Italy and Slovenia faced at the High Performance Centre. Italy will play for fifth place.
Tijuana, Mexico, September 19, 2015 - Italy could not advance to the semifinals. However, the Italian team keep their head up and followed a good formula to win against the surprising team of Slovenia.
“I liked my team too much. They played very well and it was so important for us because despite we get out of the round for first place, I know that tomorrow we have another big fight,” said coach Michele Totire.
That next fight will be against Turkey. “They are a very good team, but now I am glad for my players because today it is difficult to play for a fifth and sixth place when you always play to win. But I am happy because I saw them very focused,” the Italian coach added.
One of his players, Riccardo Sbertolli, who played the whole four sets commented: “We are very happy because we played to go to the match for fifth and sixth place. We started the match very good. Our concentration had some ups and downs in the first two sets so our rivals played very good.”
Slovenians have been very tough opponents during the whole tournament. Italians were aware of that and could move on.
“We improved our game and could win on the fourth set. This was very good because when we came back in the match and played too much better”.
For Slovenian captain Jernej Vrhunc, despite the loss this world championship has been a great experience.
“It is tough we lost. Italians played very good match. We have been a little bit tired. However we will look forward to play better in our next match and finish seventh,” said Vrhnuc.