Iran’s Morteza Sharifi scored eight points and Alessandro Michieletto collected 15 points for Italy in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Behrouz Ataei’s men will face the US and the Netherlands on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

Team Melli had defeated Germany 3-0 on Tuesday.

The Preliminary Phase campaign started on June 6 and includes matches in Nagoya (Japan), Rotterdam (the Netherlands) and Anaheim (USA).

If Iran qualifies for the VNL Finals as one of top eight teams, it will travel to Gdansk, Poland for the event from July 19 through 23.