In the semi-finals of the 5th place deciding match of the Italian Men's Volleyball League Serie A, Takahashi Ai's team, Padova, played against Monza away on Sunday, May 7th local time, and lost 0-3 (23-25, 33-35, 14-25).
Takahashi came on as a substitute in the first and second sets and scored two points.
First set starting lineup
Padua
OH: Gardini (Italy), De Smet (Belgium)
MB: Canella (Italy), Crosato (Italy)
OP: Guzzo (Italy)
S: Zoppellari (Italy)
L: Lelli (Italy)
Monza
OH: Marr (Canada), Dawyskiba (Belarus)
MB: Galassi (Italy), Di Martino (Italy)
OP: Glozel (Germany)
S: Fernando (Brazil)
L: Federici (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 scored points mainly through De Smet and Monza through Marr, and the match continued with the score tied at 6-6.
From there, Monza scored four consecutive breaks with consecutive blocks from Daviskiba and Grozelle to take a 6-11 lead, and then maintained a 16-19 lead with a spike from Daviskiba.
Padova also tied the score at 20-20 with a service ace from substitute Asparuhov (OP, Bulgaria), but a service ace from Grozelle put Monza at 21-23, and finally a spike from Daviskiva went in to give Monza the set 23-25.
In the second set, Monza took the lead early on, 3-6, with service aces from Di Martino and Grozelle.
Padua then continued to score points with spikes from Guzzo, but Monza did not allow the comeback with spikes from Groselle and Galassi, and the game ended with Monza leading 18-20.
Monza then had the first set point at 21-24, but Padova took the lead with a Guzzo spike off of Guardini's serve to bring the score to deuce at 24-24.
From there, Padua scored points mainly from Guardini and Takahashi (OH) who came on as a substitute, while Monza scored points mainly from Grozelle, making it a very close match with over 30 points, but in the end, Daviskiba's serve went past Takahashi and became an ace, and Monza took the set 33-35.
In the third set, Monza took a 5-8 lead early on with a service ace from Grozelle and a block from Daviskiba.
Padua managed to close the gap to 13-14 with a spike from Asparuhov and a block from Gardini, but then Monza widened the gap to 13-23 with a furious eight consecutive breaks, including a spike from Daviskiba, a service ace from Fernando, a block from Grozelle, and a block from Di Martino.
In the end, substitute Martilla (OH, Italy) scored a spike, and Monza took the set 14-25.
As a result, Padova lost 0-3 to Monza.
MVP: OH Vlado Dawskiba (18 points (1 serve, 5 blocks), attack success rate 461 TP 3 T, serve reception success rate 44%)
Takahashi Ai had a great performance, scoring 2 points, with an attack success rate of 1001 TP3T and a serve receive success rate of 501 TP3T.
With this, Padova was eliminated in the 5th place match and finished the season in 7th place.
Thoughts on the match etc.
Following Milan, Padua's season also ends here.
However, unlike Milan, Padova, who were mainly focused on players who will remain on the team next season from the 5th place qualifying round, and who, to put it bluntly, were playing "practice matches", I didn't expect them to make it this far (laughs).
In addition to Takahashi, regular libero Zenger was also unable to play due to injury, so reserve player Relli made his (probably) first start on this day.
When I was talking to Zenger before the match, I said to him, "Without you and Ai, won't Padua's reception be in trouble?" and he replied, "The reserve libero is good too, so it'll be fine." I was skeptical, but it turns out he has been performing well despite not having played in any games up to this point.
Padua's substitutes, with Guzzo, Zoppelari and Lelli, are of a high level (I'm not saying compared to anyone (lol)).
In particular, Guzzo has made it onto this year's Italian national team roster despite being a reserve player, so it will be exciting to watch him grow from here.
Gardini was also on the list (good luck with the reception).
Although we fell apart in the third set, I think we fought really well against the tough Monza team in the first and second sets.
It was a shame that in the second set, if Guzzo hadn't overstepped the attack line at deuce, we would have won (incidentally, Takahashi, who thought he had won the set at this point, had gone to the toilet and was surprised when he returned to find that the match was still going on (lol)).
Takahashi, who entered the court afterwards, also showed brilliant performance in serve reception and spiking, but in the end he was beaten by Daviskiba's serve...
Well, I hate to say this, but I think we would have won without any problems if we had put Takahashi in the starting lineup from the beginning.
However, there was no need for Padua to go to such lengths to win; if they had won, the end of the season would have been extended by a week and they would have had to travel all the way to Perugia, so they probably wanted to avoid it at all costs (laughs).
However, since I didn't have high expectations, it was great to see such an exciting match in the second set, including Takahashi Ai's heroic performance in what was probably his last Padua uniform!!
It's hard to stay motivated, but the fact that Ran Takahashi was able to come on in the middle and deliver such a powerful performance is truly impressive!!
After the match, everyone at Padua, including Takahashi, had a refreshed look on their faces, even though they had all lost.
I'll write a separate article summarizing this season's Padova!!
Thank you to everyone in Padua for your hard work!!!
Photo: Lega Pallovolo Serie A
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