On Sunday, January 5th, local time, in the third round of the second half of the Italian Serie A1 women's league, Novara, where Mayu Ishikawa plays, and Milan, where Keimi Fukudome plays, faced off in a fierce battle that went to the final set.
In the first set, the match was close at 7-7. From there, Novara made consecutive breaks with blocks from OP Torok, widening the gap to 10-7, but Milan continued to break with attacks from OH Silla, catching up at 16-16 in the middle of the set. Milan made four consecutive breaks with blocks from OP Egonu and attacks from OH Dalderop from OH Silla's serve, taking a 17-22 lead, and finally OP Egonu made an ace to win 19-25.
In the second set, Novara took a 5-1 lead after two consecutive breaks, including an ace, from OH Ishikawa's serve. After that, OP Torok's attack and MB Bonifacio's service ace led to 14-4, and then MB Aleksic and OH Alsmeyer's attacks led to 21-8, giving Novara a maximum lead of 13 points (during this time L Fukudome was replaced by L Guerin). Finally, OH Ishikawa made an attack and Novara took the set back with a score of 25-14.
In the third set, Milano took a 3-6 lead after consecutive breaks from MB Heilman's service aces. OH Silla's attacks and service aces extended the lead to 6-13. Novara then took a 10-12 lead with attacks and blocks from MB Aleksic, but Milano again took a 11-15 lead with an attack from OH Dalderop. However, Novara then took consecutive breaks from OH Ishikawa's service aces and OH Alsmeyer's attacks to turn the game around at 23-22, and finally took the set with a service ace from S Bosio to take the lead at 25-23.
In the fourth set, Milano took the lead at 4-8 with four consecutive breaks, including an attack from OP Egonu. Novara scored points mainly from OP Torok, but then an ace from OH Dalderop allowed Milano to widen the gap to 11-17. From there, Novara scored four consecutive breaks with attacks from OP Torok and Milano's mistakes, closing in on the gap to 16-17. However, Milano continued to score points, mainly from attacks from OP Egonu, and did not allow them to follow up any further, and in the end, OP Egonu scored an attack to win the set 23-25.
In the fifth set, both players traded points from the beginning, but Novara was leading 8-7 at halftime. However, Novara scored three consecutive points with an attack from OH Alsmeyer and an ace from S Bosio's serve, and took the lead 13-10. In the end, OH Ishikawa scored an attack to win the set 15-12, and Novara won 3-2 against Milan.
Mayu Ishikawa's serve was particularly strong in this match, and she hit three aces. The start of the second set and the comeback in the third set would not have been possible without her serve. She struggled in attack, especially in the third and fourth sets, but she scored well elsewhere and it was great to see her comeback in the fifth set. However, she struggled with serve reception.
Milan's libero, Keimi Fukudome, also struggled with serve reception. She started in this match, but was replaced by a reserve libero in the middle of the second set when the score was already far behind, and never returned to the court after that. It was a disappointing substitution, as she had shown great performance in digging and connecting. She was a dig specialist libero on the Japanese national team, so I think she has some reservations about serve reception, but I hope she does her best as she is taking on the Italian league to overcome that.
The match was a battle of points between the two opposites, OP Torok and OP Egonu, who each scored about half of their team's total points, and each also scored nearly 20 points with serves and blocks.
On the other hand, the difference between the two games was the number of goals conceded due to mistakes, Novara conceded 23 goals while Milan conceded 32 goals. In particular, Milan conceded more goals from attacks excluding blocked shots (although most of those were conceded by OP Egonou...). I also think that Novara's ability to use the midfield more often and more effectively led to their victory.
In the Italian women's league, Conegliano is in first place, but the strength of the teams in second place and below is very close. In order to avoid facing Conegliano until the playoff final, it is necessary to finish the league in second or third place. The battle for positions from here to the playoffs will be quite fierce.
Novara - Milan
3-2(219-25, 25-14, 25-23, 23-25, 15-12)
Novara
Starting lineup: OP Torok (26), OH Ishikawa (10), MB Aleksic (13), S Bosio (3), OH Alsmaier (13), MB Bonifacio (10), L Felsino
Substitutes: OH Villani, L Denardi, OP Mims
Milan
Starting lineup: OH Silla (14), MB Danesi (4), OP Egon (28), OH Dalderop (15), MB Kurtagic (5), S Ollo, L Fukudome
Substitutes: OH Cazotto (1), L Guerin, MB Heilmann (8), OH Pietrini, S Konstantinidou (1), OP Smrec
MVP: OP Tatiana Torok
26 points (1 serve, 1 block), attack efficiency rate 291 TP 3T
OH Mayu Ishikawa
10 points (3 on serve), attack effectiveness rate 101 TP 3T
L Fukudome Emi
Serve receive success rate 33%
Detailed match stats here:
https://www.legavolleyfemminile.it/match-center/747020/statistiche/
Next race (Novara)
European CEV Cup
Round of 16 (Away)
January 9th (Thursday) 25:00 ~ vs. Güzey Bolgencilic (Türkiye)
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Italian League
The last 4 sections
January 12th (Sun) 24:00~ vs Roma
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Coppa Italia
Semi-finals
Saturday, February 8th (match time TBA) vs Conegliano
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Next match (Milan)
European Champions League
Group matches
January 9th (Thu) 5:30~ vsFC Porto (Portugal)
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Italian League
The last 4 sections
January 11th (Sat) 27:30~ vs Cuneo
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Coppa Italia
Semi-finals
Saturday, February 8th (match time TBA) vs Scandicci
Distribution: VBTV (https://subscribe.volleyballworld.com/volleyball-tv1)
Photo: legavolleyfemminile.it
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