Italy's women volleyball team book place in European Championship final

Italy's women's national volleyball team continued its strong run at the European Championship, defeating Poland in four sets in the semifinal to secure a spot in the tournament final. It marked the sixth consecutive win over Poland for Italy, extending a streak that already included five prior meetings.

Match summary

Italy opened strongly, racing to a 7:2 lead in the first set. Poland later narrowed the gap to two points but could not get any closer, allowing Italy to close out the opener.

The second set was tighter, with Poland recovering from a 5:9 deficit, but Italy answered with a decisive six-point run to regain control and take the set. Poland bounced back in the third set, building an early 5:0 lead and holding on to win it. However, Italy dominated again in the fourth set, closing out the match with an overall score of 3-1.

Top performers

Nigerian-born attacker Paola Ogechi Egonu was the standout for Italy, scoring 20 points along with three effective blocks. Russian-born Ekaterina Antropova, who was born in Iceland, added 14 points for the winning side. Poland's top scorer was Julia Szczurowska with 15 points.

Road to the final

Before the semifinal, Italy had defeated Sweden in the quarterfinal and Bulgaria in the round of 16. The other finalist will be determined in the second semifinal between Turkey and Serbia, with Turkey having already won 3-0. Should Italy win the final, it would mark the team's third major international trophy.