This was the second confrontation with the rivals in these championships, which took place in the Czech capital, Prague. In the group, the Italian volleyball players were more capable 2:0 (21:16, 21:9), we got a sweet revenge on Sunday.
The Lithuanians, who played wonderfully, were constantly in the lead in both sets. In the first set, the opponents scored three points in a row, reducing the difference to 14:16. Then the Lithuanian girls organized a counterattack shower, after which they took the lead with a solid margin – 20:14.
A critical moment was inevitable in the second set as well. After four consecutive Italian points, the Lithuanian lead melted to 12:13. And in this case, B. Aleknavičiūtė and I. Milkintaitė did not break, again they scored even six points in a row – 19:12.
When coach Paulius Matulis was asked what led to such a great game of the students for the bronze, he had a number of answers: “The good game of the girls was determined by the bad match played against the Ukrainians the night before. After that meeting, we made serious conclusions, cleared our heads and went out to play with the Italians Birutė and Ingrida with fresh heads, healthy and energetic. I am glad that I managed to psychologically prepare the volleyball players. We put together a game plan, learning from the first encounter. It is very important that we did not allow the Italians to gain momentum and that our girls held on in difficult moments.”
For B. Aleknavičiūta and I. Milkintaita, these are the fourth world championship medals. In 2012, women from Kaunas won silver, in 2016 – gold, 2021 – bronze.
2024-09-01 17:46:30