In the fourth match of the second half of the Italian men's volleyball league Serie A, Milan, where Ishikawa Yuki plays and is in 7th place in the league, played against 2nd place Modena at home on Sunday, January 15th local time, and won 3-1 (23-25, 30-28, 25-18, 25-21).
Ishikawa Yuki started in this match, scoring a team-leading 20 points and being selected as the first MVP of the league this season.
First set starting lineup
Milan
OH: Melgarejo (Cuba), Ishikawa
MB: Rosell (Argentina), piano (Italy)
OP: Patry (France)
S: Porro (Italy)
L: Pesaresi (Italy)
Modena
OH: Engapé (France), Rinaldi (Italy)
MB: Sanguinetti (Italy), Stankovic (Serbia)
OP: Lagumzia (Türkiye)
S: Bruno (Brazil/Italy)
L: Rossini (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, Milan made a series of mistakes and allowed Modena to get off to a good start, trailing 0-3.
From there, Milan closed the gap to just one point at 9-10 with spikes from OH Ishikawa and spikes and blocks from MB Rosell, but Modena scored consecutive breaks from OH Rinaldi's serve with aces of their own to extend their lead again to 13-17.
In the final stages, Milan continued to break with spikes from OH Ishikawa and OP Patri, and then Modena's OH Engape made a mistake, tying the score at 23-23, but in the end, OH Engape's spike and OP Patri touched the net, and Modena took the set 23-25.
In the second set, OH Ishikawa blocked OH Rinaldi early on, and after a long rally, OH Ishikawa scored a spike to give Milan a 4-1 lead.
From there, MB Rosell's blocks and attacks extended the lead to 7-2, but Modena also continued to break through with a service ace from S Bruno, a spike from OH Rinaldi, and a return block to Ishikawa, closing the gap to just one point at 8-7.
However, OH Ishikawa cut off the momentum with a spike, and then with a block from OH Engape from OH Melgarejo's serve and a direct spike, Milan took a large lead again at 15-10.
After that, both teams continued to score points through attacks and blocks, but the game ended with Milan leading 23-20.
However, Modena tied the score at 23-23 at the last minute with two consecutive breaks, including an ace of his own, from OH Rinaldi's serve, and the match went to deuce.
Milan continued to make mistakes when they were just one point away, but during that time OH Ishikawa scored a lot of spikes, and in the end, OP Patri smashed the ball that was returned directly from Ishikawa's powerful serve into the opponent's court, and Milan somehow managed to take the set 30-28.
The third set began with a service ace from the in-form Ishikawa Yuki.
After that, Milan scored points with spikes from OH Ishikawa and OP Patri, while Modena scored with attacks and blocks from MB Stankovic and a two from S Bruno, and the game remained tied at 10-10 as the game approached the middle of the game.
However, Modena's OH Engape made two spike errors, and then OH Melgarejo blocked OH Engape and OP Lagungia, giving Milan a sudden lead of 19-11.
After that, Modena was able to get side outs, but continued serving errors meant they were unable to close the gap, and in the end OH Melgarejo blocked OH Rinaldi's pipe attack, giving Milan the set 25-18.
In the fourth set, Milan scored points mainly through OH Ishikawa and OH Melgarejo, while Modena scored points mainly through OH Rinaldi and OP Lagunzia, and the score remained close at 11-11 until the middle of the set.
Modena then broke with a service ace from OH Rinaldi to take a step ahead at 11-13, but Milano managed to turn the game around with consecutive blocks from MB Piano to take a 16-14 lead.
In the final minutes, MB Rosell, MB Piano and OP Patri made three consecutive blocks to stop Modena's OP Lagunzia and OH Rinaldi, giving Milan a four-point lead at 23-19.Finally, OH Ishikawa's sharp pipe attack was successful, giving Milan a 25-21 victory over Modena, 3-1.
MVP: Yuki Ishikawa (20 points (1 serve, 3 blocks), attack success rate 391 TP3T, serve reception success rate 30%)
This is Ishikawa's first MVP award in a league match and his second this season, following his win in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals at the end of the year.
