On Sunday, February 23rd local time, the 10th round of the second half of the Italian Superlegga took place, and Perugia, which Yuki Ishikawa plays for, played against Monza. They won 3-1 (25-13, 25-16, 25-22).
Yuki Ishikawa was in the starting lineup for this match. The match between the league leader and the bottom team turned out to be a surprisingly intense one.
In the first set, Monza took a big lead at 4-9 from the beginning thanks to consecutive points from OH Roers' blocks and OP Schwartz's serves. However, Perugia caught up with 4 consecutive breaks thanks to two aces from OH Plotnicki and a spike from OH Ishikawa, catching up at 13-13. Perugia then turned the game around with a block from MB Sole to 17-15. Monza also caught up with 18-18 thanks to an ace from OH Roers, but Perugia pulled away with a block from MB Rosell and a pipe attack from OH Ishikawa to 23-20. After that, Perugia had a set point at 24-22, but OH Ishikawa missed two consecutive attacks, making it 24-24 and deuce. However, in the end, OH Plotnicki scored a spike from a receive from reliever server S Zoppellari, and Perugia took the set 28-26.
In the second set, both teams competed for breaks with aces and blocks. In the middle of the set, Perugia took a 15-12 lead with a service ace from OH Plotnicki, and then added points with spikes from OH Ishikawa to extend their lead to 20-15. However, Monza broke three times in a row with a block from OP Schwartz to close the gap at 20-19, and then turned the game around with a block from MB Beretta and an ace from OH Roers to take the lead to 22-23. OH Martilla then scored his sixth spike of the set to take the set 23-25.
In the third set, Perugia took a 6-3 lead thanks to a service ace from OH Ishikawa and an error from Monza. Monza caught up with 8-8 thanks to a serve from OP Schwartz, and then took the lead with a block from MB Beretta at 9-10. However, Perugia scored seven consecutive breaks thanks to three aces from OP Ventara and two blocks from MB Sole, widening the gap to 17-11. After that, Perugia continued to score with spikes from OP Ventara and blocks from OH Ishikawa, making it 24-16, and finally Perugia won the set with a serve error from Monza making it 25-17.
In the fourth set, Perugia extended their lead from the beginning, 5-1, with consecutive aces from OH Ishikawa. After that, blocks and aces from S Gianelli widened the gap to 10-3. Monza narrowed the gap slightly to 12-8 with spikes from OH Roars, but OH Ishikawa's third ace of the set and MB Rosell's block widened the gap again to 21-14. After that, Perugia held match point at 24-15 with an ace from OH Plotnicki and a block from OH Ishikawa. In the end, Perugia won the set with a quick from MB Sole, 25-16, and won the set 3-1 against Monza.
Yuki Ishikawa was named MVP with 20 points, the most on the team. He was the undisputed MVP with 14 points in attacks (effectiveness rate 441 TP 3T), 4 points in aces, 2 points in blocks, and a serve reception success rate of 551 TP 3T (1 point lost).
The return of OH Plotnicki, who showed an overwhelming presence on the day with six aces and serves as a diagonal player, has brought tension back to the competition for the starting position, which may have served as a good stimulus for him.
However, because he was in top form throughout the match, he made two consecutive spike errors at the set point of the first set, which was a close call. He was replaced by OH Semeniuk, and the team then took the set 28-26, but it was a situation where they were in danger of losing the set.
However, he returned to the starting lineup from the second set onwards, and only conceded one attack from then on, so it was a spectacular comeback. I think that being able to come back during a match even when your form is starting to drop is one of the indicators of a top player.
Perugia's MB Sole also played an active role in this match, scoring 5 spikes and 5 blocks for a total of 10 points. MB Russo, who often appears in the starting lineup, was benched in this match, so it was his first start in a long time, but the Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist's skills are still strong. Incidentally, the opposite of MB Rosell is the Argentina national team, who are also playing at the same time. Perugia also has a deep midfield depth.
Perugia dominated Monza with serve and blocks, hitting 14 aces and 13 blocks, especially from the third set onwards.
However, Monza also showed great volleyball against the top team, overturning a maximum 5-point deficit in the second set to take the lead. In particular, OH Roers, who scored 20 points, the same as Ishikawa, played with great courage. It was unexpected that they would fight so well against Perugia.
But it's understandable why they were fired up like that - with relegation on the line.
Last season, Monza made great strides thanks to the efforts of Takahashi Ai and others, finishing as runners-up in the league, but with most of their key players now gone, they have struggled to rack up wins this season and are currently in 12th place, bottom of the league.
They are only one point behind Taranto in 11th place, so depending on the results of the final regular round match this weekend, it will be decided which team will stay and which will be relegated. After a great leap forward last season, they have had a major slump this season. Everything depends on this weekend's game.
Meanwhile, Perugia are guaranteed to finish the regular season in second place or higher along with Trento, and the result of this weekend's match will determine their final regular season position and playoff opponents (Modena will face Cisterna).
In the playoffs, teams with higher regular season rankings play home games first, so if they advance to the finals in first place, they will be able to play more home games until the final. Perugia will likely not cut corners in the final round and will try to advance to the finals in first place.
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https://www.legavolley.it/match/38326
Photo: legavolley.it, Sir Safety Perugia
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