Italy's Luca Spirito sets against Iran as Italy's win 3-1 confirmed a semifinal ticket
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, August 28, 2015 – World Junior No 3 Italy continued to delight the fans in the FIVB Men’s U23 World Championship by collecting their fourth consecutive win with an impressive 3-1 victory (25-23, 15-25, 25-17, 26-24) over No 5 Iran to remain undefeated after a thrilling encounter at Al Nasr Hall in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Friday.
With the victory Italy confirmed a semifinal ticket, one day before the end of the preliminary round, while Iran dropped to 2-2 in the tough Pool A competition.
Gabriele Nelli led the Italian scorers with impressive 17 points followed by Tiziano Mazzone 12. Iran's scorer and match scorer was Javad Hosseinabadi with 18 points followed by captain Purya Fayazi 10.
Italy started as the better side as Bossi with a good center spike got the first point for Italy. With Iran's Fayazi missing the serve, Italy was 8-6 ahead in the first TTO, before Iran spectators excite their team to reverse the situation 16-15 at the 2nd TTO. Italy maintained leading with a point ahead till they won the set narrowly 25-23.
With the spectators getting more and more soaring, Iran widely led in the second set till they reached 8-3 at the 1st TTO and continued with wider point deficit 16-6 at the 2nd TTO after great performance from Javad Huseinabadi and Damnabi Fayazi. With a great block from Zarchouch Fallah Iran won the set 25-15 to draw 1-1.
Italy regained rhythm in the third set and used Iran unforced errors to keep their pressure and win the set 25-17. The fourth set was a bit harder as the Iranians tried their best to save the match and their chances for a semifinal spot but finally Italy was the winner of the set 26-24 and the match 3-1.