In the second round of the Italian Serie A Superliga, Milan, the team that Ishikawa Yuki plays for, played against Monza away on October 8th local time and won 3-2 (23-25, 23-25, 25-20, 25-23, 15-11). Milan was down two sets and had a maximum deficit of eight points in the third set, but made a huge comeback to win, earning their first win in the league.
Unlike last week, when they were completely defeated by Cisterna 3-0, the Milan players seemed to be moving well from the start. In the first and second sets, Monza concentrated the ball on their opposite Grozelle (Germany), while Milan scored points mainly from the three wings, OH Ishikawa, Ebadipoule (Iran), and OP Patry (France), leading both teams to 20 points. It was especially nice to see Ebadipoule, who was in poor form last week, perform well.
However, from there she allowed successive breaks of serve from Monza's Grozelle and OH Dawiskiva (Belarus), losing the first and second sets at the last minute.
In the third set, with no other options, Monza took a huge lead from the beginning and we were pushed to the brink of a cliff with a maximum of 8 points behind at 12-4. To be honest, at this point I had almost given up, thinking, "We're losing 3-0 again today? Two straight losses to teams that aren't in the BIG4 is bad. Is this season okay...?" (Sorry).
However, it was OH Melgarejo (Cuba) who replaced Ebadipoul and changed the hopeless flow. He made full use of his physical ability and scored a lot of points with high spikes and blocks. It was really amazing.
Melgarejo's performance completely changed the flow of the game, and perhaps under pressure, the opponent made a series of mistakes, and the score was tied in the middle of the game. Milan's captain MB Piano (Italy) and Ishikawa continued the momentum, scoring service aces to pull away from Monza and take back the third set.
Melgarejo's momentum continued into the fourth set, and as if influenced by that, the performance of Milan's other players also improved, and Milan continued to win, sending the match into a full set.
In the fifth set, Melgarejo struggled with the opponent's blocks and serves, and Monza took the lead in the early stages. However, when Ebadipoule came back to the court to replace Melgarejo, he was also inspired by his teammates' efforts, and contributed to the team by converting difficult balls into points with his spikes as well as serve receptions. Furthermore, Milano succeeded in turning the game around with consecutive breaks from Ishikawa's good serves, and with the ace piano player Ishikawa's sharp pipes, Milano pulled away in the final stages and won the set, winning a major comeback against Monza!
The MVP was Melgarejo. There's no doubt about that. Although he was only on the court for about two of the five sets, he was the team's best scorer with 18 points, including 14 spikes and 4 blocks, and more than anything, he brought momentum to the team. He was definitely a game changer. When he was on the Cuban national team, he was more of a defensive factor and didn't leave much of an impression, but he showed his full potential in this match, reminding us that "by the way, he was Cuban too" (laughs).
Ishikawa also seemed to be in good form that day. He made 13 attacks with a success rate of 501 TP3T and 2 service aces, and the numbers show that. His jumping height, power and sharpness of his spikes were also very noticeable during the match. He also expressed his joy by shouting "Yeeees!" when other players scored, and his eyes never gave up even when he was at a disadvantage, so I felt his spirit.
It's true that losing this game would have been very bad for the future of the league, so I think the feeling of ``we absolutely cannot lose'' was even more apparent.
On the other hand, Monza lost, but they put in a great performance. In particular, the opposite player, Grozel, was amazing. On this day, he hit 53 shots by himself, with a success rate of 491 TP3T, and two service aces, for a total of 28 points. This player is 38 years old. In Japan, he would be in the same class as Koshigawa, Yoneyama, and Tomimatsu. It is truly monstrous that he can maintain this level of performance at this age. I hope he continues to work hard at least until he is 40 (laughs).
However, with Melgarejo's outstanding performance, it looks like the competition for Milan's starting outside hitter position will intensify. Ishikawa and Ebadipoule have played in the last two matches, but I personally think that from the next match onwards, it will be Ishikawa and Melgarejo. However, Ebadipoule also made a great comeback in the fifth set, so it remains to be seen what will happen. Depending on how Ishikawa performs in the future, there is also a possibility that he may be dropped from the starting lineup. However, I think it is great that the team can motivate each other and improve in this way. However, I still want Ishikawa to be in the starting lineup, so for now, do your best, Ishikawa! (laughs)
Another issue for Milano in the future, or rather, what I personally want them to do better at, is the combination of MB Rosell (Argentina) and setter Porro (Italy). Even though there were five sets that day, they only managed four spike points, with a success rate of 441 TP and 3 T, which were mediocre numbers. Rosell is a player who can score more points, and if there were five sets, he could score about 15 points. Porro, I'm counting on you, Porro.
The stats for this match areHere
Once again, in this match, they lost two sets, and were in a terrible state until the middle of the third set, but then they made a huge comeback. This was probably the first time I've seen such a big comeback and win a match. You never know what's going to happen in sports, and I think volleyball is really fun!
The next match will be at home against Ishikawa's former club Siena on Sunday, October 16th at 15:30 local time (22:30 Japan time). I hope they win this match easily (laughs).
All Italian League matches are broadcast live and archived on Volleyball TV. Please refer to the link below for how to watch.
Photo: Lega Pallavolo Serie A
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