In one of the last matches of the pool stage at the FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U19 World Championship, Italy outplayed Brazil in four sets to finish on top of Pool D undefeated on full 12 points. With the end of pool play in San Juan, all match-ups for Tuesday’s eighthfinals have been set.

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Despite a fantastic blocking effort from Brazil, the Italian spikers pushed through to lead their team to a 3-1 (25-17, 25-23, 24-26, 25-23) victory, their fourth in a row since the start of the tournament. The reigning European champions were well in control of the first set, but their South American opponents put up a solid fight in the next three, all of which were decided by the narrowest of margins.

Brazil raised as many as 15 kill blocks against Italy’s eight, but the Italian offence still contributed as many as 59 points towards the victory, while their opponents put away 45 points in attack. Captain Lorenzo Magliano fired 23 points (including one block) for the winners, one clear of Brazil’s best scorer of the match, Martos Antonio Soares Neto. Alessandro Bristot delivered two of Italy’s four aces in the match to finish with a total of 17 points.

In the other Pool D game on Sunday, Belgium mastered a 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-17) shutout of Mexico with a 14-point match high from Berre Van Looveren. In the final pool standings, Italy finished first on a 4-0 win-loss record and advanced to the eighthfinals along with Belgium (3-1), Brazil (2-2) and Mexico (1-3), while bottom-placed Chile (0-4) will continue in the matches for the distribution of the places from 17^th to 19^th.

The four eighthfinalists from Pool D will cross ways with the four eighthfinalists from Pool B, with Italy facing fourth-placed Japan (1-3), Belgium going against third-placed Slovenia (2-2), Brazil taking on pool runners-up Bulgaria (3-1) and Mexico up against pool winners France (4-0).

In the last matches of that pool, France managed a 3-1 (25-15, 25-27, 25-19, 25-23) victory over Japan with Bastien Scherer leading the way with 14 points, while Japan’s Ota Yoshihara produced the match high of 22 points, and Bulgaria hammered out a 3-0 (25-16, 25-14, 25-17) sweep of India on a 14-point match high by Aleksandar Kandev. The winless Indians finished fifth in the pool to continue in the race for the 17^th place in the final World Championship standings.

United States failed to finish Pool A with an impeccable record. In their last pool match against Serbia, they not only lost their first sets of the tournament, but also conceded their first defeat. However, even after Serbia’s 3-1 (25-22, 18-25, 25-21, 25-13) victory, with Nikola Brboric leading the way with 18 points, the Americans topped the final pool standings on a 3-1 win-loss record and better set ratio than pool runners-up Egypt, who also finished on 3-1 after a 3-1 (25-16, 26-28, 25-21, 25-21) upset of hosts Argentina in the last game on Sunday. Argentina’s Fausto Diaz was the best scorer of the match with 24 points, while Shrief Helawy was Egypt’s most prolific player with 20 points. The home team finished the pool on 2-2 in third place, also separated from fourth-placed Serbia on set ratio. Winless Costa Rica will move on to battle with Chile and India for the 17^th place.

In the eighthfinals, the teams from Pool A will meet the teams from Pool C. USA will face fourth-placed Puerto Rico (1-3), Egypt will play against third-placed Colombia (2-2), Argentina will take on second-placed Korea (3-1), and Serbia will challenge pool winners Iran (4-0).

In the last match of Pool C, Colombia claimed a 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 26-24) win over Puerto Rico with opposite Juan Diego Bentancourt leading the way with 16 points.

2023 FIVB Volleyball Boys' U19 World Championship: full schedule and results

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