AFTER Mattia Bottolo banged in a clutch service ace that pushed their lead to 19-10 in the fourth set against Bulgaria, the Italian prized middle blocker pointed to the bench—to his teammates—to stay calm and composed despite them beginning to celebrate.
That only proved anticlimactic as the Azzurri blanked the Bulgarians the rest of the way en route to a 25-21, 25-17, 17-25, 25-10 Sunday night in their one-match final to repeat as kings of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Bottolo’s point ignited a vicious 6-0 windup for world No. 2 Italy which frustrated the title dream of Bulgaria—the surprise but worth opponent in the Big Dance.
When it all for all marbles, the Azzurri leaned anew on their three-pronged attack of Yuri Romano, Bottolo, and Alessandro Michieletto.
In front of a packed crowd of 15,682, Romano pumped in 22 points built on 16 attacks, five service aces, and a kill block for the Italians while Bottolo chimed in 19 markers.
Michieletto, later named tournament MVP, also had 11 for Italy which scored a fitting encore to its title triumph in the 2022 edition of the blue-ribbon volley extravaganza co-hosted by Poland and Slovenia.
It was also Italy’s fifth crown overall while the world No. 19 Bulgarians bagged ta second silver in their first final stint at the worlds in 55 long and agonizing years.
Aleksandar Nikolov paced Bulgaria with 23 points while Martin Atanasov contributed 11.
At the end of the 16-day showpiece, the Italian faithful’s flags and banners remained waving with chants of “Italia! Italia!” serving as the perfect backdrop.
