In the 10th round of the Italian men's volleyball league Serie A, Milan, where Ishikawa Yuki is currently in 6th place, played against 5th place Roubaix Civitanova (hereinafter Roubaix) at home on Monday, December 5th (local time) and lost 1-3 (21-25, 25-22, 22-25, 21-25).
Ishikawa Yuki started in this match as well, scoring 17 points, the second highest on the team.
First set starting lineup
Milan
OH: Ishikawa,
MB: Vitelli (Italy)
OH/MB: Melgarejo (Cuba), Ebadipour (Iran)
OP/MB: Patry (France)
S: Porro (Italy)
L: Pesaresi (Italy)
Roubaix
OH: Nikolov (Bulgaria), Yant (Cuba)
MB: Sinenieze (France), Diamantini (Italy)
OP: Zaitsev (Italy)
S: Dececco (Argentina)
L: Barrasso (Italy)
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
The stats for this match areHere
Match Report
Milan again had MB Rosell on the bench and MB Piano also not in top form, so they played in an unconventional formation with OH Ebadipoule positioned diagonally across from MB Vitelli.
In the first set, Roubaix managed to break early on with a service ace from MB Sinenieze and took an early lead of 1-4.
Milan also scored points with spikes from OH Ishikawa and MB Vitelli, but they continued to make serve errors and were unable to catch up.
Roubaix's in-form MB Sinenieze not only served but also spiked, and made consecutive blocks in the middle of the match to make the score 12-15.
After that, Milan finally got a block point, closing the gap to just one point at 16-17, but Roubaix quickly succeeded in breaking three times in a row again, with a block from OP Zaitsev on MB Sinenieze's serve, to extend their lead again to 17-22.
Milan's S. Pollo hit some aces towards the end of the match, but OH Melgarejo's serve went wrong and Roubaix took the set 21-25.
In the second set, Roubaix took the lead 2-4 with consecutive points from spikes by OP Zaitsev and OH Nikolov from the early stages.
However, Milan's MB Vitelli made a block on Roubaix's OH Yount to quickly tie the score at 5-5, and the match continued with the score never being more than two points behind.
Milano then took a 12-10 lead with consecutive spikes from OH Ishikawa, who was in good form that day, and then extended their lead to 18-15 with two consecutive breaks, including an ace from S. Pollo's serve.
Roubaix sent OP Garcia (USA) onto the court to replace OP Zaitsev and OH Bottolo (Italy) to replace OH Yount, but OH Ishikawa made solid spikes at key moments, and finally OH Melgarejo's spike was successful, giving Milan the set back 25-22.
In the third set, Roubaix left OP Garcia and OH Bottolo on the court.
Milano scored first with a quick score from OH Melgarejo, but in the early stages there were a series of serve errors on both sides and the score remained at 5-5.
After that, Milano continued to score points mainly through spikes from OP Patrie, while Roubaix scored through spikes from OP Gabi and OH Nikolov, and the game entered the middle stage with the score tied at 12-12.
However, immediately afterwards, OH Melgarejo's spikes from OH Nikolov's serve were blocked by the opponent's block, and Roubaix scored three consecutive breaks to take a 12-16 lead.
Milan wanted to catch up, but they were unable to stop a spike from OH Bottole of Roubaix, and with an ace from OP Garcia, the gap widened to 17-23.
After that, with the help of OH Ishikawa's serve, his own ace, and a nice challenge from coach Piazza, they scored three consecutive breaks to close the gap to 22-23, but in the end, a spike from OP Lawrence, who came on as a substitute, was blocked, and Roubaix took the set 22-25.
In the fourth set, OH Melgarejo scored a service ace right from the start, but made a spike error on a side-out immediately afterwards, giving Roubaix a 1-3 lead.
After that, OH Nikolov's serve was strong and Milano struggled with side outs, but on the other hand, Roubaix countered with four consecutive breaks, each of whose four attackers scored a spike, to extend their lead to 7-11.
After this, OH Ebadipoul made more mistakes and Roubaix's lead widened further to 8-14.
Milan was not going to let it go like this, as MB Vitelli scored a direct spike from OP Patri's powerful serve, and S Pollo also got his third service ace of the match, bringing the score to 16-18, just two points behind.
Later, towards the end of the match, MB Vitelli also got an ace to make the score 21-23, but they were two points away from scoring after that, and in the end, OP Garcia made a brilliant save from a ball he had digged to win the set 21-25 for Roubaix. Milano was sadly defeated by Roubaix with a set score of 1-3.
MVP: OH Mattia Bottolo (11 points, attack success rate 921 TP 3 T!)
Ishikawa Yuki played brilliantly in this match, scoring 17 points (1 of which was on serve), second highest on the team, with an attack success rate of 62% and a serve receive success rate of 48%, but his performance was not enough to lead to the team's victory.
Milan is now in provisional 7th place with a total of 5 wins, 5 losses and 14 points.
Next week, they will play away against 10th-placed Taranto on Sunday, December 11th at 18:00 local time (2:00 Japan time).
The next match is the last one of the first half of the season, and a win will ensure Milan's participation in the Coppa Italia.
Thoughts etc.
First of all, although we lost, it was a great and exciting match!
This week, there were some particularly tough matches to watch, such as Miyaura's match against Nisa and Takahashi's match against Padua, so it was all the more enjoyable and exciting to watch.
I was surprised to see Milano with 3OH again this week, but it seems like everyone is just playing normally now.
Ishikawa's performance in this match was also superb, and his spiking in particular was perhaps his best performance of the season.
Not only did they have a high success rate of 62%, but they also lost zero spike points (due to errors and blocks)!!
It's amazing that he took 26 spikes, scored 16 goals, and didn't concede a single goal!!!
But this is Ishikawa Yuki.
Next time, I hope you'll be the MVP!!!
But in terms of success rate, MVP Bottro also had 11/12 success rate of 921 TP3T...
Too brutal.
This might be the first time I've seen a 92% on a side.
Today I didn't start but joined later, but I can't believe I was able to put in such a good performance after coming on halfway through!!
I'm secretly rooting for Bottro, so I hope he does his best.
By the way, Bottolo is a big fan of One Piece, and apparently he still talks about it with Takahashi, who was his teammate at Padua, every week when the latest chapter is released (laughs).
And the one who was even more impressive in terms of success rate was Milan's MB Vitelli.
Although it was a middle shot, he hit 15 out of 16 shots for a success rate of 94%!!!
Moreover, like Ishikawa, they did not concede a single goal.
This is an amazing number, even though it is a mid-range shot, which tends to have a higher success rate.
It seems that Vitelli has been shining even more brightly since the team has been playing alone in the middle.
Even with Piano and Rosell returning, your starting position is solid.
Speaking of the middle sprinters, Roubaix's Sinenieze played for Milan last season.
He also performed brilliantly in this match with 8 spikes, 4 blocks and 1 serve, giving Milan a hard time.
Last season, Ishikawa and he were in the rotation next to each other, so I had the impression that they talked a lot during games.
During the match, there was a scene in the footage where Ishikawa grinned towards the opponent's court, and I fantasized that he was probably grinning at Sinenieze (lol).
However, by losing here, the confirmation of participation in the Coppa Italia (8th place or higher at the end of the first half of the season) will have to be postponed until next week.
Next week's opponent, Taranto, is not to be underestimated, even though they are currently in 10th place.
I hope we can win with the three points and go into the Coppa Italia in a slightly better position.
If we at least finish in 8th place, our first match will be against unbeaten Perugia, so we must avoid that at all costs...
Photo: Lega Pallovolo Serie A
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