The Italian men's volleyball league Serie A held a match between Trento and Civitanova in Trento on Friday, October 20th (local time), with Civitanova coming from behind to win 3-2 (17-25, 20-25, 25-22, 32-30, 15-13).
After the match, we spoke with Civitanova's Mattia Bottolo (OH, Italy).
-Congratulations on your victory.
Bottro: Thank you.
-What are your thoughts looking back on the match?
Bottolo: It was very tough at the beginning, the first two sets, because as you can see, we were losing sets against Trent by a large margin. But today we were able to close that gap and win the match. It's very difficult to change your mindset during a match, so congratulations to ourselves.
-What were you thinking when you came off the court midway through the first set and then returned to the court midway through the second set?
Bottolo: I told myself that I have to push my team, that I have to give my team strength, because it was hard for me to score in today's match. I told myself what I can do, from the basics, from reception and serving. I think I can improve more, but I think the way I did it today was good.
--About Ai Takahashi. What kind of person is he to you?
Bottolo: He's really good. At least when we played against him, he played really well. He scored a lot of points, which surprised me a lot. I also like Ai as a friend. I think we are really good friends. I talk about a lot of things with him. We also help each other improve. I was on that team for six years, so I follow Padua quite a lot. There are still a lot of my former teammates there. But that's all. I want to win the next rematch in Padua.
Photo: Author