13-12 advantage in the thriller of a fifth set.
Daniele Lavia and Romano added 19 points apiece for the Italians, who were on the brink of loss in the third set after surrendering the first two frames to their Asian foes.
Fortunately for Italy, everything just seemed to click for them after that, with Lavia breaking the 25-all deadlock with back-to-back attacks in the same set to extend the match that had all the trappings of a classic.
The third-set survival turned the tables for Italy.
While Japan continued putting up tremendous job on both ends, the VNL silver medalists just didn’t have it when it mattered most.
After Ishikawa put the team at match point with two straight makes, Taishi Onodera wasted away a service that eventually spelled doom for Japan.
The crushing loss spoiled a 32-point performance from Ishikawa, who had plenty of help from Yuji Nishida and Ran Takahashi.
Nishida scored 22 points including three service aces, while Takahashi added 16.