Turin, Italy, September 26, 2018 - The Serbs attributed their sweep of Italy on their team fighting spirit, while disappointed Italians admitted their opponents' perfect game and tried to focus on regrouping for their next match on Friday. Here's the latest from the Mixed Zone:
Nikola Grbic, Serbia head coach: "With a fantastic defense and the will to fight for every ball, nights like this are possible. We also took advantage of a very effective serve and created many problems to our strong opponents. Plus, we enjoyed the beautiful atmosphere that the Pala Alpitour fans provided while making an important step to the semifinals."
Uros Kovacevic, Serbia outside hitter: "We have a fantastic energy when we fight together, for each other: tonight we played well because we played together. Tomorrow against Poland we will have to start from zero and fight to get the same result as today."
Gianlorenzo Blengini, Italy head coach: "First things first: Serbia played a huge match, almost perfect. We lost self-confidence and got a bit nervous, we weren't patient enough and could not regroup in time to reopen the match. Now against Poland we will have to play an in-or-out match, and show much more than we did today."
Osmany Juantorena, Italy outside hitter: "We are sorry that we played the worst volleyball in all of our tournament in the most important night so far: we were a bit nervous and we faced a perfect Serbia, that was superior to us in every skill. Even when they had a bit of luck, they clearly went searching for it. Let's now think about Friday's match against Poland and let's show a different attitude than today."