Flawless Italy defeat Poland as men’s quarterfinal matchups are set in Paris

Paris: Italy’s four-set victory over Poland on Saturday, in the second-to-last pool play match of the men’s volleyball tournament of the Paris 2024 Olympics, shaped up the quarterfinal duels of the event, which will reunite the top eight teams in the preliminary phase.

With first place in Pool B in play, the world champions had another solid performance in Paris, dominating the top team in the FIVB World Ranking for most of the match to celebrate an important 3-1 (25-15, 25-18, 24-26, 25-20) victory at the South Paris Arena 1.

The only team to get to nine points in the pool phase, Italy were the best among the three pool winners in Paris and will now face Japan, who emerged as the third-best team in Pool C, with four points.

“Winning our pool and ranking first gives us a lot of confidence, but a new tournament starts now,” said Italian outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto. “Every match now is win or go home, but I believe we’re ready. Japan are an incredible team, just like every other one in the quarterfinals. We lost to them a couple of times recently and we know it’s going to be tough, but we can also play at high level and have been doing it here.”

Also undefeated, but with eight points collected, the United States finished at the top in Pool C ahead of the quarterfinals. Their opponents in the first stage of the elimination rounds will be Brazil, who progressed as the third-placed team in Pool B with four points.

Pool A winners Slovenia showed strength in the opening stage of their first-ever Olympic appearance, winning all their three Pool A matches to move forward with eight points secured. In the quarterfinals, they will meet Poland, who were second in Pool B, with five points.

“At this point of the Olympics, I don’t think there’s a difference between the eight teams that are left,” Polish libero Paweł Zatorski said. “All eight teams are pretty strong and whoever we got was going to be very tough. We are a experienced team with quality players and we need to use that to our advantage and keep things simple and play our game.”

The fourth and last quarterfinal matchup will reunite defending champions France, who advanced in second place in Pool A after they obtained six points with two wins and a loss, and Germany, who had the exact same campaign in Pool C, where they were also second.

All four quarterfinal matches will be held on Monday at the South Paris Arena 1, starting at 9:00 local time (7:00 GMT), 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT), 17:00 local time (15:00 GMT) and 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT).