Italy's captain Cristina Chirichella is proud of her team's performance.
Macao, China, July 15, 2017 – In a thrilling match by both teams an on-form Italy dealt USA their first loss in this year’s FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix.
Davide Mazzanti, coach of Italy: "First of all, I would like to thank Karch (Kiraly). It was definitely a difficult match, we had problems with our reception which of course made it hard for us to attack. During the course of the match USA made some changes to their lineup and it was difficult for us to adjust, but this is also why it was such a great lesson for our team.”
Cristina Chirichella, captain of Italy: "Today we put in a good performance. We never gave up at the difficult moments so good job to everyone. USA is one of the strongest teams in this tournament so we are really proud of ourselves.”
Karch Kiraly, coach of USA: "I would like to congratulate Italy and especially Davide (Mazzanti) for doing a great job. They are playing good volleyball this weekend, especially against China yesterday. These matches are not fun to lose, but they are really fun to compete in. It was back and forth and it was very fierce competition that makes both teams better. It is like a dance, they dance well and we dance well and that is great for competition. We have to look to get better tomorrow when we face a good China team and we are looking forward to learning from the challenges of this match.”
Carli Lloyd, captain of USA: "Let me start by congratulating Italy, It was a really great match, great performance both offensively and defensively. It is always hard to lose a close five-set match, but I think when we watch the film we will find things that we can do better. I am excited to learn from this loss, come back tomorrow and play even better.”