On Friday, April 18th (local time), in the third round of the Italian Superlegga 5th place deciding qualifying match, Milan, where Tatsunori Otsuka plays, faced off against Padova, with Milan winning comfortably 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-15).
In the Italian League, a 5th place match will be played between the four teams that lost in the quarterfinals of the playoffs and the two teams that placed 9th and 10th in the regular season. First, a round-robin qualifying round will be played, and then the winner will be decided through a tournament between the top four teams. The team that placed 5th will be able to get a ticket to the CEV Challenge Cup next season.
However, perhaps because there was not much interest in this fifth-place deciding match, the number of spectators on this day was small. Also, there were no VIP seats, which were seen during the regular season. Nevertheless, there were many Japanese-looking spectators, probably to see Otsuka.
Both Milan and Padua warmed up in a friendly atmosphere. Otsuka, as always, seemed to enjoy communicating with his teammates.
Milan will be playing with almost their best starting lineup, including OH Otsuka, while Padova will be playing with reserve members except for S. Falaschi. Padova is a team that basically aims to stay in the Superlegaga, and not only do they not want to do more than that, but they are also treating it as an opportunity for young players to gain experience, since participating in the Challenge Cup would increase their burden (and yet they have only won one game so far).
In the first set, the game was close at first, but Milano extended their lead to 13-9 with a block from OH Otsuka and a service ace from S. Porro. Milano continued to score points with spikes from OH Otsuka and OH Gardini, and took the set 25-22.
In the second set, Padova took the lead at 2-3 with an ace from OH Orioli, but then Padova made a series of mistakes and Milan took the lead at 10-7. After that, Milan widened the gap with spikes and aces from OP Regels to 15-9. In the final stages, Padova narrowed the gap to 24-21 with a service ace from OH Porro (brother of Milan's S Porro), who came in as a substitute, but in the end, Padova's serve error meant Milan won the set at 25-21.
In the third set, Padova's mistakes and OH Otsuka's pipe attack gave Milano a 3-0 lead from the start. Padova quickly caught up to 4-4 with MB Polo's blocks, but then OH Gardini's consecutive aces, MB Kaneschi's aces, and Milano's serves led to 11-6. Milano continued to score points with OP Regelus' spikes and OH Gardini's blocks, and finally OP Regelus' spike led Milano to win the set 25-15, winning 3-0.
The stats for the match areHere.
Milan finally managed to win their first match in the fifth-place playoffs, six matches in total since their quarterfinal appearance.
The MVP was OH Gardini. He made his presence felt in his first start in a long time with the team's highest score of 13 points (8 attacks (effectiveness rate 531 TP 3T), 2 serves, 3 blocks). He still struggles with serve reception and struggled in this match, but when he gets going, he has the scoring power to more than make up for it. On the other hand, OH Otsuka's serve reception is stable, so I personally think it would be fine to keep Gardini and Otsuka as OH opponents for the remaining matches. They're young, too.
OH Otsuka was voted MVP by the audience. He showed high performance with 8 points (7 attacks (effective rate 641 TP 3T), 1 block) and a serve reception success rate of 731 TP 3T. He also made a great contribution in situations that do not show up in the numbers, such as defense and connecting. With his excellent communication skills, he has truly grown into a core player for the team.
This is also reflected in Otsuka's appearance in the starting lineup for five consecutive games. Milan coach Piazza said of Otsuka, "At the beginning of the season, he limited his play while recovering from an injury, but he has shown great growth since then. His defense was always good, but now his spikes have been strengthened, and his blocking has improved, although there are still some issues to be addressed." At the same time, he expressed his expectations for further growth, saying, "His serve still has room to grow."
After the game, he also interacted with the local American football team that had come to watch the game, and enjoyed communicating with each of the waiting fans, sometimes even telling jokes in Italian. There is no doubt that he has captured the hearts of the fans not only through his play but also through these aspects.
Although Padova lost, it was good to see MB Polo, who returned from a four-year suspension for doping, play. He played with Yuki Ishikawa at the same club in the 2019/20 season, and I was very shocked by this incident just as he was about to join the senior A national team, but I hope he will do his best from here on out.
Also, among the mostly young Padua members, OH Luca Porro was on the bench despite being only 21 years old. He was a regular starter in the regular season as part of the Italian national team at the Paris Olympics, so it was only natural that he would be on the bench this time, but his atmosphere and presence on the bench already felt like that of a veteran player. This player will surely grow even more in the future.
Milan's record in the 5th place match is now 1 win, 2 losses and 3 points, placing them 3rd out of 6 teams. The remaining two matches in the qualifying round are against Grottazzolina away at 27:30 on Wednesday the 23rd (Japan time) and against Cisterna, where Tarumi Yuga plays, at 24:30 on Sunday the 27th.
All the teams are quite close in ability so it's difficult to predict the outcome, but I hope we can end the season on a good note.
Photo: legavolley.it, TOSHIKI
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