It’s the penultimate day of the 2013 Men’s European Volleyball Championships as the final four teams—Italy, Bulgaria, Serbia and Russia—are ready for the semifinal games to be held at the Parken Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Italy defeated Finland in four sets (23-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-22) to set-up the semis date with Bulgaria which beat Germany, 28-30, 27-25, 25-22, 25-20.

READ ALSO: 2013 Euro Volleyball Championships Final Preview: Russia vs. Italy Live Streaming

Meanwhile, in the other pairing, Serbia meets Russia once again in a rematch of the 2009 EuroVolley semifinals. The Serbians took care of Belgium, 22-25, 25-22, 30-28, 25-18 and the Russians took care of business against Italy in the same number of sets, 25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-21.

Serbia, which is the defending champion, ousted Russia in the semifinals in Vienna, Austria, in 2009. The Serbian spikers beat Italy in the 2009 championship to the tune of 17-25, 25-20, 25-23, 26-24 for their second Euro volley title (2001 and 2011).

“I am happy for these guys because this is a new team and no one expected that we would reach the semi-final in the first big competition and now we are without any pressure. We lost 3-2 in the World League against Russia but we will get our chance and we must use this chance, otherwise they will kill us,” said Serbian leader Aleksandar Atanasijevic, who finished with 29 points against Belgium.

Like the Russians, the Italians are also looking to avenge their finals loss to Serbia. They might gain that chance if they can beat Bulgaria, which ended up at 6th place in 2009.

“We had played very well during the previous game against Germany,” said Camillo Placi in a quote from eurovolley2013.dk “And today we played good enough to win, but not as good as last time.”

Judging from the Belgium coach’s thoughts, it appears that team Belgium can still improve deeper into these knockout stages. Of the last four teams in the tournament, only Belgium has yet to win a Euro championship with only a silver and 5 bronze medals to show for.

Italy is second all-time in gold medals won in Euro volleyball. They have six titles against the Russians' 12 championships.

2013 Men’s European Volleyball Championship Live Streaming and Schedule
 (Links posted once available)

Semifinals (Parken Arena, Copenhagen) - September 28, 2013 (Saturday)
Serbia vs. Russia
Italy vs. Bulgaria