In the qualifying round for the 5th place playoff in the Italian Men's Volleyball League Serie A, Takahashi Ai's team, Padova, played against Taranto at home on Wednesday, April 12th local time, and won 3-1 (25-13, 25-21, 22-25, 25-18).
With this, Padova's overall record in the 5th place qualifying round improved to 3 wins and 1 loss, and they have qualified for the main tournament in first place.
Takahashi Ai played from the middle of the third set of the match until the end, and played in the forward court for the first time in a while.
First set starting lineup
Padua
OH: Gardini (Italy), De Smet (Belgium)
MB: Canella (Italy), Crosato (Italy)
OP: Guzzo (Italy)
S: Zoppellari (Italy)
L: Zenger (Germany)
Taranto
OH: Ekstrand (Sweden), Andreopoulos (Greece)
MB: Aletti (Italy), La Rizza (Italy)
OP: Gargiulo (Italy)
S: Cottarelli (Italy)
L: Pieri (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 took a big lead at 9-2 early on with a service ace from De Smet and a block from Canella.
After that, Gardini continued to break the serve with service aces and spikes, as well as opponents' attack mistakes, further widening the lead to 20-8.
Guzzo scored another spike to give Padova the set, 25-13, with ease.
In the second set, Padua took a 7-5 lead early on thanks to their opponent's mistakes and Guzzo's attacks, but Taranto continued to make noticeable attack mistakes, allowing Padua to extend their lead to 13-9.
After that, they continued to break with a block from Cannella and a spike from Gardini, making the score 20-15.
Finally, with a spike from Gardini, Padua took the set 25-21.
In the early stages of the third set, Padua scored points mainly through Guzzo and Taranto through Andreopoulos, and the set was tied at 9-9.
Padua then widened their lead to 13-9 with blocks from Gardini, but Taranto scored consecutive points with a service ace from Gargiulo, a spike from Andrepoulos and a block from Ekstrand to turn the game around to 17-19.
Padua then brought on Takahashi and Asparuhov as opposite to replace Guzzo, who had injured his leg, but Andreopoulos continued to score spikes and Taranto took the set 21-25.
In the fourth set, Padua's Takahashi and Asparuhov were used as they were.
Padua took the lead 8-5 early on with a service ace from Takahashi.
In the middle of the match, Gardini scored a service ace and Takahashi scored a spike and a block to widen the lead to 16-10.
Taranto's Andreopoulos scored points but failed to get a break point, and finally Asparuhov scored a spike to give Padua the set 25-18.
As a result, Padua won against Taranto 3-1.
MVP: OH Davide Gardini (21 points (3 serves, 3 blocks), 52% attack success rate, 52% serve reception success rate)
Takahashi Ai scored 7 points (1 on the serve and 2 on the block), with an attack success rate of 67% and a serve receive success rate of 89%.
With this, Padova secured first place in the qualifying round for the 5th place deciding match, securing a place in the main tournament.
The next match will be against Verona away on Sunday, April 15th at 8:30pm local time (3:30am Japan time).
Thoughts on the match etc.
There was such a shortage of personnel that the original opposite played on the side, the original middle played as opposite, and then the middle player got injured during the game and the opposite player who wasn't fully recovered from his injury took over as middle player, making for a chaotic Taranto (I never thought I'd see an underhand serve in a Serie A game).
However, Padova lost the set.
But it was good to be able to watch Takahashi play for a long time, especially his serves and spikes.
He was so energetic that he jumped too far during the pipe attack and ended up foot-faulting (lol)
Also, just having Takahashi there made a huge difference in the sense of security on the floor.
In this qualifying match for the 5th place deciding match, De Smet did his best in his defensive role, but the level is still different.
Takahashi must have also enjoyed jumping for the first time in a while.
Also, Asparuhov, the opposite player, was good.
In fact, he might be better suited to playing opposite instead of on the side.
After all, the passing is less stable on the side.
In the end, Padova, the only team that had all of its remaining members remaining, advanced to the main tournament.
Congratulations? Is that okay?
In any case, the main match to decide 5th place starts tonight, but what stance will Padova's coach, Cuttini, take towards this?
Will they field a team centered around the remaining young members for next season, as they did in the preliminaries, or will they put Takahashi out for a serious fight?
Personally, I think other teams will also be aiming for 5th place and a spot in the Challenge Cup, so I think Padova will also be in serious mode.
Let's look forward to it!

Photo: PallavoloPadova