In the third round of the Italian Men's Volleyball League, Monza, the team that Takahashi Ai plays for, played against Modena on Sunday, November 5th local time, and won 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-19).
Takahashi Ai started and scored 13 points, second on the team.
First set starting lineup
Monza
OH: Ma (Canada), Takahashi
MB: Galassi (Italy), Di Martino (Italy)
OP: Schwartz (Canada)
S: Fernando (Brazil)
L: Gaggini (Italy)
Modena
OH: Juan Torena (Italy), Rinaldi (Italy)
MB: Sangnetti (Italy), Stankovic (Serbia)
OP: Saposhkov (Russia)
S: Bruno (Brazil)
L: Federici (Italy)
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
Match Report
In the first set, Monza scored consecutive points with service aces from OH Takahashi and OP Schwartz from the beginning, and extended their lead to 8-5. From there, both teams took side-outs and the score difference did not change, but in the middle of the set, Monza extended their lead to 21-16 with a service ace from OH Takahashi and a spike from OH Marr. At the end, S Fernando made a block and Monza took the set 25-19.
In the second set, Modena took the lead at 4-6 in the early stages, with OH Rinaldi's powerful serve followed by OH Juan Torena's spike. However, Monza scored consecutive points with a service ace from S Fernando and an attack from OH Takahashi, and successfully turned the game around to 10-7. Monza then widened the gap to 14-10 with a spike and a service ace from OP Schwartz, and 21-16 with consecutive service aces from OH Takahashi in the final stages. Finally, MB Galassi scored a spike to take the set 25-19, and Monza won.
In the third set, the score was close at 7-7 in the beginning, but Modena's mistakes continued and Monza took the lead at 12-9. In the middle of the set, Monza widened the lead to 16-11 with service aces from OP Schwartz and OH Marr. After that, both teams continued to make serve mistakes and side outs continued. Then, with a pipe attack from OH Takahashi and a spike from OP Schwartz, Monza had a match point at 24-18, but in the end, Modena's serve made an error and Monza took the set 25-19.
Monza won the match against Modena 3-0.
MVP: OP Arthur Schwartz (18 points (3 serves, 3 blocks), attack efficiency rate 58.82%)
Takahashi Ai scored 13 points (4 on serve) with an attack efficiency rate of 57.141 TP 3T.
The next match will be against Verona on Thursday, November 9th at 4:30am Japan time.
Italian League Website: https://www.legavolley.it/
Distribution (VBTV, paid): https://www.volleyballworld.tv/home
Toshiki's Tweets
Monza was strong.
First of all, they were able to attack aggressively with their serves. OH Takahashi had 4 aces and OP Schwartz had 3, totaling 10 aces in 3 sets. OH Rinaldi of Modena is a player who is not good at receiving serves, so I think it was an ideal situation to mercilessly serve into him. In fact, 6 of Monza's 10 aces were due to his conceded points.
In addition, because the serve was good, the blocks were also good, and the team gave up a total of eight block points. The number of spike receives was also more than 10 more than the opponent.
In terms of spikes, OH Marr conceded a few points, but OP Schwartz was extremely stable and scored many points even in difficult situations, bringing momentum to the team. Although there were few sets to the middle, the success rate was high.
OH Takahashi also boasted a high attack effectiveness rate with a variety of attacks that mixed hard and soft. In particular, the pipe attack (back attack from the middle) was impressive in this match. In particular, the pipe attack from behind the setter in the middle of the second set was thrilling.
I think that the fact that we are able to use the pipe attack well is proof that the combination and trust between OH Takahashi and S Fernando is improving. This play is one of Takahashi's signature plays, so I hope he will continue to use it in the future.
On this day, Monza's team had an attack success rate of 66%, and in the third set, it was 91% (and they didn't lose any attacks), which was a laughable situation. With these numbers, it would have been strange to lose.
Modena's attack success rate was not that bad, especially OP Saposchkov and OH Dawiskiba, but as a team they were not able to attack well with their serves. Also, it was painful that OH Rinaldi lost many points due to the above-mentioned serve reception and attack mistakes. As was the case last season, Modena's results are greatly influenced by his condition. I think there was a way to bring back Juan Torena in the third set, but I wonder why they didn't do it.
In any case, Monza is a strong team where each player plays their role well, the gears click together, and they function as a team. Unlike Milan, who is on the verge of missing out on the Coppa Italia, they will be able to qualify without any worries.
The CEV Challenger Cup starts this month, and I'm excited to see what kind of results this team can achieve this season!!!
Photo: Vero Volley
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