The libero Luca Loreti, born in 2005 and new signing of Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza, engaged with the Under 22 national team in Holland, won the silver medal at the European category championships.
In the final played in Apeldoorn, the Italian national team, led by coach Vincenzo Fanizza, was overcome at the tie break by France (19-25, 20-25, 25-14, 30-28 20-22 for the French) at the end of a match that saw the Azzurri also fail several match balls after canceling two (12-14) against the French.
Having lost the first two sets, the Italians easily won third and fourth with the advantages after a long tug-of-war with their opponents. In the tie break they did well to cancel two match balls from the French at 12-14 but then they were unable to close out several match balls they had.
The young Azzurri arrived at the final after finishing in second place in their group won by France, who on the second day had overcome the Azzurri 3-1 (25-15, 20-25, 21-25, 15-25 for the French), and after overcoming Poland 3-1 in the semi-final (25-21, 25-16, 24-26, 26-24 for the Azzurri) who had dominated Pool I with three victories in as many matches.
In the other semi-final France defeated the hosts Holland 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-23).
