This is going to be a fun match!!!
The last time these 2 teams met at the Final Round of the World Championship was 4 years ago when China defeated hosts Italy in 4 sets. Back then, Italy was composed of a lot of veterans like setter Lo Bianco, Carolina Costagrande, Antonella Del Core, Martina Guiggi, Valentina Arrighetti, and Francesca Piccinini. Italy failed to medal after losing to Brazil in 5 sets.
Fast forward to today, Italy is a much younger team led by their scoring machine Paola Egonu who is only 19 years old. She is also one of the tourney’s top scorers and best spikers. Paola is supported by the young but powerful Miryam Sylla, middle blocker Cristina Chirichella, setter Ophelia Malinov, libero Monica De Gennaro and their silent leader Lucia Bosetti.
Italy has been solid since Round 1 of the World Championship. They defeated the other top teams like Turkey, Russia, USA and China. Coach Davide Mazzanti has really formed a very strong team composed of young players. Italy is the team to watch out for in the Final 4!
China has what it takes to not let Italy beat them again this time around. Coach Lang Ping and her coaching staff have for sure evaluated the reasons why they lost to Italy in Round 1. China’s offense heavily depends on their star player Zhu Ting and has been quite predictable. If Zhu happens to not a good day when they play Italy then China is in trouble. Their fans can only hope opposite spiker Gong and outside hitter Zhang Changning will step up against the Italians.
Middle blocker Yuan has not been that productive at the net for the most part but she played her best match against the Dutch. She has finally picked up her game and can give her team an extra lift to win tonight.
While the spotlight is mainly on Zhu Ting or star setter Ding Xia, middle blocker Yan Ni has played a HUGE role in all of China’s matches.
VOLLEYWOOD PREDICTION: China 3-2 Italy
Head-to-head
• Earlier in this tournament, Italy defeated China 3-1. On 4 October, both teams came in having won their first four matches in the tournament. Italy dealt China their first, and thus far only defeat of the tournament.
• Paola Egonu paced Italy in that match on 29 points, with none of her teammates contributing more than 15 points.
• China won their first five meetings with Italy at World Championships, but have won only one of the last four.
• That victory came in the 2014 semifinals, when China won 3-1. It was their second semifinal tie at the World Championship, after 2002 when Italy won 3-1 and went on to win the world title.
• Italy have won their last four world level major encounters with China. They have never beaten China five times in a row.
• The women’s world level major competitions are: the Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World Grand Prix, Grand Champions Cup and the Volleyball Nations League.
China
• China are aiming to reach the World Championship final for the sixth time. They won the gold medal in 1982 and 1986 and finished runners-up in 1990, 1998 and 2014.
• China have a 5-1 track record in semifinal matches at World Championships. Their only defeat at this stage of the tournament came in 2002, against Italy.
• China have won 10 of their 11 matches in this tournament, the only exception being their 3-1 defeat against Italy in the first round.
• China could win 11 matches at a single World Championship for the first time. In 2014, they won 10 of their 13 matches.
• China could win seven consecutive World Championship matches for the second time in the last 25 years. In 2014, China won eight consecutive matches.
• Zhu Ting has scored 191 points at the 2018 World Championship, third-most of all players behind Paola Egonu (246) and Lonneke Sloëtjes (238).
• Only Italy’s Ofelia Malinov (4.79 on average per set) ranks as a better setter in this tournament than China’s Ding Xia (4.38).
Italy
• Italy have reached the final of the World Championship only once. In 2002, they defeated China in the semifinals and pushed on to win their only world title so far.
• Italy lost their other two semifinal matches at World Championships, against Russia in 2006 and against China four years ago.
• Italy are coming off their only defeat of this tournament, 3-1 against Serbia in the Final Six.
• Four years ago, Italy closed out their World Championship campaign with back-to-back defeats, against China in the semifinals and against Brazil in the bronze medal match. Italy had lost only one of their first 11 in the 2014 tournament.
• Paola Egonu is the tournament’s leading points scorer on 246.
• In terms of success rate, Miryam Sylla (52.34%) is the second-best spiker in the tournament, behind Serbia’s Tijana Boskovic (56.39%).
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