Among the six Japanese men and women playing in Italy's Serie A this season, outside hitter Tarumi Yume of Cisterna was the only one who had not made a notable impact, but she has finally come into her own.
On January 18th local time, in the 6th round of the Superlega match against Padua, Cisterna lost the first set 21-25, and at the start of the second set, they struggled with OH Orioli's serve and were trailing 1-4. So OH Tarumi came on to replace OH Byram, who was struggling with serve reception.
OH Tarumi played his role well in the backcourt, and in the frontcourt, as his name suggests, he took a break point with a jump, spike and block, turning the game around to 9-8. He also contributed to consecutive breaks by breaking down the opponent with his serve. For the 12th point, he knocked the opponent's receiver away with a powerful back attack. Then, with the help of blocks from MB Nedeljkovic and S Baranovic, Cisterna took the second set 25-22. OH Tarumi scored 5 points in this set alone.
In the third set, Padova was ahead 2-4, but after a series of Padova mistakes, Cisterna broke away from OH Tarumi's block to take 8-6. In the middle of the set, Cisterna made five consecutive breaks from an OP fall serve to widen the gap to 21-12, and in the end, OH Tarumi calmly made the cut and Cisterna took the set 25-17.
In the fourth set, Padua's serves were strong from the beginning, and Japan fell behind by a large margin, losing 17-25, and the match went to a full set.
The fateful fifth set. From the start, Padova made mistakes, MB Nedeljkovic's blocks, and OH Tarumi's spikes gave Cisterna a 3-0 lead, and they went into halftime with a score of 8-2. Cisterna continued to steadily rack up side-outs, while Padova, with its noticeable mistakes, was unable to score more breaks. In the end, OH Tarumi served with all his might to score an ace, and Cisterna took the set 15-8, winning 3-2 against Padova.
It was Cisterna's first win in six games.
Yume Tarumi played in four sets and tied for second on the team with 13 points (1 serve, 2 blocks), an attack effectiveness rate of 381 TP3T, and a serve reception success rate of 501 TP3T. I think her contributions that don't show up in the numbers were also great. She was definitely the game changer that day and the key player in the match.
Tarumi has had several opportunities to play as a substitute up until now, but he has not been able to play as well as he would like, and recently his opportunities to play as a substitute have decreased compared to the beginning of the season. To be honest, I thought we might not be able to see his good performance by the end of the season, but he put my worries aside and showed a great performance. I'm so happy.
MB Mazzone was announced as the MVP of the game, but he handed it over to Tarumi, as if to say, "Today's MVP is you." In the end, it was Mazzone who was interviewed, and in the interview, he praised his teammate's brave performance, saying, "I was very happy with Yuuga's performance. He firmly grasped his place."
It wasn't just Mazzone. After Tarumi decided the game with a service ace, OH Byram jumped out of the bench and lifted him up, and then everyone celebrated by clapping Tarumi. The MVP award was also the unanimous decision of not only Mazzone but all his teammates.
Not only Tarumi himself, but his teammates also knew how talented he was, so they may have been worried about him not being able to show his true potential in actual games. That's why I think his teammates were so happy about Tarumi's success, as if it were their own.
It's nice to see a Japanese player on a foreign team being loved by his foreign teammates, and it really touches my heart. And with this success, Cisterna may have become a true home for Tarumi.
Coincidentally, Milan's Otsuka Tatsunobu also won the MVP award for the first time in this round, making this the first time that the Rakunan quartet duo have won double MVP awards.
Yume Tarumi has finally broken out of his shell and shown his true potential in Italy. His Italian league career starts here! Good luck!!
Cisterna - Padua
3-2 (25-21, 22-25, 17-25, 25-17, 8-15)
Detailed stats↓
https://www.legavolley.it/match/38304
Photo: cisternavolley.it
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