The 2023 Men's Volleyball Asian Championship is being held in Urmia, Iran. On Friday, August 25th local time, the Japanese national team faced Qatar in the semi-finals and won 3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 25-14, 28-26).
First set starting lineup
Japan
OH: Ai Takahashi, Ishikawa
MB: Onodera, Yamauchi
OP: Nishida
S: Sekita
L: Satoshi Yamamoto
Qatar
OH: Ribeiro, Wadidiye
MB: Abu Nabot, Ibrahim
OP: Ograf
S: Stevanovic
L: Naji
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
The stats for the match areHere
Match Report
In the first set, both teams were stiff in the beginning, but OP Ograf's spike and MB Abunabot's block gave Qatar three consecutive breaks to take an 8-11 lead. After that, OH Takahashi Ai's spike and OH Ishikawa's service ace made it 18-19, but OH Takahashi Ai was caught in a block and Qatar again fell behind at 18-22. In the end, OH Takahashi Ai's serve was an error, and Qatar took the set 22-25.
In the second set, Japan started with OP Miyaura instead of OP Nishida. OP Miyaura's spike scored the first point, but both teams continued to make serve errors, leaving the score at 7-7. In the middle of the game, Qatar took the lead with a service ace from OH Ribeiro, making it 11-13, but Japan also scored points with two attacks from OH Ishikawa and S Sekita, and successfully turned the game around to 16-15. After that, three players on the side rallied and spiked from OH Ishikawa's serve, widening the gap to 20-15, and OH Ishikawa then scored three consecutive service aces to make it 23-15. Finally, OH Takahashi Ai scored a high ball to give Japan a score of 25-18.
In the third set, Japan took a 4-2 lead early on with spikes from OH Takahashi Ai. After that, Japan pulled away from Qatar with blocks from MB Yamauchi and direct spikes from OH Takahashi Ai off OH Ishikawa's serve, leading to 13-7, and then 5 consecutive breaks, including a service ace from MB Yamauchi's serve, leading to 19-8. Qatar replaced half of their players, but Japan's momentum was unstoppable, and in the end, OH Ishikawa scored a spike to win the set 25-14.
Qatar took the lead at 1-5 at the start of the fourth set with two consecutive service aces from MB Abunabot. Japan then caught up with MB Yamauchi's quick, MB Onodera's block, and OH Ishikawa's service ace to make it 12-12. Japan then took the lead at 14-13 with a block from OH Takahashi Ai, but in the final stages, OP Miyaura and substitute MB Takahashi Kentaro were caught by Qatar's blocks in succession, putting Qatar back in the lead at 19-21. OH Ishikawa then scored his fifth service ace of the match to tie the score at 21-21, and the match went into deuce. Japan brought in reliever server OH Kai when the score was 25-25, and OH Ishikawa scored a spike from Kai's great serve to turn the game around to 26-25. OH Ishikawa, who was in top form that day, also scored the final point to win the set 28-26. Japan defeated Qatar 3-1 and advanced to the final for the second consecutive tournament.
The final match is scheduled to start at 23:30 on Saturday, August 26th, Japan time.
personal MVP
Yuki Ishikawa
18 points (5 on serve), 50% attack success rate
Ishikawa's serves were all over the place in this match. The stats say he had five aces, but I think he had just as many direct spikes after direct returns. In particular, after losing the first set, he had six consecutive breaks, including three consecutive service aces, in the middle of the second set, which was a close match. This tournament is a difficult environment and many players are struggling with their performance, but Ishikawa is always maintaining a high level of performance and inspiring the team. Japan's captain is so reliable.
Thoughts etc.
Before the match, I declared to the Iranian media next to us that "We'll win 3-0," but it turned out that it wasn't that easy.
In the first set, my serves didn't go well, and I struggled with my opponent's blocks. Even though our opponent wasn't Iran, it felt like a completely away match, and vuvuzelas (trump-like instruments with a dull, deep sound that reverberates, and are extremely loud) were ringing out when Japan played. The Iranian journalists around me were also rooting for Qatar, and they looked at me with a grin on their faces, looking frustrated (laughs). I think it was also difficult to play against them because the level of my opponents had risen dramatically from the previous three matches.
In the midst of all this, it was Ishikawa's serve in the second set that changed the flow. But up until then, Sekita had been using his quick well, and Yamauchi and Onodera's middle shots had been responding well, which was also good (both of them scored double digits!). And with that momentum, they did whatever they wanted in the third set. It felt like everything was working together, both offensively and defensively. I especially liked Takahashi Ai's super cross-course spikes.
However, in the fourth set, Japan was trailing from the start and was trailing Qatar until the end. Qatar replaced four players in the middle of the third set, and those four players started the fourth set as well. Perhaps it was difficult for them to play with players who have little data. Miyaura, who replaced Nishida in the second set, also struggled that day because his serve didn't move very well. The excitement in the stadium when Takahashi Kentaro's spike was blocked at 19-21 was amazing (they had been cheering for Japan as if it were their home ground for the past three games, so why did they treat us like this (lol)).
However, after a service ace from captain Ishikawa tied the score at 21-21, the game went to deuce, and Sekita made another sadistic toss to Miyaura who had been blocked on the previous play, which was then scored by reliever Kai Yuto! Despite the booing from the crowd, Kai entered the court with his usual nonchalant demeanor and broke down his opponent with a sharp serve, which Ishikawa picked up and scored!! Turning the game around!!! Then, at 27-26 and the second match point, Sekita swung his arms around before serving to get pumped, and Ishikawa picked up the serve and scored!!
How about it, Iran fans! (laughs)
We, Ryujin Nippon, have overcome many difficult situations in this year's VNL! We can't stumble here!
Tomorrow is finally the final against Iran! It will be a match in even more away conditions than the semi-finals. To be honest, if we play like we did today, we won't be able to beat Iran. We'll need more breaks on the serves from Ai and Nishida or Miyanoura at the very least. We'll turn the super loud booing from the vuvuzela into energy for Mokocchi, and drive the Iranian fans in the stadium to despair tomorrow (lol)! Go for it, Ryujin Nippon!!!
Photo: IRIVF
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