In the Italian men's volleyball league, Serie A Super League, a showdown between two Japanese players took place early in the fourth round of the first half.
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Vibo Valentia vs Milan 0-3 (20-25, 29-31, 23-25)
In the first set, Milan's Yuki Ishikawa scored a spike by passing the two blocks of Nishida and Flavio (Brazil) from the first point. Nishida then spiked in the next rally, and it was a hot start with both Japanese players scoring their first points.
But then it was Milan who took the lead. They made a sharp pipe attack after a long rally, and their form was completely different from the poor Piacenza match. They led the team with their usual scoring power, with an attack success rate of 501 TP3T and only two points conceded. The opposite, the gold medalist of the Tokyo Olympics, Patry (France), also played a major role, scoring 621 TP3T and scoring 16 points. Milan's substitutions also worked well. I think it was a victory that the team, including the bench, won, with the efforts of Maiocchi, who broke down the defense with his serve, and Mosca, who made the block. The blocks by both Cineniese and Piano's middle shots were also excellent.
On the other hand, Vibo lost the first set in a one-sided manner, but in both the second and third sets, they were able to take the lead until the middle of the game. However, it seems that they were caught by Milano's blocks at crucial moments. Nishida Yuji also fought well with 16 spikes and an attack success rate of 501 TPs and 3 Ts, but he also gave up four blocks. Mauricio (Brazil), one of the outside players, also struggled with the opponent's blocks that day and was unable to show his true performance. There were several times when it looked like they were on a roll, such as the block by former Italian national team player Candelaro, who came in midway through the second set, but they just needed to get one more. I especially wanted to win the second set. This was the first time in the fourth league match that Nishida did not get a service ace.
As a result, in what was probably the first match between two Japanese players in Serie A men's football, Ishikawa defeated Vivo, whose teammate Nishida plays for, in straight sets. I hope that Nishida will be able to get over this disappointment in the match in Milan in the second half of the season. I hope that the situation will improve in the second half of the season and that we will be able to go to watch the match from Japan! I want to go too!
Other notable match results
Trento vs Padua (25-17, 28-30, 26-24, 25-16, 17-19)
Trento, who had been undefeated this season, including the Supercoppa, finally lost. Their opponent was Padova. Padova's double aces led the team, with 54 spikes from wing Bottolo and 43 from opposite Weber (Germany), who each hit nearly 100 spikes, and both also had three aces on serve. There are rumors that Japan's Takahashi Ai will transfer to this team for the All Japan Intercollegiate Championships in December, so it looks like this team will further disrupt the Italian league, which is dominated by many strong players!
Results of all matches in the first half of the fourth round
Civitanova vs Verona 3-0
Trento vs Padova 2-3
Vibo Valentia vs Milan 0-3
Modena vs Piacenza 1-3
Ravenna vs Monza 1-3
Taranto vs Perugia 1-3
Ranking/First Half Round 4
10 4-0 12/06 Piacenza
10 3-1 11/05 Trento
10 3-1 11/05 Monza
09 3-0 09/02 Perugia
07 3-1 09/08 Padua
07 2-2 09/06 Civitanova
06 2-1 08/05 Milan (Yuki Ishikawa)
03 1-2 05/06 Modena
03 1-2 04/07 Cisterna
03 1-3 05/09 Taranto
03 1-3 04/10 Vibo Valentia (Yushi Nishida)
01 0-4 04/12 Ravenna
00 0-4 02/12 Verona
Next match schedule
Section 5 of the first half
Local time
Saturday, November 6th
18:00 Cisterna vs Vibo Valentia
Sunday, November 7
15:30 Milan vs Civitanova
15:30 Verona vs Taranto
18:00 Perugia vs Trento
18:00 Monza vs Piacenza
20:30 Ravenna vs Modena
*Since Europe switched to winter time on October 31st, the time difference with Japan is 8 hours.
Photo: Lega Pallavolo Serie A
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