MANILA, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Defending champion Italy secured its second consecutive Men's Volleyball World Championship final here on Saturday with a commanding 3-0 victory over World No. 1 Poland, setting up a clash against Bulgaria who returned to the final after 55 years.

Three-time world champion Poland was the first to break away with a four-point lead in the first set. Spearheaded by opposite Yuri Romano, the Italians outspiked its opponent to turn it around, with outside hitter Mattia Bottolo closing it off with his first point of the match.

The second set followed a similar story as Poland managed to get in front again at 22-21, before Italy reacted with four points in a row crowned by the team's fourth ace of the set for the closing point, authored by outside Francesco Sani.

Poland went for it again in third set and opened a five-point lead. And yet again, Italy found its way back to gain control. A huge pipe kill by star outside Alessandro Michieletto brought in a triple match point. Poland survived the first two Italian opportunities to close the game, but Michieletto himself converted the third to a 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-23) victory.

Italy outperformed Poland in attack by 34-30 in spike kills and in serving by 7-3 in aces. Romano led the way with a match-high 15 points, including two kill blocks and one ace. Michieletto added another 12 points, including one ace.

"We played a crazy game, really good, really strong. We believed we would win, but not like this, for sure. We are very happy, but it's not finished. Now we'll try to rest a bit and then tomorrow there is another great game," Romano told VBTV. "In our last three games we had a great mentality and this is the result. We stay there also when we are behind in the points, with a strong mentality."

Earlier on Saturday, Bulgaria emerged as the first finalist of the tournamen. The last time it stood on the podium was in 2006, but the last and the only time it moved into the final was back in 1970, when it earned silver on home ground. In Saturday's semifinal, Bulgaria outlasted a fighting Czechia in four sets (25-20, 23-25, 25-21, 25-22).

All three scoring elements worked better for the Bulgarians, with 56-49 in spike kills, 12-7 in kill blocks and 8-4 in serving aces. Aleksandar Nikolov made his best scoring performance so far in the tournament, contributing as many as 31 points towards the victory.

The final showdown between Bulgaria and Italy on Sunday will kick off at 18:30 local time before Czechia and Poland battles it out for the bronze. ■