In the Italian men's volleyball league Serie A, Ishikawa Yuki's Milan team played the third match of the playoff third place match against Piacenza away on Saturday, May 6th local time, and lost 0-3 (19-25, 26-28, 21-25).
Ishikawa Yuki started in this match and scored three goals for the team.
First set starting lineup
Milan
OH: Melgarejo (Cuba), Ishikawa
MB: Rosell (Argentina), piano (Italy)
OP: Patry (France)
S: Porro (Italy)
L: Pesaresi (Italy)
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, Milan took the lead 3-1 with two early attacks from Porro, but then Piacenza made a series of attack mistakes, allowing Milan to extend their lead to 12-7.
However, a spike from Lucarelli helped Piacenza narrow the gap to 12-10, and then Leal and Romano's spikes from Simon's serve gave Piacenza six consecutive breaks to take the lead and take a 14-18 lead.
From there, Romano's service ace and other efforts further increased the lead to 16-24, and finally, Ishikawa's serve error gave Piacenza the set, 19-25.
In the second set, Piacenza started off leading 2-4 thanks to a block from Simon and some mistakes from Milano.
After that, both teams fought for side outs, mainly with opposites Patri and Romano, but Milano scored consecutive points with blocks from Ishikawa and spikes from Pollo, and managed to turn the game around to 11-9.
Milano maintained their lead at 19-17 heading into the final minutes, but shortly afterwards, a spike from Simon and a spike and block from Romano put Piacenza back to 19-20, and Romano then scored a service ace to make it 21-23.
Milan also tied the score at 23-23 with a direct spike from Patri after a strong serve from Ishikawa, and took the set to deuce, but Lucarelli got three consecutive side outs, denying Milan an opportunity to counterattack, and in the end, Real blocked Patri's spike, and Piacenza took the set 26-28.
In the third set, Milano took a 6-4 lead with spikes from Patri and Ishikawa.
However, with a service ace from Kaneschi, Piacenza turned the game around to 7-8, and then with a spike from Kaneschi they extended the lead to 10-12.
Piacenza continued to score points with a block from Romano and a service ace from Lucarelli to make the score 15-20.
Milan fought back with spikes from Patri and Rosell, but in the end Ishikawa made a serve error and Piacenza took the set 21-25.
As a result, Milan lost 0-3 to Piacenza.
MVP: OH Ricardo Lucarelli (14 points (3 on serve), 52% attack success rate, 171 TP, 3 T)
Ishikawa Yuki scored three points, with an attack success rate of 13% and a serve reception success rate of 50%.
As a result, Milan was eliminated in the third place match and finished the season in fourth place.
As a result, Milan also qualified to play in next season's CEV Cup (a European competition one level below the Champions League).
Thoughts on the match etc.
Milan's final game of the season was somehow a very sad one.
I was watching this match at the venue, and the atmosphere between the two teams was clearly different even before the match started.
While the Piacenza team members seemed quite relaxed and joking around at many moments, the Milan team members, both players and staff, looked somewhat tired.
The Piacenza fans at the venue also had the feeling that they had come to see their team secure third place, rather than just to watch the game.
Milan had periods in the lead, particularly in the middle of the first set when they were up by as much as five points, but the match seemed to be in control from start to finish for Piacenza.
When Piacenza makes more mistakes, Milan takes the lead, but once Piacenza starts to run normally, there's nothing Milan can do.
In other words, Milan was unable to find any rhythm in their play until the end and ended up losing in straight sets.
I also think Ishikawa's individual performance was probably the worst this season, and at least his offensive performance was definitely the worst.
Despite never going to the bench, he did not score any attacks in the second set, and in the third set he only scored two points. He also lost four points due to mistakes and blocks, so his attack effectiveness rate was approximately -131 TP3T.
I had never seen numbers like this for Ishikawa.
On the other hand, setter Porro scored four points with spikes, including two attacks, for an attack effectiveness rate of 501 TP and 3T, proving to be a fine attacker, but this was also the flip side of Ishikawa's poor performance.
The performances of Patry and Rosell, who struggled in the second leg, were good.
In particular, Patry's attack success rate of 63% was probably the best figure going into the playoffs.
However, Milan's serve was weak in this match.
As in the past, the serves were concentrated in favour of Real, but the balls were so easy that Real's serve reception success rate was 52%, better than even Lucarelli's. Furthermore, libero Scanfera's success rate was an astonishing 71%, so Piacenza was under almost no pressure when receiving serves.
Furthermore, even if their serve reception was poor, Piacenza's attacks continued to be successful.
In particular, opposite Romano was amazing, converting difficult balls into points one after another with an attack success rate of 75%.
However, even here, it seemed like there were many instances where Milan was unable to pick up the ball, something they had been able to do in the past.
It seemed like the Milan members were no longer able to move their legs at all, and the defensive, tenacious Milan they were was no longer there.
As a result, they lost all of their third place matches in straight sets, a complete defeat without any gained sets.
It is true that Piacenza was a team that Milan had trouble with to begin with, but when it came to the third place match, I think the factors on Milan's side played a bigger role than the opponent itself.
In other words, after losing to Civitanova in the semi-finals, the team was unable to switch gears, not only physically but especially mentally, and I think the whole team fell into a state of burnout.
As a result, it was difficult to generate motivation for the third-place match, and from what the players said, it seemed that this was the result.
On the other hand, Piacenza had many experienced players, so they were able to make the transition smoothly.
After the game ended, the players and staff hugged each other to congratulate each other, but they all had complicated expressions on their faces, and many of them had tears in their eyes.
Ishikawa was no exception, and his hug with his partner Patry, with whom he spent three seasons, was particularly touching to watch.
As a result, Milan lost to Piacenza and finished in fourth place.
It was a bit disappointing, considering we had defeated Perugia, the strongest team in the regular season, and had come so close to beating Civitanova in the semi-finals.
However, there's no doubt that last season was a huge leap forward for the club, as they finished in 9th place and made it into the top four for the first time in their history!
Although they will not be able to compete in the Champions League, next season they will be able to participate in the CEV Cup, a higher European competition than the Challenge Cup, which they won two seasons ago.
Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing Milan in Poland next season after this tournament!! (laughs)
Anyway, thank you for your hard work!
Thank you so much for all the excitement and inspiration!!
Since you probably didn't have time to recover properly after the playoffs started, I hope you can rest up properly first, and then I look forward to competing at the back of the net for the national team!!
Thank you Mille!! Hello!!!
Photo: Lega Pallavolo Serie A, author's photo
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