The quarterfinals of the Coppa Italia were held in the Italian men's volleyball league Serie A, and on Thursday, December 29th (local time), Ishikawa Yuki's Milan team, who finished the first half of the league in 7th place, played away against Roubaix Civitanova (hereinafter Roubaix), who were in 2nd place, and won 3-1 (18-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-21).
Yuki Ishikawa started in this match and contributed greatly to the team's victory by scoring a team-high 21 points, and was also selected as the MVP of the match.
Here's the local match report:
After the match, Yuki Ishikawa gave us a comment.
-Congratulations on your victory.
Ishikawa: Thank you.
-Please tell us how you feel right now.
Ishikawa: Well, to be honest, I'm just happy that we beat Civitanova in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia.
-Looking back on today's game, what do you think?
Ishikawa: We started off badly in the first set, but we were able to switch gears and take points 2, 3, and 4, which was good. As for today, in the first half (of the first set), we were still feeling the effects of our losses in the last two or three games, so we started off badly, but we were able to switch gears after that and everyone was able to make corrections, which I think was a big factor.
- Between the first and second sets, was there any kind of team-wide call-out like, "Let's do it like this?"
Ishikawa: No, especially as a team, we just told him to switch gears. The ball didn't come to me at all in the last set, so at the beginning of the second set, I told Paolo (Polo) "Bring me some more balls," and he brought me the ball. Here, my success rate, or rather, my spike feeling, was not bad except for the Taranto match, but I still had fewer shots than the others, like Patri, so I personally asked for a few more shots here.
-You seemed to be playing at a higher level than usual in today's game, as can be seen from the fact that you won your first MVP of the season.
Ishikawa: That's right. It's an important match in the Coppa Italia, and one of our goals is to step up from last season, so although we're not doing so well in the league, finishing 8th, the Coppa Italia is a one-off match, and winning like this puts us on the same stage as last year. After this, we'll face Trento in the Coppa Italia semi-finals, so we need to prepare well for that, but first we have a few league matches in between, so we want to keep playing like this there.
-The Coppa Italia semi-finals and final will be held in Rome in late February, and there are direct flights from Haneda Airport, so it's relatively easy to get to from Japan.
Ishikawa: Yes. I think it will be a big match after the new year. There is no team in Rome, so I am happy that it will be held in Rome, and I hope that many people will come.
- I think there will be more days than usual until the next match, so will you finally have some time off?
Ishikawa: I think we'll have an off-season at the end of the year, but after that we'll go to Siena. They're ranked lower than us, but this year's league is full of teams that will lose if they let their guard down even once, so I want to get my act together and take on the challenge.
-But with today's victory, it looks like you'll be able to have a great New Year (laughs).
Ishikawa: Yes.
Photo: Author
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