In the second match of the second half of the Italian men's volleyball league Serie A, 10th-placed Padova, the team Takahashi Ai plays for, played against 2nd-placed Roubaix Civitanova (hereinafter Roubaix) at home on Monday, December 26th local time, and lost 0-3 (22-25, 14-25, 17-25).
In this match, Takahashi started but only managed to score four points (attack success rate 291 TP 3T).
First set starting lineup
Padua
OH: Takahashi, De Smet (Belgium)
MB: Canella (Italy), Crosato (Italy)
OP: Petkovic (Serbia)
S: Saitta (Italy)
L: Zenger (Germany)
Roubaix
OH: Nikolov (Bulgaria), Bottolo (Italy)
MB: Sineniese (France), Anzani (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
In the first set, Padua's OP Petkovic was caught by Roubaix's block early on, but OH De Smet scored points with spikes and serves, giving Padua a big lead of 8-4.
Padua wanted to maintain their lead, but OH De Smet was caught in a block by Roubaix's S De Cecco, and then with a service ace from OH Nikolov, Roubaix tied the score at 13-13 in the middle of the match.
Padua scored points with spikes from OH Takahashi, but with spikes from OP Zaitsev and a service ace from OH Bottlo, Roubaix continued to score breaks and took a two-point lead at 16-18.
Near the end of the match, Padua tied the score at 22-22 with OH De Smet's second service ace of the set, but OH Takahashi was unable to score in the side-out that followed, and relief server OP Garcia (USA) scored a counter attack, giving Roubaix the set, 22-25.
In the second set, Roubaix took a sudden lead of 1-5, scoring consecutive points from the beginning with quick hits and blocks from MB Sinenieze and a service ace from OP Zaitsev.
Padova continued to make attack mistakes, widening the gap to 4-10, and although OP Petkovic and S. Saitta were able to get block points, they also made further serve mistakes and were unable to get a break.
Even as the score gap widened, Roubaix's onslaught did not stop, and with a service ace from OH Bottolo and blocks and spikes from MB Anzani, they widened the gap to 10 points at 13-23.Finally, Padova's OP Gusso, who had come on as a substitute, made a serve error, and Roubaix took the set without any trouble at 14-25.
In the third set, Padua, with no other options, started the game with MB Volpato, who had replaced MB Crosart midway through the second set.
Padua got side outs centered around MB Canella and OP Petkovic, while Roubaix got off to a close start.
However, MB Anzani stopped OH Takahashi to put Roubaix ahead by two points at 6-8, and then a strong serve from OH Nikolov, a direct from S Dececco and a block from MB Sinenieze put Roubaix ahead at 10-15 in the middle of the match.
After that, Padua tried to hang on with quick plays from MB Canella, but their attacks from the side were not successful, and on the other hand, Roubaix extended their lead to 15-22 with a service ace from OH Bottolo and a spike from OH Nikolov.
In the end, relief server OP Garcia scored a brilliant service ace, and Roubaix took the set 17-25, and Padua lost 0-3 to Roubaix.
MVP: S Luciano Dececco (3 points (1 attack, 2 blocks))
Takahashi's results were 4 points, attack success rate 29% (1 point conceded), and serve receive success rate 47% (19 receives, 1 point conceded).
With this result, Padua's overall record is 4 wins, 9 losses and 9 points, dropping them one place to provisional 11th place.
Their next match will be against 6th-placed Cisterna at home on Sunday, January 8th at 18:00 local time (2:00 the next day Japan time).
The report for the first half is here:
Thoughts etc.
This match was very tough...
Since the Siena match, we have lost to Piacenza and Modena, but although they were losses that we gained something from. However, this latest loss was a tough one, and it felt like we had gone back to the time before the Siena match.
The early part of the game is good, but then it quickly loses momentum...
The opponents were Roubaix, which featured Italian superstar Zaitsev and Padua-born World Championship gold medalist Bottolo, so the venue was almost full with more than 3,800 spectators.
Padua had won the first half in a full set, and I was hoping to see another giant-killing or at least an exciting match in front of this huge crowd, but reality was not as sweet as we hoped.
I think Padua was able to hold their own relatively well in terms of serve reception as a team, but they made a lot of serve errors and even when they did serve, it wasn't very effective.
Only De Smet was able to put a certain amount of pressure on Roubaix, scoring two aces, but this is not a world where you can win just by having one person serve well.
Takahashi always made a good impression with his serve, but in this match he was unable to break the opponent's serve as he had done in previous matches.
It will be tough unless there are at least two servers in each match who can put pressure on the opponent.
Also, this can be said not only about Takahashi personally, but also about the three players on Padova's wings, but the success rate of their attacks was kept quite low.
The combined attack success rate of the three was just 35%.
The attack effectiveness rate is 14%...
On the other hand, Canella had a success rate of 891 TP and 3T from the middle, which shows that Roubaix had almost completely abandoned mid-range attacks and instead focused on thoroughly marking the sides to create a defense.
Although Takahashi only had one block, his cross spikes were all blocked by the opposing receivers, and even the pipe attack, which had boasted a high degree of accuracy up until that point, was handled well.
In Roubaix, the team had come together better compared to the first half of the season, but it felt like Nikolov's presence made a big difference.
Nikolov played as an opposite at the beginning of the season, but is now firmly established as an outside player.
Although his attack success rate was low in this match, he made good shots at crucial moments and made great contributions to the team with his serves and serve receives.
Additionally, Roubaix used a strategy of using one or both of the starting outside players in the rear guard towards the end of the game by bringing in a relief receiver, abandoning the pipes and tightening the defense.
Coach Brenna has often used this strategy in the past, and even at the Olympics when the team had only 12 registered players, she called up two libero players and put one of them on the bench as a regular player.
De Smet's serve reception is good in the early stages but he often gives up points in the final stages, so I think Padua should do like Roubaix and use second libero Relli as a relief receiver in the final stages.What do you think?
In these two consecutive matches, they were beaten in full sets in the first half of the season in Modena and Roubaix, but in the second half they were defeated in straight sets, showing their true strength.
The next match was against Cisterna, who Takahashi nearly shut out with his blocks in the first half.
Although we ended up losing our last game of 2022, let's keep on track and win our first game of 2023, and keep going all the way to the playoffs.
Even if Padova as a club isn't aiming there, the fans will want it and at least I would like to see Padova play in the playoffs.
Photo: Lega Pallovolo Series A
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