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Italy rallies past Serbia at women's volleyball WC
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European champion Italy rallied from 2-1 down to beat Serbia 3-2 in Osaka on Tuesday for its fourth straight win at the 2007 women's volleyball World Cup.

 

Simona Gioli and Taimary Aguero scored 17 points each to lead the Italians to the 23-25, 25-14, 16-25, 25-17 and 15-7 victory in a repeat of last month's European Championships final, where Italy won in straight sets.

 

"We are happy to win, but it's still too early to talk about the chance to win the title or to qualify for the Olympics," said Gioli, who had 11 kills and six blocks in the match that lasted for 94 minutes.

 

"We did not play very well, we made too many errors," she added. "I think we can play much better in the next games."

 

Italy conceded 27 points through errors, but also reaped 36 thanks to mistakes of Serbia, who suffered its first defeat in four matches.

 

"We prepared quite well for this match, but our players had good points and bad points," said Serbia head coach Zoran Terzic. "It was difficult to keep them in consistent form, and eventually we lost the game."

 

It was fiercely contested in the first set where Serbia broke the deadlock at 19-all with four unanswered points to go up at 23-19. Francesca Piccinini drove a ball out of bounds and Antonella Del Core smashed home to help Italy pull within 24-23, only to see a serving error of Jenny Barazza award the opener to Serbia.

 

In the second set, Italy got a flying start, racing to a 4-0 lead. After Serbia cut it to 7-6, Italy surged away again with a 14-3 burst and never looked back.

 

The Italians could not maintain the momentum in the third set, but recovered to clinch the fourth with a set-ending 9-0 run. In the tie break, Italy met no serious challenge.

 

"We did not play very well, but winning 11 games perfectly will not be easy," said Italy coach Massimo Barbolini. "I am happy with the result, and it's important to try to win more to get a good ranking before the fourth phase of the tournament."

 

In Sendai, the United States swept Kenya 25-9, 25-20, 25-10 to improve its win-loss record to 4-0.

 

"We started out strong, but in the second set Kenya played great volleyball with some very good blocking and defensive play," said US head coach Lang Ping.

 

"Winning is important, but we also need to improve our skills. We still have seven matches to go and the way is still pretty difficult and there will be a lot of tough matches waiting for us. We need to be patient and take each one as it comes."

 

The United States will face Brazil on Wednesday.

 

"I think Brazil is a team with no weaknesses. All the skills are there and they play very well," said Lang. "So, we have to play perfectly as well to have a chance."

 

"It will be a tough match and we haven't beaten them for three years, so it's a big challenge for us," she added.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 6, 2007)

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