Milan now sits in 6th place with 8 wins, 7 losses and 23 points.
Their next match will be against Verona, who are in 9th place, away from home on Sunday, January 22nd at 15:30 local time (11:30 the next day Japan time).
The report for the first half is here:
Yuki Ishikawa's post-match comments (translated from legavolley.it)
I'm very happy that we were able to beat such a strong opponent. We lost the first set because we didn't play well as a team, but as the match went on, we got better and better with each set. As a result, we were able to show our good play on the court.
Thoughts etc.
Congratulations to Milan for the win and to Ishikawa Yuki for winning his first league MVP award!!
Despite playing at an MVP level in last week's match against Siena, he somehow lost the MVP award to Melgarejo, which made me feel a bit frustrated, but I'm really glad that he managed to win this week and get the MVP award.
As he himself commented on his official Twitter account, he conceded more goals than usual in attack and his conversion rate was low, but his ability to make decisions in key moments was high, so throughout the game as a whole the high number of goals conceded and his low conversion rate didn't seem to be a big deal.
Last year, after the unexpected comeback defeat to Piacenza, you commented that "we need more strength to see it through to the end," and I think that they have really improved in their ability to see it through to the end, to secure that important point, as they did in the match against Civitanova at the end of the year.
The fact that he is always able to walk the talk is what makes him so amazing and appealing.
Also, the blocking as a whole team was amazing!
4 sets totaling 21 blocks!!
21 blocks in one game might be the first time I've ever seen that number.
Normally, even two block points per set is considered a good result, but averaging more than five per set is astonishing.
In particular, MB Rosell scored seven of them on his own.
Rosell also made his presence felt in this match with his well-coordinated combination with Porro, scoring six points, but this is an even greater tally than that.
In another game that week, Piacenza's MB Simon scored 25 points on his own despite being a middle blocker.
The combination of Rosell and Porro seems to have gotten better and better this year, so I hope that Porro will continue to be used a lot and that he will eventually be able to score around 20 points in a game (laughs).
On the other hand, the biggest victim of the Milan block was Engape in Modena.
Normally, he is not a player with much experience wearing such spikes, but he was quite lackluster in this match.
I think his poor form was one of the big reasons for Milan's victory.
In addition to league matches, Modena players also participate in the CEV Cup, a European cup competition that takes place every two weeks, and had just played a match in Germany four days prior to this day.
Moreover, since the opponent in this match in Germany was an inferior team, they left their key player, Engape, out of the starting lineup, but this did not work out, so they brought in Engape, but they still lost in a full set.
Ideally, they would have wanted to give Ngape a rest, but the loss in full sets left him even more physically and mentally fatigued, and this may have had an impact on their performance in the match against Milan.
However, that is the fate of the top European teams.
The key for Modena going forward will be how they can break free from their reliance on Engape.
Young Rinaldi did well in this game, but they still conceded a lot of goals, so he needs to grow into an attacker that Bruno can trust more.
Returning to Milan, it seems that the best outside hitting combination would be to start with Ishikawa-Melgarejo and then add Ebadipoule in Melgarejo's place later.
However, I personally feel disappointed that Ebadipoul has so few opportunities to play.
We became kind of good friends (laughs).
Before coming to Milan, he played in Poland for five seasons and he loves Poland, so I think that if Melgarejo and Ishikawa stay next season, Ebadipoour might return to Poland.
And piano!!
He had shaved his beard so for a moment I didn't know who it was (lol)!!!
He looks so much younger, and his piano playing is so handsome too.
In any case, Milan earned three valuable points against Modena.
From here, they will face Verona and Perugia, two teams that they lost to in straight sets in the first half of the season.
They will especially want to get revenge against Verona, so be sure to check out next week's match!
By the way, I'm planning on doing an on-site interview next week!!!
Stay tuned!!!
Photo: Lega Pallavolo Serie A, Powervolley Milano
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