Italy started off their 2017 FIVB Volleyball World League campaign with a straight-set home win against Iran. The crowd in Pesaro was pleased to see the home heroes master a 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-22) shutout.

Since 2013, Italy and Iran have met nine times in the World League and this was the sixth win for the European side.

Italy opened the match with a positive attitude and took a 6-2 lead. The very strong serving allowed Italy to maintain a good margin throughout the first set. Despite Iran’s attempt to come back into the match, Italy showed no fear and closed the set at 25-22 with an extraordinary ace by Luca Vettori., fivb.org wrote.

Iran started the second set very well (9-5), but Italy immediately tied it up and even went 11-9 ahead. In the blink of an eye, with Simone Giannelli’s monster blocks and with Filippo Lanza’s great spikes, the Azzurri managed to close the second set at 25-23.

There was a stable balance throughout the third set and the teams swapped points up to 20-20. Milad Ebadipour’s ace brought Iran up for a moment, but with Simone Buti’s ace Italy tied it up again. It was a point-for-point battle, but the Azzurri finally managed to achieve a 25-22 win and hammer out a straight-set victory.

“We knew it would be tough, because playing against Italy is never easy. They served really well, even though sometimes they were helped by the net,” Kolakovic said in the post-match news conference.

“Anyway, they deserved it, because they were able to stay focused even in the most difficult moments. Congratulations to them,” he added.

“I also want to thank all the supporters that came here for us. We hope to play better and to be a little luckier tomorrow,” Kolakovic concluded.

Iran have been scheduled to meet Brazil in Pesaro, Italy Saturday night.