Lima, Peru, August 14, 2015 – Paola Egonu scored 28 points in the victory of Italy but the slender attacker gave credit to her teammates saying it was a team effort against Serbia.
Paola Egonu, top scorer of Italy: All my teammates gave their best on the court to take revenge from the beating we suffered losing 3-0 to them at the European Games. We are very happy with all the things we have achieved thus far. This victory came from our hearts.
Marco Mencarelli, coach of Italy: We didn’t have a definitive strategy against Serbia. We had faced them before and we knew we had to pay a lot of attention to their serves and blocking.
Katarina Lazovic, captain of Serbia: Now they are a better team than the time we played each other in Europe. I want to congratulate Italy. I think they will be among the top teams in this world championship.
Jovo Cakovic, coach of Serbia: Italy played much better than us. They have very good players who are fundamentals like Egonu On the other hand my team is now incomplete and getting used to the change of libero. In my opinion Italy is a big favourite and will be among the top teams here.