Four Lube players have secured a spot in the semifinals of the World Championships in the Philippines: Fabio Balaso, Mattia Bottolo, Giovanni Gargiulo, and Alex Nikolov are still in contention. Wout D’heer and Poriya Hossein Khanzadeh are returning to the starting lineup.
Three Italians also remain in contention to represent Cucine Lube Civitanova: libero Balaso, a key player for Italy and a standout among the tournament’s top defensemen; spiker Bottolo, who has scored 64 points so far (59 attacking, 1 blocking, and 4 serving); and middle blocker Gargiulo, who arrived in Manila recovering from an ankle injury but scored seven blocks out of 24 points, bringing energy to his national team. The three champions of Lube and Italy blocked the path of a motivated Belgium team, D’heer, who, after winning the tie-break in the group, played a great match, but had to deal in the quarterfinals with a ruthless Italy that was on point throughout the match. In the match on Saturday, September 27 (12:30 p.m.), Ferdinando De Giorgi’s men will face Poland (3-0 over Turkey), whom they recently met in the VNL 2025 Final.
