ITALY fended off a gritty challenge from Canada, 25-14, 23-25, 25-20, 23-25, 15-9, to stay within striking distance of the pace-setters — including Brazil — in the Volleyball Nations League men’s tournament Week 3 Thursday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

The world No. 4 Italians recovered from a collapse in the fourth set to scrape past the hard-fighting Canadians and stand side-by-side with rival Brazil in the critical final leg of the 16-team VNL gearing up for the 8-team finals in Poland from July 19 to 24.

Long-time Olympic foes Italy and Brazil, which swept the Netherlands earlier with a 25-21, 25-15, 25-20 win, are now tied at a 7-3 won-lost record but the latter holds a slight set points advantage at 22-20.

Italy scored a 23-25, 25-20, 25-15, 25-21 stunner on Brazil in the opener of the Philippine leg on Tuesday but found itself on the edge of the cliff against Canada this time around.

Alessandro Michieletto showed the way with 18 points on 14 hits, three blocks, and an ace while Gianluca Galassi and Yuri Romano carded 17 points apiece to rescue the Italians from a near upset.

Roberto Russo and Daniele Lavia added 15 and 10 points, respectively, for Italy, which raced to a 2-1 lead sparked by an easy 25-14 win in the opening set.

On the verge of a four-set triumph, Italy took a 23-21 cushion on a Galassi kill before being blanked the rest of the way to allow a deciding fifth set.

Michieletto then took over from then, anchoring Italy’s 4-0 start in the rubber en route to the pesky win.

Italy has Slovenia next today as world No. 16 Canada, led by Ryan Joseph Sclater’s 22 points, slid to 2-8 at the 13th spot. Canada will face world No.1 Poland on Saturday.