On Sunday, December 22nd local time, Milan, where Otsuka Tatsunori plays, will face Civitanova in the second round of the Italian Superlegaga.
In the first set, Civitanova took a 1-6 lead early on with a service ace from OP Lagunzia. After that, OP Lagunzia and OH Bottolo continued to score with spikes and blocks, giving Milan no chance to turn the game around, and Civitanova took the set with ease, 18-25.
In the second set, Milan scored points with OP Regulus' spikes and other points, and the match continued until the middle of the game. However, OP Lagunzia's serve again caused Milan to lose attacks and take the lead at 9-13. After that, Civitanova continued to score points, mainly from OP Lagunzia, and won the set 20-25.
In the third set, Milan, who had no other choice, brought in OH Otsuka from the start. Milan scored points from OP Regels' spikes and service aces from the beginning, but Civitanova continued to score points, mainly from OH Lepki's spikes and service aces, and maintained a 16-20 lead. From there, Milan scored consecutive points with service aces from S Pollo and others, and took the lead at 22-21, but Civitanova then scored consecutive blocks to take the lead again at 22-24. In the end, MB Podrascanin's attack was successful, and Civitanova won the set 23-25, winning 0-3.
As mentioned above, Otsuka started the third set, but his serve reception was lackluster that day and he was replaced by OH KAZYSKI midway through the match.
Milan's attack from the side on this day was only OP Regels, and the serve reception was not very stable, which was a typical losing pattern for Milan. I hope that Otsuka will be a player who can play an active role on both offense and defense at times like this and turn the team around, but he did not become that on this day. It is not easy to produce results as a substitute. In that sense, I think Ishikawa, who has produced many results as a substitute this season, is amazing.
Milan will face the same Civitanova in the quarterfinals of the Coppa Italia. It will be interesting to see how they play on the day.
Civitanova played a great game after returning from the Club World Championship in Brazil, and although they were tired, they played a great game. However, they lost to Iran's Sirjan in the third place match and finished in fourth place, which must have been very disappointing for them, so they seem to be more motivated in the Italian league.
And of course, this season's Civitanova's Bottolo is doing well. By the way, this diagonal line between OH Bottolo and OH Lepki is the diagonal line between Ai Takahashi and Padova in their first year, so it's pretty emotional.
Civitanova have lost in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals for three consecutive years, so they will be extremely determined to get through this year's competition.
However, after the game, each player approached their friendly opponent and started talking to them, which was quite heartwarming.
Milan-Civita Nova
0-3(19-25, 30-32, 24-26)
Milan
Starting line-up: OH Ruati (3), MB Schnitzer (4), OP Regers (17), OH Kaziski (5), MB Kaneschi (5), S Porro (3), L Catania
Substitutes: MB Laritza (1), S Zonta, OP Ballot, OH Gardini (1), OH Otsuka (1)
Civitanova
Starting line-up: S Bonifante (4), OH Vottolo (9), MB Gargiulo (6), OP Lagumjia (13), OH Repki (14), MB Podrascanin (7), L Balazo
Substitutes: S Orduna, L Bisotto, OH Polija
MVP: OH Eric Lepke
14 points (2 serves, 1 block), attack efficiency rate 47.361 TP 3T
OH Tatsunobu Otsuka
1 point, attack efficiency rate 0%
Detailed match stats here:
https://www.legavolley.it/match/38278
Next Round
Italian League
Last 3 Sections
December 26th (Thursday) 26:00~ vs Trent
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Coppa Italia
Quarterfinals
December 29th (Sun) 26:00～ vs Civitanova
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European Champions League
Group Match 5
January 16th (Thursday) 28:30 ~ vs Roeselare (Belgium)
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