The 7th round of the Italian men's volleyball league Serie A featured a Japanese showdown between Milan, where Ishikawa Yuki plays, and Padova, where Takahashi Ai plays. The match took place in Padova on Sunday, November 13th local time, with Milan winning 3-1 (28-30, 25-23, 25-19, 25-18).
Ishikawa and Takahashi both started in the game, with Ishikawa scoring 11 points and Takahashi scoring 12 points.
First set starting lineup
Milan
OH: Ishikawa, Ebadipour (Iran)
MB: Vitelli (Italy), Rosell (Argentina)
OP: Patry (France)
S: Porro (Italy)
L: Pesaresi (Italy)
Padua
OH: Takahashi (Japan), Asparuhov (Bulgaria)
MB: Volpato (Italy), Crosato (Italy)
OP: Petkovic (Serbia)
S: Saitta (Italy)
L: Zenger (Germany)
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
The stats for this match areHere
Match Report
Immediately after the start of the first set, Milan's MB Vitelli scored a service ace against his former club Padova, followed by Ishikawa blocking OP Petkovic and MB Rosell blocking Takahashi in succession, giving Milan a good start with a 4-1 lead.
After that, Milan continued to score points, mainly from OH Ebadipour, but Padova began to catch up with Milan, with Petkovic and OH Asparuhov scoring with stable serve reception.
Ishikawa made it 18-16 with a sharp pipe attack, and Takahashi then followed up with a sharp pipe attack to tie the score at 19-19. Then he succeeded in breaking Asparuhov's serve in succession, and the score became 19-19. From there, it was a fierce battle with many long rallies, with neither side giving an inch.
Milano had the first set point at 24-23 with an ace from Rosell, but Petkovic converted the next to make it deuce.
There were tense moments as both teams had set points only to be broken and lose the set point, but in the end Padua's MB Crosart scored consecutive spikes and blocks to give Padua a close match and take the set 28-30.
In the second set, Padua, with Takahashi and others serving well from the beginning, consistently broke and extended their lead to 11-8. Takahashi also got a service ace, and Padua took a big lead of 9-15 going into the middle of the set.
However, Milano broke the bad flow with a light spike from Ishikawa, and from there Yuki Ishikawa came to life with his serve.
With sharp serves that broke down Padua's Takahashi and libero Zenger, Milan succeeded in breaking four consecutive times, including an ace, and closed in on Padua, taking a 14-15 lead.
The match continued with Padova in the lead, but Ishikawa again scored a service ace to tie the score at 21-21 for Milano, and then Vitelli's block put Milano back on top at 23-22. Finally, Patri scored a goal to take the set back at 25-23.
In the third set, Milan left Melgarejo (Cuba), who had replaced Ebadipour midway through the second set, on the court.
Padova got going first, with Takahashi scoring the first point with a spike, and then Asparuhov scored a fake set to give Padova a 0-3 lead.
However, Milano quickly tied the score at 4-4 with Takahashi being caught twice in a row, and then with a service ace from Ishikawa and a pipe attack, they managed to turn the game around to 14-12.
From there, Ishikawa hit consecutive sharp spikes into the opponent's court, and with Melgarejo also hitting an ace, Milan further extended their lead to 22-15.In the end, Padova made a mistake and Milan took the set 25-19.
For the fourth set, Ebadipour returned to Milan Court to replace Ishikawa, who had developed leg cramps.
Milan's momentum continued, however, as they took an early lead of 6-3 thanks to a spike from Melgarejo and a block from Rosell.
Padua was unable to entrust the ball to Takahashi, who had not been able to score a spike since the middle of the third set, and their attacks became more monotonous and they struggled.
Meanwhile, Milan's Patry and Ebadipour were able to consistently score spikes, and Rosell also scored consecutive block points, allowing Milan to maintain their momentum and dominate the match with an 18-12 lead.
In the final minutes, Melgarejo scored an ace to make it 21-14, and then Ebadipoour's serve hit the net for an ace, giving Milan a comfortable 25-18 win and a 3-1 victory over Padua.
