VOLLEYBALL: Australia’s opening match of the 2015 World Volleyball League has not gone to plan, with the Volleyroos beaten 3-1 by Italy in Adelaide.

The home side believed during the week that they had their best chance ever of beating the former world number one, especially with so many experienced players missing.

But a high error count proved costly for the Volleyroos, losing 25-19, 22-25, 25-21, 25-20 in front of nearly 5000 fans at Adelaide Arena.

“It wasn't the perfect game, the first game is always difficult,” Australian coach Roberto Santilli said.

“We expect to play with less mistakes, which is exactly what Italy did. We missed some easy situations which we have to manage, but you can see today the difference between the two teams is not much.”

Australia once again relied heavily on captain Tom Edgar, but he received valuable support from Paul Sanderson in attack and the blocking of Travis Passier.

“I'm happy overall with the team, but a little bit disappointed with my performance,” Edgar said.

“We lost a bit of concentration and fell back a bit, but we fought back and made it hard for the Italians. I think when we're playing our best volleyball we can definitely match it against Italy.”

In some good news for Australia, they won their first ever World League set against Italy when they took the second 25-22.

Australia will get a chance to level the series when they meet Italy again at Adelaide Arena on Saturday afternoon.

ROSS SOLLY FOR VOLLEYBALL AUSTRALIA