In the 11th match of the second half of the Italian men's volleyball league Serie A, Takahashi Ai's team, Padova (10th place), played against Piacenza (6th place) away on Sunday, March 12th local time, and lost 1-3 (15-25, 25-18, 21-25, 21-25).
As a result, Padua finished the regular season in 10th place, one place higher than last season.
Takahashi started the game and scored a team-high 14 points.
First set starting lineup
Padua
OH: Takahashi, De Smet (Belgium)
MB: Volpato (Italy), Crosato (Italy)
OP: Petkovic (Serbia)
S: Saitta (Italy)
L: Zenger (Germany)
Piacenza
OH: Lucarelli (Brazil), Real (Brazil)
MB: Simon (Cuba), Caneschi (Italy)
OP: Romano (Italy)
S: Brisard (France)
L: Scanfera (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, Piacenza took the lead 1-3 early on with MB Simon's serve and block, and then with a service ace from OP Romano's serve and a spike from OH Real, Piacenza broke five times in a row to widen the gap to 4-11.
Padua gradually narrowed the gap to 13-17 with spikes and service aces from OH Takahashi and blocks from MB Crosart, but OP Romano again scored two consecutive service aces, followed by four consecutive breaks from OH Real's serve, and Piacenza took the set 15-25.
In the early stages of the second set, Padova took a 5-2 lead with spikes from OP Petkovic and OH Asparuhov (Bulgaria), who came on midway through the first set.
From there, OP Romano's service ace made the score 6-5, just one point difference, but in the middle of the game, Padua scored consecutive points from OH Takahashi's serve with his own pipe attack, widening the gap to 12-8 again.
The match continued with Padova in the lead until the end, when OH Takahashi scored consecutive points with a spike and a service ace to make the score 20-15. Finally, OH Asparuhov scored two consecutive service aces to give Padova the set back 23-18.
In the third set, the game started off close, but Piacenza took a 5-8 lead thanks to consecutive points from MB Kaneschi's blocks and spikes, and then OH Real and OP Romano's spikes extended the lead to 9-14.
Padua fought back with quick shots from MB Crossart that had a high success rate, but OH Takahashi was caught in the opponent's block and they were unable to close the gap. In the end, OH Real's quick shot made it 21-25, and Piacenza took the set.
In the early stages of the fourth set, Padua scored points with OH Takahashi and OH Asparuhov, while Piacenza scored points with OH Real and substitute MB Alonso (Cuba), and the game continued to be close at 8-9.
However, with a service ace from OP Romano and a pipe attack from OH Lucarelli, Piacenza took the lead at 8-12, and then with a service ace from MB Kaneschi and a direct spike from a powerful serve from S Brizard, Piacenza widened the lead to 13-19.
Padua closed the gap to three points at 17-20 with a service ace from OP Petkovic and a spike from OH Asparuhov, but in the final minutes, OP Romano scored his sixth service ace of the match, and finally MB Alonso scored a quick goal to give Piacenza the set at 21-25.
As a result, Padova lost to Piacenza with a set score of 1-3.
MVP: OP Yuri Romano (19 points (6 serves, 2 blocks), attack success rate 44%)
Takahashi Ai led the team with 14 points (2 of which were serves), with an attack success rate of 43% and a serve receive success rate of 56%.
With this match, Padua finished the regular season with 7 wins, 15 losses and 18 points, finishing in 10th place (11th last season).
As a result, Padova will advance to the 5th place qualifying tournament, which will be played in a round-robin format twice among the three teams ranked 9th to 11th.
Thoughts on the match etc.
In the final game of the regular season, Padua suffered a defeat symbolizing this season, when Takahashi's outside hitter was thrown off balance by a serve receive.
De Smet, who was in the starting lineup, conceded two goals early on and was substituted, and Asparuhov, who came on next, also conceded four goals with a success rate of just 19%.
Takahashi also conceded three serve receives in this match, but at least two of them were errors made as he was too focused on covering for Asparuhov next to him, catching him off guard.
Well, I guess this is Padua this season.
It is undeniable that there was a huge difference in motivation between Piacenza, where a win would have changed their playoff opponent, and Padua, where the situation would have remained unchanged whether they won or lost.
But I think it was great that we managed to win one set despite all that.
Takahashi was a good player until the end.
Compared to usual, there were four blocks, which was slightly more than usual, but this can't be helped considering that the high balls were also aimed at Petkovic, whose success rate did not improve.
However, he served two aces, showing his usual professionalism.
wonderful.
He was extremely reliable, always doing the minimum required work right up until the final game.
Asparuhov also had three service aces and a 50% attack success rate (conceding only one goal), so his numbers were impeccable on the offensive side, but as mentioned above, his serve reception was a disaster...
Also in this match, middle-back Crossart had a great attack success rate of 7/7, 1001 TP, 3 T, and 2 blocks.
Crossart is still young and has been selected for the Italian under-age national team, so we are looking forward to seeing him grow in the future.
Piacenza was defeated by Romano anyway.
Six service aces is amazing.
Even though he wasn't an ace, he kept breaking through and there was nothing we could do.
To be honest, I don't think Piacenza was particularly good at serving that day, but Romano was just too good.
But once again, congratulations to Padova for avoiding relegation.
There are rumors that Takahashi will be going to Monza next season, so it looks like he will not be staying, but I am a little worried about what kind of team we will have next season, but I am looking forward to it (laughs).
At the time of writing this, the first match of the qualifying round for the 5th place deciding match has already ended.
Both matches felt like practice matches, and Petkovic has already gone to work in Qatar (lol), so I think the match against Piacenza was our last serious match of the season.
I'm glad that everyone was able to finish the regular season without any major injuries.
Thank you for your hard work.
Photo: Lega Pallavolo SerieA
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