.svg)
Slovakia Win at the Fifth Attempt
Italy finished the pool unbeaten and left for Brno. Slovakia beat Montenegro 3-0 and finally left with something.
It took Slovakia five matches at this European Championship to win one. They beat Montenegro 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-11) in Gothenburg on Wednesday, Karin Sunderlikova and Zuzana Sepelova scoring 18 points each behind the setting of Anna Kohutova.
Italy had already taken the pool by then. They beat France 3-1 (25-19, 19-25, 25-23, 25-19) to finish five matches unbeaten with Paola Egonu scoring 20, and France lost Halimatou Bah to an injury late in the first set.
Slovakia's fourth defeat had come the night before, 3-0 to those same Italians. Their head coach is Martino Volpini, an Italian who has worked inside the Italian federation, and CEV asked him about it afterwards.
"It was very emotional to go up against Italy. I know every member of the staff because I have worked with them. But you know, when you work, when you are in the game, it's not important. We play against one of the best national teams in the world. We put everything on the court, so I'm very proud of my team."
Twenty-four hours later Slovakia held Montenegro to eleven points in a set, seven fewer than they had managed themselves in their worst set against Italy.
Montenegro leave Gothenburg without a win of their own, four matches and four defeats. Slovakia won the three sets by four points, then six, then fourteen, and the margin grew every time the teams changed ends.
CEV's competition area has Italy on fifteen points from five matches, and Slovakia's win lifts them off the bottom of the pool to five.
France and Sweden close it on Thursday evening with second place between them, France on nine points and Sweden on seven.
Italy are already on their way to Brno.
