Italy’s Paola Egonu and Sarah Fahr join hands against China
The highly anticipated women`s Volleyball Nations League match in Hong Kong concluded swiftly, with Italy securing a convincing 3-0 victory over the host nation, China. Although the Chinese team managed to challenge Italy, the reigning Olympic champions and current VNL leaders, particularly in one intense set, the Italians delivered a dominant performance, disappointing the home crowd with a straight-sets win. This victory maintains Italy`s perfect record in the tournament; they remain undefeated after eight matches and lead the VNL standings with 22 points. China`s record stands at 5 wins and 3 losses, placing them sixth with 15 points.
Building on the momentum from their hard-fought second set triumph, Italy exerted complete control in the third set, cruising to a 3-0 shutout with set scores of 25-21, 32-30, and 25-11. Middle blocker Sarah Fahr sealed the match with a formidable block, igniting victory celebrations. The second set was particularly dramatic, a true nail-biter where China successfully defended four Italian set points and then squandered three of their own before Italy clinched it with a crucial three-point run, capped by two consecutive kills from Alice Degradi.
As is often the case, Italy`s star opposite, Paola Egonu, was the match`s top scorer, contributing a significant 21 points to the win. She delivered 19 successful attacks with an impressive 51% efficiency and added two blocks. Outside hitter Alice Degradi also played a key role, contributing 14 points, all from attacks with a 56% success rate. Her 21-year-old teammate on the other outside, Stella Nervini, reached double figures as well, scoring 12 points, including one ace.
Following the match, Italian middle blocker Linda Nwakalor shared her thoughts with VBTV: “I think the secret is hard work and teamwork. We practice a lot together to avoid the little mistakes, to make everything as perfect as possible. And for now, it’s working, so we are going to keep practicing to get better and better every day. We were focused on the match, on what we had to do, and that got us to the win. We are really happy about what we have done until now and we’re going to keep going like this.”
For China, in the absence of Wu Mengjie, who was injured while scoring the winning point against Japan on Saturday, the offense was primarily led by 19-year-old outside hitter Dong Yuhan. She recorded 19 points, including one ace and one block. The other outside hitter, 21-year-old Tang Xin, also reached double-digit scoring with 10 points.
Dong Yuhan commented on the experience in Hong Kong: “The matches here in Hong Kong challenged us so much! I will be looking forward to have a good performance in the next matches. I think our team will have a bright future and we will follow the high sporting spirit.”
In other VNL action happening concurrently, Korea and the Dominican Republic are currently playing a fifth set in Istanbul, while the match between France and the USA has commenced in Belgrade. The final day of this week`s women’s VNL competition will continue with the highly anticipated clash between Turkiye and Brazil in Istanbul, scheduled to start at 19:30 local time (16:30 UTC). The last fixture on the schedule in Belgrade is Serbia versus Poland.
Jasper Thornfield 
Oliver Wrenwick