Iran fall short to Italy in VNL preperation

TEHRAN – Reigning world champions Italy ended their preparations for the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) 2025 on a high note as the Europeans swept Iran in their third and last friendly match of the season, held in Padova, on Saturday.

Before topping the Asians in front of almost 3,000 of their home fans, the Italians had downed Germany in the tie-breaker a week ago in Munich and lost to Iran also in five sets on Friday, in Cavalese.

Saturday’s match in Padova was entirely dominated by the Italians, who displayed improved chemistry to top the Iranians 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-19). Italian outside hitter Luca Porro was the match MVP and scored a team-high 15 points – opposite Kamil Rychlicki added 13 and outside hitter Mattia Bottolo, 11. On the Iranian side, outside hitter Poriya Hossein Khanzadeh was the most productive, with nine points.

Following the preparation matches, Italy will head to Quebec to start their VNL campaign from June 11-15 – hosts Canada, Bulgaria, Argentina, France and Germany are the other teams in the pool. Iran will be in Rio de Janeiro, alongside hosts Brazil, the U.S., Ukraine, Slovenia and Cuba.