In the quarterfinals of the Coppa Italia men's volleyball tournament in Italy, Monza, the team played by Ai Takahashi, played against Civitanova on Wednesday, January 3rd (local time) and won 3-1 (31-33, 25-20, 25-15, 25-23). Ai Takahashi started the game and contributed to the victory with 15 points.
First set starting lineup
Monza
OH: Ma (Canada), Takahashi
MB: Galassi (Italy), Di Martino (Italy)
OP: Schwartz (Canada)
S: Klering (Brazil)
L: Gaggini (Italy)
Civitanova
OH: Nikolov (Italy), Yant (Cuba)
MB: Diamantini (Italy), Anzani (Italy)
OP: Laguncia (Türkiye)
S: Dececco (Argentina)
L: Barrasso (Italy)
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
Match Report
In the first set, Monza took the lead with a block from OP Schwartz, and OH Marr's spikes and other points gave Monza a 7-4 lead. OP Lagunzia's spike tied the score at 7-7, but OH Takahashi's spike gave Monza a break and made it 10-8. However, OP Lagunzia's block put Civitanova back at 10-10, and the match went on to a battle for side-outs. Monza scored with OP Schwartz and OH Marr, while Civitanova scored with OH Nikolov and OH Yanto, leading to a score of 19-19. Immediately after, OP Schwartz's mistake gave Civitanova a 19-20 lead, but at 23-23, MB Galassi's service ace gave Monza the first set point at 24-23. At that point, OH Nikolov scored a spike and the match went into deuce at 24-24. The game again turned into a battle for side outs, but with the score at 30-30, OH Nikolov scored a spike to give Civitanova the lead again, and finally MB Diamantini stopped OH Marr to give Civitanova the set, 31-33.
At the start of the second set, Monza took the lead 2-0 with a block from MB Galassi, but Civitanova broke with consecutive spikes from OH Yant to turn the score around to 5-7. Immediately after, OH Ma scored a service ace to make it 7-7, but Civitanova maintained the lead at 9-12 with a service ace from OP Lagunzia. However, Monza quickly turned the game around with five consecutive breaks, including three service aces from OH Takahashi Ai's serve, to turn the score around to 15-12, and then Monza widened the gap to 19-15 with a spike from OH Takahashi. In the final stages, Monza widened the gap to 24-19 with consecutive blocks from MB Galassi, and had a set point, but MB Galassi also blocked OP Lagunzia with a block to take the set 25-20.
In the third set, Monza took a 7-4 lead due to Civitanova's continued mistakes in the early stages. Monza then widened the gap to 12-6 thanks to opponent mistakes and OP Schwartz's spikes, and then to 19-8 thanks to MB Galassi's spikes and OH Marr's blocks. From there, Civitanova narrowed the gap slightly to 22-15 thanks to a service ace from MB Sinenieze (France) and a spike from OH Zaitsev (Italy). However, in the end, Monza took the set with ease, 25-15 thanks to a block from OH Lepke (Canada), who also entered the match as a substitute.
In the fourth set, Monza scored points mainly from OP Schwartz and Civitanova from MB Sinenieze, and the match continued with the score at 6-6. However, Monza managed to break four times in a row with spikes from MB Galassi and OH Takahashi, and quickly pulled away from Civitanova with a score of 11-6. From there, Monza widened the gap to 17-10 with spikes and service aces from OP Schwartz. With no way out, Civitanova narrowed the gap to 18-15 with spikes and blocks from OH Nikolov, and then closed the gap to 20-19 with a service ace from OH Nikolov and a spike from OH Zaitsev. However, with blocks and spikes from OP Schwartz, Monza was down three points and reached match point at 24-21. From here on, Civitanova scored consecutive points with an attack from OH Nikolov and a block from OP Lagungia, bringing the score to 24-23 and just one point away from deuce, but in the end OH Nikolov's attack went out, and Monza took the set 25-23.
As a result, Monza won 3-1 against Civitanova and advanced to the Coppa Italia semi-finals for the first time in the club's history.
MVP: OP Arthur Schwartz 24 points (1 serve, 5 blocks) Attack efficiency rate 40.54%
OH Ai Takahashi 15 points (3 on serve) Attack effectiveness rate 52.38%
Monza has now qualified for the Coppa Italia semi-finals, where they will face Trentino.
The Coppa Italia semi-finals and final will be held in Bologna on Saturday, January 27th and Sunday, January 28th local time.
The next league match will be against Perugia on Sunday, January 8th, at 2:15am Japan time.
Italian League Website: https://www.legavolley.it/
Distribution (VBTV, paid): https://www.volleyballworld.tv/home
Photo: volleyball.it
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