Italy secured a ticket to the Beijing Olympics by recording its 10th straight win in the women's volleyball World Cup, beating Cuba in straight sets.
Playing without injured captain Eleonora Lo Bianco but with former Cuba star Taismary Aguero in the line-up, the European champion landed the 27-25, 25-19, 25-16 victory to seal a top-three finish with one match to go.
"I think we played a good match. We have improved day by day," said Italy head coach Massimo Barbolini. "This year we played very well and we are very, very happy because it is the first time that the Italian team obtained qualification for the Olympic Games at the first round."
With superb points win-loss ratio in hands and only the United States to conquer in the 12-team round-robin tournament, the Italians were in a great position to win their first World Cup title.
"Tomorrow we play the United States and we have to try to win the World Cup," Barbolini added.
The hard-fought first set proved to be decisive in the big match. Cuba erased a 22-17 deficit to pull within 24-22 and went on to overtake the lead at 25-24, but Simona Gioli then came up with two big plays, saving a Cuban set point with a stylish winner before blocking Kenia Carcaces to bring up Italy's fourth set point at 26-25. A net touch gave Italy the opener 27-25.
The last two sets were dominated by the Italians, who reaped a total of 24 points through Cuban errors.
"The results show you how good this team is. Throughout the game the momentum was always with Italy," said Cuba head coach Antonio Perdomo. "Our serve and reception did not work well and we let them do what they wanted today."
Aguero and Antonella Del Core each scored 12 points for Italy and Gioli added 11.
Having dropped to a 7-3 record, Cuba will play Serbia in its last match at the tournament on Friday.
Source: Xinhua
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