In the match between two Japanese players, Ishikawa's Milano came out victorious.
The MVP was Melgarejo, who scored 11 points (2 of which were serves) and had an attack success rate of 53%.
Ishikawa Yuki scored 11 points (3 on serves) with an attack success rate of 38%, while Takahashi Ai scored 12 points (1 on serves) with an attack success rate of 35%.
As a result of this, Milano is provisionally in 7th place with a total of 4 wins, 3 losses and 10 points, while Padua is provisionally in 10th place with a total of 3 wins, 3 losses and 6 walks.
Next week, Milan will play at home against Piacenza on Sunday, November 20th at 8:30pm local time (4:30am Japan time), and Padova will play away against Verona on Monday, November 21st at 7:30pm local time (3:30am Japan time).
Thoughts etc.
Wow, that was an amazing match...
Before the match started, I thought, "Milan is stronger in terms of strength, but Padua is in good form, so somehow it looks like Padua will win" (sorry to all Ishikawa and Milan fans).
The game is finally starting.
The first set was a fierce battle, with both teams trading long rallies.
However, the reception and spikes of Takahashi of Padua, who ultimately took the set, were outstanding, and I also thought it was great that Asparuhov, who was positioned diagonally opposite Takahashi and was a challenge for Padua, held up well without being too disrupted in serve reception.
But anyway, the rallies were long. The points were 30-28, and I think I was pretty full at this point, or at least about 80% full, because the first set was so intense.
But now it was time for the show.
Padua continued to maintain the momentum from the first set until the middle of the game, and just as we were starting to think, "Hmm, maybe Padua will just win easily?!", Professor Ishikawa Dai's serve came along.
First, Takahashi got a hit, then Zenger got a hit, and after a timeout, a service ace came.
No no, isn't that a little too sharp?!?!
I couldn't help but shout out, "Ishikawa Sensei~~~~~~!!!" (Ishikawa Yuki is a man who for some reason always feels the need to add "sensei" to anything.)
Milano took the second set with an ace and a pipe on the serve after another lap, and in the third set, he was also sharp with consecutive attacks on service aces from the middle of the match.
They showed their sharpness in the third set of last week's match against Perugia, but today's match gave the impression that they had stepped up another gear.
Yes, this is Yuki Ishikawa.
But then he disappeared from the fourth set, and it seemed he had a cramp in his leg...
Of course if you increase the gear that much it's going to overheat; that's how Gear Second in One Piece was set up.
Nevertheless, Milan won the game.
Personally, I would have liked to see a full set, but I was happy to see Ishikawa Sensei's awakening.
If Ishikawa had been able to continue playing until the end, he would undoubtedly have been the MVP.
Even if he didn't make it to the 4th set, I still want to give the MVP to Ishikawa!! You're the MVP!! (laughs)
Also, one of my favorite middle players, Rosel, had a great game with seven blocks.
Next, I'd like to improve my combination with Porro and try some drifting or powerful Rosellin even with the quicker ones.
Also, personally, I think Ishikawa-Melgarejo is the best outside option for Milan (although I'm sure coach Piazza wants to use Ebadipoul).
Meanwhile, Takahashi of Padua struggled.
The first set went well, but we just couldn't get our front spikes through Milano's blocks.
This is surely still an area that will be a challenge.
Also, Asparuhov did his best in receiving serves, but the libero Zenger was too disrupted; conceding five points as a libero is not good.
The rematch at Milan's home stadium in the second half of the league will be in February next year.
It seems that there weren't that many people who came from Japan to support the team at this match, and the local crowd wasn't that full either, so I hope that the match at Allianz Cloud in February will be filled with more spectators.
I'm looking forward to a long, suspenseful match with a full set to see the outcome!!
However, next week we will be playing strong opponents against Piacenza and Verona, so we will first focus on the games in front of us!
If that happens, perhaps we will see these two face off in the Coppa Italia and perhaps even in the playoffs in the future.
That gets really exciting!!!
Photo: Lega Pallavolo Serie A, Powervolley Milano
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