Yesterday, January 12th (Sunday), Perugia, where Yuki Ishikawa plays, lost 2-3 (25-20, 20-25, 25-18, 21-25, 22-24) in the Italian Superlegaga match against Trento. Since the start of the 2024/25 season, Perugia had been on an unbeaten 24-game winning streak in official matches, but that streak has finally come to an end.
The match was held at Perugia's home ground. As it was a direct confrontation between the league's first and second placed teams, the venue was filled with around 5,000 fans, and tickets were sold out for the first time this season.
In the first set, Perugia allowed Trento to score consecutive points at the beginning, but with OH Plotnicki's service ace and MB Rosell's block, Perugia quickly caught up. After that, Perugia continued to score points with attacks from these two players and OH Ishikawa, who replaced OH Semeniuk, whose attack was not good, and took the lead 25-20.
In the second set, Trent suppressed Perugia's attack success rate with his serve and blocks, and Perugia took the set back 20-25, but in the third set, OH Ishikawa led the team with six points from a service ace and a spike, and Perugia took the set safely 25-18.
However, in the fourth set, Trento's serves and blocks again caused trouble for Perugia. OH Micheletto in particular was outstanding, scoring eight points in this set alone. Trento's serve target was OH Plotnicki in this match, and just like the second set, his aim worked well in this set. Perugia brought in OH Semeniuk and OP Herrera, but the flow did not change and Trento won this set 21-25 to move on to the final set.
In the fifth set, Trento took the lead 0-2 with two consecutive blocks, but OH Plotnicki's attacks and aces turned the game around to 9-8 for Perugia. After that, OH Ishikawa had cramps in his left leg after receiving a serve and was replaced by OH Semeniuk, but OH Semeniuk's attack gave Perugia the first match point at 14-12. However, OH Plotnicki's attack error tied the score at 14-14 and the game went into deuce.
Then OH Plotnicki left the court after serving, complaining of pain in his right leg. Unfortunately, at this point, only the setter or middle blocker could be substituted, so he was replaced by MB Candelaro. As a result, there was only one outside hitter left on the Perugia court (MB Rosell also participated in the serve reception).
Perugia was in a disadvantageous situation, but they kept getting side outs and had many match points, but they couldn't get the last point, and instead, after a long rally, OH Lavia pushed the ball in and Trent had a match point at 22-23. In the end, OP Herrera's spike went out and Trent won the fierce battle 2-3 with a score of 22-24.
By the way, the fifth set lasted 40 minutes, which was a new league record.
Although OH Ishikawa was forced to leave the game due to injury, his condition is mild and he is likely to be able to play in the next game. He supported the team with 15 points (1 of which was a serve), the second highest on the team.
Meanwhile, OH Plotnicki, who was the team's top scorer with 17 goals, has a serious injury and will likely not be able to return for some time. He has maintained good form and led the team on both offense and defense, so his impact on the team will be great. As someone who likes him so much that I personally own his uniform, I hope he recovers as soon as possible.
Fortunately, Perugia still has two excellent outside hitters, Ishikawa and Semeniuk, and I think they will be in the starting lineup for every game for the time being, so their fans will be able to go to the games without worrying that they won't be able to see their favorite players play, even though it may be a little unfair.
However, there is no doubt that the team will be in a difficult position from now on. With so many games to play, the team's management skills will be put to the test as they will have to avoid any more injuries and still produce results.
The MVP of the match was MB Barta from Trento. He was a middle blocker who scored 17 points, the second highest on the team, thanks to his quickness, block and serve. He is from Romania and last season played with Japanese setter Ryu Yamamoto at Dinamo Bucharest. Going from the Romanian league to being a starter on the top team in the Italian league is a big step.
Photo: legavolley.it
English 
Japanese