On Sunday, May 18th (local time), the final of the men's volleyball European Champions League was held in Lodz (Poland), where Yuki Ishikawa's team, Perugia (Italy), defeated Zawiercie (Poland) 3-2 (25-22, 25-22, 20-25, 22-25, 15-10) to win their first championship. Ishikawa was included in the starting lineup as in the semi-finals, and contributed greatly to the team's victory with 20 points, the second highest on the team.
Match Report
Starting lineup (from P1)
Perugia: OH Plotnicki, MB Rosell, OP Ventara, OH Ishikawa, MB Rosell, S Gianelli, L Coraci
Zabierce: OH Kforek, MB Bieniek, OP Butrin, OH Russell, MB Zniszczow, S Tavares, L Perry
First and second sets: Perugia takes the lead with OP Ventara leading the way
Both teams had strong defenses, and there were few occasions when a single side-out was not enough to make the winning move. However, Perugia's OP Ventara scored a lot of points with a high success rate. He was unstoppable in the first set with 6 points (attack success rate 67%), and in the second set, he scored only 3 points (attack success rate 28%), but he scored 2 service aces for a total of 5 points, which contributed greatly to Perugia's two consecutive set wins. On the other hand, Xavierche's OH Russell scored 12 points in two sets. In particular, he showed a very high performance in the second set with an attack success rate of 62%, but he fell just short.
Third and fourth sets: Zabierche comes back from the bench
Xabierce replaced OP Butrin, whose attack was not going well, with OP Ensin. OP Ensin scored with a high success rate, giving Xabierce more options. OH Kuforek's blocks in the third set and MB Bieniek's quicks in the fourth set stood out at key moments. Perugia's OH Plotnicki in the third set and OH Ishikawa in the fourth set both showed their presence in terms of points, but Perugia made attack mistakes at the crucial moment in the fourth set, allowing Xabierce to win the set.
5th set: Perugia on serve
From the start, OP Ventara scored a service ace, and then OH Ishikawa's serve led Perugia with three breaks to take a 5-1 lead. The score narrowed to 6-5, but S Gianelli and OH Plotnicki broke with powerful serves, and finally OH Ishikawa's sharp serve created a break chance for Perugia, who took the match point at 15-10. Xavierce's serve reception was greatly disrupted, and OH Russell's success rate, which had been in good form until then, weighed heavily on Perugia's performance.
Yuki Ishikawa's achievements
20 points (attack 19, block 1), attack efficiency rate 271 TP 3T,
In the early stages of the match, Ishikawa struggled to score points as his attacks were often picked up by the opposing libero Perry and others, but his floor defense was superb, especially OP Butrin, who repeatedly spiked the ball to the line, rendering him dysfunctional. From there, the team lost the third and fourth sets, but Ishikawa's attack success rate improved. Although an attack mistake at the end of the fourth set was painful, in the fifth set he scored a total of five breaks from a powerful serve, contributing greatly to the victory. In this match in particular, Ishikawa was often seen playing with a smile on his face, regardless of the situation.
Post-match comments
I had a lot of fun playing five sets. I think we played at a very high level, so I was enjoying being there and thinking about how Xabierce and I have been playing volleyball the longest this season.
# Ishikawa Yuki "It was a lot of fun" Interview after winning the European Champions League 🏆🥇
— TOSHIKI (@toshikit71) May 18, 2025
The long version will be uploaded later!# Toshiki's Valelog # Perugia # Volleyball pic.twitter.com/aQjuMDPdGd
Award
Final standings
Winner: Perugia (Italy, first win)
Runner-up: Zabiercie (Poland)
3rd place: Jastrziebuski Wengier (Poland)
4th place: Halkbank Ankara (Türkiye)
Individual Awards
Best Opposite: Wassim Bentala (Perugia)
Best setter: Simone Giannelli (Perugia)
Best Libero: Luke Perry (Xabierce)
Best MB1: Anton Brehme (Jastrzebski)
Best MB2: Mateusz Bieniek (Zabierce)
Best OH1: Tomasz Fornal (Jastrzebski)
Best OH2: Oleh Plotnicki (Perugia)
MVP: Simone Giannelli
*The MVP was decided based on the votes of reporters at the end of the second set. It is believed that other individual awards were also decided based on that.
Related links
Match stats
https://www-old.cev.eu/Competition-Area/MatchStatistics.aspx?ID=78159
Photo: CEV, TOSHIKI
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