In the CEV Challenge Cup Round 8, Monza, which Takahashi Ai plays for, played against Panathinaikos Athens (Greece) on Wednesday, December 13th (local time) and won 3-2 (21-25, 25-18, 22-25, 25-18, 15-9). Takahashi Ai started the game and scored 17 points.
First set starting lineup
Monza
OH: Takahashi (Japan), Lepke (Canada)
MB: Galassi (Italy), Beretta (Italy)
OP: Schwartz (Canada)
S: Fernando (Brazil)
L: Gaggini (Italy)
Athens
OH: Kovar (Italy), Athanasios (Greece)
MB: Petraea (Greece), Volkidis (Greece)
OP: Hernandez (Cuba)
S: Hierrezuelo (Cuba)
L: Kontostatis (Greece)
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
Match Report
In the first set, Athens led 3-6 with OH Athanasios' spikes and OH Kovar's blocks. Monza tied the score at 8-8 with OH Takahashi's blocks and spikes, but Athens quickly broke the score with MB Petraeus' service aces and OH Athanasios' blocks, widening the gap to 8-12. OP Hernandez then scored consecutive spikes, widening Athens' lead to 11-17. After that, Athens caught up to 18-21 with OH Takahashi's service aces, but in the end, Monza's serve error made it 21-25 and Athens took the set.
In the second set, Monza took the lead 4-2 with MB Galassi's spikes, then extended their lead to 11-6 with OH Lepki's block and OP Schwartz's spikes. Athens also broke with MB Volkidis' spikes, but Monza maintained a 19-14 lead with OH Lepki's spikes. Monza then broke again with MB Galassi's service ace, and finally OP Schwartz scored a spike to take the set 25-18.
In the third set, both teams made many mistakes from the beginning, and the score gap did not widen, and the score continued to be 10-10. After that, Athens took the lead at 15-17 with a spike from OP Hernandez and a block from OH Koval. From there, Monza tied the score at 22-22 in the final stages with a block from MB Beretta and a spike from OP Schwartz. However, Athens had a set point at 22-24 with a spike from OH Koval, and finally, OH Takahashi's pipe attack was a mistake, and Athens took the set at 22-25.
In the fourth set, Monza broke the opponent's mistake and MB Galassi's service ace to take a 7-3 lead. In the middle of the set, Monza made a series of mistakes, and Athens caught up to 1 point at 15-14, but OP Schwartz's service ace and MB Galassi's spike widened the gap again to 22-16. MB Galassi's service ace gave Monza a set point at 24-17, and finally, the opponent's service mistake made it 25-18, and Monza took the set.
In the fifth set, Monza extended their lead to 6-3 early on with MB Galassi's service ace and OH Takahashi's spike. Athens closed the gap to 8-7 with a block from OH Koval, but Monza again extended the lead to 10-7 with an ace from OP Schwartz. In the final stages, MB Galassi's two consecutive service aces made it 14-9, putting Monza on match point, and OH Lepki's pipe attack was successful, taking the set 15-9.
As a result, Monza won against Panathinaikos Athens 3-2.
OH Takahashi Ai scored 17 points (1 on the serve and 2 on the block), with an attack success rate of 54% and a serve receive success rate of 75%.
The next match will be against Panathinaikos Athens at home on Friday, December 22nd at 4:00am Japan time. If Monza wins their next match, they will advance to the CEV Challenge Cup quarterfinals.
CEV Cup: https://www.cev.eu/club/volleyball-cup/men/
Photo: CEV
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