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Alsharq Tribune - AFP
Reigning Olympic champion Italy swept Germany in straight sets at the women's volleyball World Championship here on Saturday to face Poland in the quarterfinals.
It took the Italian women only 70 minutes to land the 25-22, 25-18 and 25-11 victory and extend their winning streak at international competitions to 33. Paola Ogechi Egonu had 16 kills, four stuffs and one ace to lead Italy with 21 points, with Stella Nervini and Sarah Luisa Fahr adding 11 and 10 respectively.
"I'm really happy. We expected a tough match before the game, so I'm happy about how we played," said Fahr. "We had two moments where we were like a little bit struggling. But in the end, I'm really happy about what we did and we are where we wanted to be. And as usual, we'll continue step by step in what we're doing."
The German side managed only 30 kills, compared to 48 for Italy, and were outblocked 9-5.
"We expected Germany to play a lot of big attack with their middle blockers, but they couldn't do that because they didn't receive well," said Italy head coach Julio Velasco. "They were obliged to attack in position four with the opposite, and our block and defense worked well to stop them and counterattack and win 3-0. This match was like this. Maybe the next match will be completely different. You don't know."
Later on Saturday, Poland outlasted Belgium 25-27, 25-20, 25-17, 22-25 and 15-10 to meet Italy in the quarterfinals.
