In the fourth round of the second half of the Italian Men's Volleyball League, Milan, where Ishikawa Yuki plays, played against Civitanova on Sunday, January 21st (local time) and lost 2-3 (19-25, 25-27, 25-22, 25-15, 12-15). Ishikawa Yuki started and scored 19 points.
First set starting lineup
Milan
OH: Melgarejo (Cuba), Ishikawa
MB: Vitelli (Italy), Rosell (Argentina)
OP: Regels (Belgium)
S: Porro (Italy)
L: Catania (Italy)
Civitanova
OH: Zaitsev (Italy), Nikolov (Italy)
MB: Sineniese (France), 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, Civitanova's OP Lagunzia scored a lot of points, but they made many serve errors and were unable to get a break, so the match progressed to 10-10. However, Civitanova broke at 11-14 with a service ace from OH Nikolov, and then OP Lagunzia's spikes widened the gap to 14-19. Milan also narrowed the gap to 17-19 with a block from S Pollo, but in the end, OH Yanto (Cuba), who entered the match as a substitute, scored a spike to give Civitanova a 19-25 victory.
In the second set, Milano took the lead 4-2 with a service ace from OH Ishikawa, but Civitanova quickly turned the game around with a block and a service ace from MB Sineniese to make it 5-6. After that, Milano took another 12-10 lead with a pipe attack from OH Ishikawa, and then with a block from MB Piano (Italy), who came in as a substitute, they made three consecutive breaks to widen the gap to 18-13. However, a spike and a service ace from OH Zaitsev narrowed the gap to 18-16, and then with a block from OH Bottolo (Italy), who came in as a substitute, Civitanova turned the game around to make it 23-24 and had a set point in the final stages. In the end, S Pollo touched the net, and Civitanova took the set 25-27.
In the third set, Milan started with OH Kaziyski (Bulgaria) and MB Piano. In the early stages, Milan took the lead 7-4 with spikes from OH Ishikawa and a service ace from OH Kaziyski. After that, Civitanova also scored points with spikes from MB Sinenieze and a service ace, tying the score at 7-7. However, Milan again took the lead with a service ace from OH Ishikawa and a spike from OH Kaziyski at 13-11. Milan continued to break with consecutive tips from Ishikawa, widening the gap to 19-15, and in the end, Milan won the set 25-22 with an opponent's mistake.
In the 4th set, Milano took a big lead with 6 consecutive breaks, including 3 service aces, from OH Kaziyski's serve from the beginning, and took a big lead of 8-2. After that, Milano widened the gap to 14-6 with blocks from S Pollo and spikes from OH Ishikawa and OP Regels. In the final stage, consecutive blocks from MB Rosell made it 22-13, and finally OH Yant's attack made an error, and Milano took the set 25-15.
In the fifth set, Civitanova took the lead 4-6 with OH Bottolo's spikes. From there, Milano turned the game around with 7-6 thanks to OH Ishikawa's service aces and pipe attacks. However, Civitanova took the lead again with OP Lagunzia's service aces at 9-11, and then MB Sineniese's spikes took a side-out. Finally, OH Bottolo scored consecutive spikes to give Civitanova the set at 12-15.
As a result, Milan lost to Civitanova 2-3.
MVP: MB Valtelemei Sineniedze 17 points (2 serves, 2 blocks) Attack efficiency rate 72.22%
OH Yuki Ishikawa 19 points (2 serves, 1 block) Attack efficiency rate 26.19%
Milan now has a record of 8 wins, 7 losses and 26 points, maintaining their 5th place position.
The next match will be against Trentino at 28:30 on Wednesday, January 24th, Japan time.
Italian League Website: https://www.legavolley.it/
Distribution (VBTV, paid): https://www.volleyballworld.tv/home
Toshiki's comment
Milano made an incredible comeback in the third and fourth sets, but was defeated in the fifth set.
Considering the condition of the players, OH Melgarejo and MB Vitelli, who are not usually in the starting lineup, were used in the starting lineup, but even if we had started with OH Kaziyski and MB Piano from the beginning, it may have been difficult to beat Civitanova on this day.
Anyway, Sinenieze, who won the MVP, did a great job. His spikes were highly decisive and drew the team to side-outs. As you can see from the photo above, his body is bent too much. If he hits with this width, it's difficult to respond even with two blocks.
Sole (Argentina, currently playing for Perugia) is a prime example of a middle blocker who hits by bending his body backwards, but I think Sinenieze has already surpassed him.
Of course, his blocking and serving were also amazing. His serving in particular had a strong presence.
Another thing that made me personally happy was Bottolo's performance. Although he is a member of the Italian national team, he has not had many opportunities to play in the past few seasons at Civitanova, where there is a lot of competition within the team. This season, he was basically the fourth outside hitter and had the least time on the court among the outside hitters.
But in this match, he made his presence felt with his spikes and blocks. It was him who saved the match in the second set, and it was Vottolo who converted the match point in the fifth set.
I've had the opportunity to interview him a few times and always had a very good impression of him. He's also a big fan of One Piece, so I feel a strong affinity with him. I hope he continues to grab opportunities in the future and get more playing opportunities.
The person Bottoro reveres as his "master" is Ishikawa.
Although he lost the match, I think Ishikawa's individual performance was very good. Although his attack efficiency rate was a little low, his soft hits were good and he didn't lose any points on serve reception.
In terms of spiking, Milan as a whole was losing a lot of touches to Civitanova's block, which I think contributed to their low success rate.
Like Monza, Milan will be playing in the Coppa Italia next weekend, but before that they will also have a league match against a strong opponent, Trentino. It will be a tough time, but I hope they will be in top condition for the Coppa Italia.
Photo: volleyball.it
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