Lorenzo Cortesia is the best Middle-blocker, Lorenzo Sperotto is the best setter.
28/07/2019
Congratulations to the Italian National Team, to Monica Cresta and her staff and especially to our Lorenzo Cortesia #2, Nicola Zonta #4, Giovanni Gargiulo #13; Kristian Gamba#15, Lorenzo Sperotto #18
Source: https://www.cev.eu/news
Manama, Bahrain, July 27, 2019. While their younger compatriots claimed top honours at the 2019 European Youth Olympic Festival in Baku, Italy secured the silver medal from the FIVB Volleyball Men's U21 World Championship after losing 2-3 (25-17, 17-25, 23-25, 25-22, 12-15) at the grand finale of the tournament to Iran. The Iranians captured their first U21 global title, with Brazil completing the podium at the event held in Bahrain.
Porya Yali and MVP Amirhossein Esfandiar both hit the 20-point mark for Iran, combining for 55 of Iran's 104 points to stage a comeback in the fifth set to win the gold medal. Yali had a prolific night in scoring as he drilled 18 attacks, three blocks and two aces, while Esfandiar contributed 17 attacks, a block and was feisty from the end line as he made four service winners. Morteza Sharifi also gave a brilliant performance by adding 18 markers.
The Italians also had double-digit performances from Daniele Lavia (19), Kristian Gamba (18), Francesco Recine (14) and Leandro Ausibio Mosca (10), but Iran's great service game (10 aces vs. 3 for Italy) hurt them in crucial moments of the match.
After their straight-set semi-final loss to Iran on Friday, Brazil came back determined and strong to win the bronze medal with a 3-0 (25-21, 27-25, 25-12) victory over Russia.
The South American squad showed great balance in play, as demonstrated by their top scorer Guilherme Voss Messias dos Santos, who obtained a total of 13 points from five attacks, an ace and seven blocks in the match. Voss' teammates Victor Aleksander Almeida Cardoso and Angellus Costa Da Silva fortified their offence, contributing 11 points apiece, while Maksim Sapozhkov who topped all scorers with 16 points was the lone bright spot on offence for the Russian side.
Czech Republic and Poland finished in ninth and eleventh place, respectively, as four European teams contested the global U21 showpiece event in Bahrain.
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