Greg Vernovage is a volleyball player and coach who is traveling as the Team Leader with the U.S. Men’s National Team that is competing at the FIVB World Championships in Italy.

Oct. 6, 2010

After the nearly the nearly 9,995 Italian spectators finished singing the entire National Anthem for their team, we began the match.

Picking up from the previous night against France where the U.S. Men won 3-0, the guys jumped on top of Italy out of the gate. The level of intensity was right where they wanted.

We knew Italy would respond. Set 2 was a battle. We had opportunities to close it out but came up short.  

The Set 2 victory sparked not only a sleeping Italian team, but also the spectators. It was a great arena for an intense match. The momentum shifted from one side to the other on more than a handful of occasions. USA lost the match 3-1

Long story short, the Italian team executed down the stretch. Team USA battled and came up short. Now what?

We need to wait and see; France plays Italy tonight. If France beats Italy, the pool becomes a three way tie and then it will go to points. If Italy wins, we are second and have to travel again.