Swedish volleyball dream ended by world champions Italy at quarter-final stage

[p]When the sides met in Gothenburg for a Group D clash a little over a week earlier, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/sweden/nuDXN7Ba/"]Sweden[/a] put up a strong fight but [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/italy/WOxNzHzR/"]Italy[/a] still ran away with a 3-0 win. Without home advantage, the Swedes were given little chance of causing an upset this time.[/p][p]But Sweden, who knocked out [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/czech-republic/8dhw5vxS/"]Czech Republic[/a] in their own backyard in the Round of 16, had other ideas in the opening set, coming from 11-6 down to go 15-14 up. From 18-18, the underdogs finished strongly, [b]dropping just three more points to take a 25-21 win[/b], as the Italians lost a set for just the second time all championship.[/p][p]In the second set, a confident Sweden took a 3-0 lead, but that was the biggest lead either team held throughout, as the narrow lead changed hands many times before [b]the world and Olympic champions held their nerve at the death to turn 24-24 into a 26-24 victory.[/b][/p][embed guid="3bfa7387-65e6-473b-aa06-d26d6d64c017" url="https://x.com/CEVolleyball/status/2095229442092150904" social-type="twitter" /][p]The Swedish fairy tale looked on once again when the Scandinavians came back from 12-6 down in the third set to equalise at 21-21. But that dream was quickly snuffed out when[b] the Italians rallied to put together a 4-0 streak[/b] and win 25-21.[/p][p]No matter how close Sweden were coming, Italy had the answers when it mattered most - that continued in the fourth set, as the underdogs came back from 19-14 down to lead by two, [b]22-20, but this time the Italians won four of the final five points, winning 25-23[/b] for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/volleyball/italy-WOxNzHzR/sweden-nuDXN7Ba/?mid=vm0rpP1T"]a 3-1 victory in the match[/a].[/p][p]Italy will play [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/poland/EwV50bpq/"]Poland[/a] or the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/netherlands/IJV0507F/"]Netherlands[/a] for a place in the final, while Sweden equal their best European Championship performance in their history, as Isabelle Haak set a new record, - 247 -  for most points in a Women's European Championship.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/volleyball/europe/european-championships-women/"]Follow the 2026 Women's European Volleyball Championship on Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p]