Italy 3-0 Bulgaria, Back to Winning Ways

Italy and Bulgaria faced off in their first match of VNL 2023 week 2 in Hong Kong, with Italy winning the match in straight sets (25-17, 25-19, 25-23). This is Italy’s second win, following their victory against Thailand in the first match of the competition. Sylvia Nwakalor, the top scorer of the match, scored 18 points for the winning side. Bulgaria now has one win and five points in five matches, placing them above the currently last-placed challenger team, Croatia, which has played the same number of matches.

Our journalist interviewed Maria Yordanova, the top scorer for team Bulgaria in the match. Yordanova commented on the team’s performance, stating that they began to understand how to play against Italy in the third set, which was missing in the first two sets of the game. She also acknowledged that the team made many mistakes, but the team have nothing to lose in this match and they are ready to play tomorrow. Previously, our journalist conducted an exclusive interview with the Bulgarian coach, Lorenzo Micelli, who stated that the team’s main target is to earn a victory against the Netherlands and Canada, as he acknowledged that China and Italy are on a level above them. (Details of the interview: https://volleypolis.com/bulgaria-fighting-for-every-win-with-new-players/)

Italian opposite Miriam Sylla also commented on today’s match, expressing her happiness on the win. She acknowledged that playing against Bulgaria is not easy because they are a team that can fight until the end of the match. However, she emphasized that this is just the start for the team, as they didn’t perform as expected in week 1. Despite her happiness on winning the match, she expressed the team’s dissatisfaction with their record of two wins out of five matches. Nevertheless, when asked about whether she is still confident in getting into the final round, she replied, “Of course, or else we would not be here.”

(Reported by Boris CHUNG Bok Man)