VOLLEYBALL: Italy has answered back in the strongest possible way after their shock loss to Australia on Friday, beating the Volleyroos 3-0 in their World League clash in Verona this morning.

The Australians struggled to regain the form they showed in Jesolo when they stunned Italy 3-0, losing to the home side 26-24, 25-21, 25-23.

Italian coach Mauro Berruto apologised to his team’s fans after Friday night and promised his team would do better.

The Australians once again gave a strong fight, but a high error count cost them dearly.

They held the lead in all three sets, but found an Italian team playing with a confidence that was missing on Friday.

Star player Ivan Zaytsev, who was subbed out of the game during his team’s loss, was again below his best, but made several telling contributions at important times of the match.

Captain Tom Edgar led the way for Australia with 14 points, despite spending much of the second set on the bench while coach Roberto Santilli desperately tried to throw the Italians off their game.

Australia sits at the bottom of its group, after two-nil losses to Italy and Brazil on the opening weekends, and the 1-all result against Italy this weekend.

The team now heads to Serbia for two matches, before returning to Australia to take on Brazil in Sydney, and then Serbia once again in Melbourne.