The Coppa Italia semi-finals, a cup competition in the Italian men's volleyball league Serie A, were held in Rome on Saturday, February 25th local time, and Ishikawa Yuki's Milan team lost to Trento 2-3 (35-33, 25-22, 19-25, 16-25, 9-15).
Yuki Ishikawa started in this match and scored the team's highest number of points with 21 points, but he experienced pain in his left leg midway through the third set and left the court.
First set starting lineup
Milan
OH: Melgarejo (Cuba), Ishikawa
MB: Vitelli (Italy), Rosell (Argentina)
OP: Patry (France)
S: Porro (Italy)
L: Pesaresi (Italy)
Torrent
OH: Micheletto (Italy), Lavia (Italy)
MB: De Gea (Belgium), Podrascanin (Serbia)
OP: Kaziski (Bulgaria)
S: Sbertori (Italy)
L: Laurenzano (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, Milano took an 8-5 lead early on with breaks thanks to a service ace from MB Rosell and a spike from OP Patri.
Trento also added points with spikes from OH Micheletto, but Milan also did not give up a break with spikes from OH Ishikawa, and Milan was leading 19-15 as the game approached the end.
However, relief server OP Nelli hit three consecutive breaks, including two aces, to tie the score at 19-19, and the game then became a battle for side outs.
The game continued to be a battle of points even after the game went into deuce, but Milan's S. Porro continued to pass the ball to OH Ishikawa, who responded by scoring one after another with a variety of attacks.
Finally, with the score at 34-33, OH Ishikawa's pipe attack was successful, and Milano took the set in a very close match, 35-33.
In the second set, OH Ishikawa took the first point with a skillful short serve, but then OH Micheletto and OH Lavia's pipe attacks allowed Trent to break and take a 9-12 lead.
In the middle of the game Milan took the lead at 15-14 with a service ace from MB Vitelli, but a block from OH Lavia and a service ace from S. Sbertoli put Trento back in front at 15-17.
However, at 20-21, substitute OH Ebadipoour's serve was strong, and then substitute MB Piano scored a block in succession, putting Milano at 24-21 and reaching set point first.
In the end, Trento's relief pitcher Neri made an error on the serve, giving Milan the set 25-22.
In the third set, Milan started with OH Ebadipour replacing OH Melgarejo.
From the early stages, Trent made several breaks with blocks from MB Podrascanin and spikes from OH Ravia, taking a 4-8 lead.
Milan fought back with a spike from OH Ishikawa, but no one other than Ishikawa could score, and with more mistakes, Trento widened the gap to 8-15.
After that, OP KAZYSKI's spikes and other points were won, and when OH Ishikawa hurt his leg and left the court at 17-22, OP KAZYSKI served and spiked in succession to win the set 19-25.
In the fourth set, OH Ishikawa was on the court from the start, but after scoring a spike to make the score 5-6, the pain still seemed to be subsiding and he was replaced by OH Ebadipour.
From there, OH Melgarejo, OP Patri, and OH Ebadipoul all lost points in attack due to blocks and mistakes, giving Trent a big lead at 6-11.S Sbertoli then broke again with a block and serve, widening the gap even further to 13-22.
Milan replaced OP Patri, who was unable to spike, with MB Piano, and sent him back onto the court at 15-24, where he immediately spiked, but OP Patri made a final serve error and Trent took the set 16-25.
In the fifth set, OH Ishikawa, who missed the start due to leg pain, encouraged the team from the bench.
MB Rosell showed a strong attack in the first set, but then he allowed a break with OH Michelet's serve and OH Kaziski's spike, and the match went into the court change with Trent leading 4-8.
Milan's OH Ebadipour scored with a spike, but was unable to break through, and instead allowed OH Micheletto to score an ace to extend the lead to 7-12.
And in the end, OH Micheletto's pipe attack was successful, and Trento won the set 9-15, coming back from behind to win 2-3 against Milan.
Although Ishikawa Yuki was only able to play on the court until the beginning of the fourth set, he still managed to score the most points on the team with 21 points (1 serve and 1 block), an attack success rate of 51%, and a serve receive success rate of 52%.
The next match will see us return to the league, playing away against 4th-placed Roubaix Civitanova on Saturday, March 4th at 18:00 local time (2:00 Japan time).
Photo: Lega Pallavolo Serie A
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