On April 3rd, the second match of the quarter-finals between Milan and Modena was held at Milan's home. In stark contrast to the match last week at Modena's home, where Modena won 3-0, this was a close match that went to a full set with neither team giving an inch, but Modena won the fifth set by a narrow margin and advanced to the semi-finals.
Milan-Modena 2-3 (25-17, 14-25, 25-22, 18-25, 13-15)
Milano's and Yuki Ishikawa's first Serie A semi-final appearance will be postponed until next year. (Ishikawa's first season with Modena was runner-up, but I think he returned to Japan before the end of the season to play in the university spring league, so that doesn't count!)
However, Ishikawa was very sharp that day. On the offensive side, he often made difficult balls, and in fact, his attack success rate was high at 521 TP3T (although it was painful that he was blocked by 4 of them). He also had one ace on his serve, and he broke down the opponent's passer in other scenes, and the commentator on Volleyball TV seemed to be very passionate when Ishikawa was serving. However, more than the offensive side, he supported the team a lot on the defensive side of the game. Despite receiving the most serves on the team, I think he kept his return rate to a minimum of 441 TP3T and conceded only 3 points against Modena's super strong serve line. He was also very tenacious during the rallies.
And more than anything, his face looked sharper and stronger that day. I think that's how much he put into this match. The quality of his play, his physique, his facial expression, his mental state, his leadership. This match really made me realize that Ishikawa Yuki is one of the top professional volleyball players, that he has become one of the top professional volleyball players.
Of course, the other members of Milan also performed at a level close to 120%. Jaskier, who scored the team's top 21 points, was very reliable, and there were many scenes where I unconsciously shouted "Wow!", such as Porro, who hit four aces, Mosca, who contributed with blocks, and Romano's serve in the fifth set, which made me think that they might turn the game around. However, Patri's poor performance and the absence of Sinenieze, who supported them in the regular season, were major factors. It's hard not to think about what would have happened if these two Frenchmen, the Olympic champions, had been in perfect condition.
Modena was strong after all. Milan kept Modena's ace to a minimum, aimed at Modena's outside hitter, Real, with their serves, and libero Rossini was also not in top form, so they were somewhat successful in lowering the return rate. However, the other outside hitter, Nugapet, was solid, and both outside hitters and opposite Nimir did not lose their ability to make decisions even with high balls. These three outside hitters are truly phenomenal. In terms of V-League players, the OH diagonal is like Kubiak and Kurek, and the OP is like Muserski. On top of that, the setter is the battle-hardened Bruno. Considering that, I think Milan really fought well with that lineup. Thank you for a great game.
However, there is still the fifth place match coming up, so I hope they can somehow win there and grab the right to challenge for next season's European Challenge Cup. On a personal note, I am currently in Europe, so I was planning to watch the quarterfinals in person if they had gone to the third round, but I will have to wait until the fifth place match to see them.
As for the other three quarterfinal matches, it looked like the "Big 4" of Serie A (Perugia, Civitanova, Trento, and Modena, the regulars in the top four) would win consecutive matches after the first match, but Piacenza beat Trento in full sets at home to force a third match. Piacenza came back from 0-2 down and won a thrilling, close match 24-22 in the fifth set. American player Russell played a big role for Piacenza that day. Trento is one of my favorite teams, but Piacenza has French setter Brizard, who is my personal MVP of the Tokyo Olympics, so I'll be rooting for Piacenza. The third match will be held on 4/10 at 18:30 local time (1:30 the next day Japan time (the time difference has become 7 hours due to daylight saving time)).
This is also a personal story, but the first Serie A match I saw in person was Piacenza vs Trento in Piacenza. Trento had J. Kaziski, who was playing for JTEKT, and the Polish setter Zygadwo, while Piacenza had Papi, Zlatanov, and Faye before they retired...
The 5th place deciding match will be held on April 17th for the round-robin matches, and on May 15th for the tournament, so I think I'll probably be able to watch the games in person in May. For more details on the schedule, see the tweet by shindy_jdi (@shindy_jdi) below.
About the playoff 5th place match 📝
[Participating teams]
Milan
Piacenza / Trentino
Monza
Cisterna
Verona
Taranto【schedule】
Qualifying: 4/17, 4/24, 5/1, 5/5, 5/8 (team round robin)
Semi-finals: May 15
Final: May 19thThe winning team will be given the right to participate in the "CEV Challenge Cup" next season.https://t.co/bMPTaUFc7u pic.twitter.com/LIQCJEoK2z
— shindy_jdi (@shindy_jdi) April 3, 2022
Update: The date for the first qualifying match for the 5th place deciding match has been changed to April 16th.
Photo: Lega Pallavolo Serie A
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