Conegliano Veneto, May 29, 2019 – Madison Kingdon Rishel led the way for reigning champions USA when she topped scoring with 22 points to help stretch their unbeaten run in the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League to five wins from five with a 3-2 (25-22, 17-25, 23-25, 25-19, 15-11) defeat of Italy at the Zoppas Arena on Wednesday.
Karch Kiraly’s team had to fight back from Italy taking a 2-1 lead, but once they took the match to the tie-break, they quickly grabbed control and kept Davide Mazzanti’s team at arm’s length for the remainder of the match.
USA had four match points and while Indre Sorokaite saved one, Andrea Drews made no mistake with the second to wrap up the win with her 10th point of the match. Simone Lee 13 and Chiaka Ogbogu 12 also hit double digits for Kiraly’s side.
Sorokaite was Italy’s highest scorer with 22, while Elena Pietrini and Miryam Fatime Sylla also hit double figures with 14 apiece.
On Thursday USA will play the Dominican Republic, while Italy wrap up the pool with a match against current FIVB world champions Serbia who returned to winnings ways after two consecutive defeats by beating the Dominican Republic.
