The quarterfinals of the Coppa Italia were held in the Italian men's volleyball league Serie A, and on Thursday, December 29th (local time), Ishikawa Yuki's Milan team, who finished the first half of the league in 7th place, played away against Roubaix Civitanova (hereinafter Roubaix), who were in 2nd place, and won 3-1 (18-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-21).
Yuki Ishikawa started in this match and contributed greatly to the team's victory by scoring a team-high 21 points, and was also selected as the MVP of the match.
First set starting lineup
Milan
OH: Melgarejo (Cuba), Ishikawa
MB: Vitelli (Italy), Rosell (Argentina)
OP: Patry (France)
S: Porro (Italy)
L: Pesaresi (Italy)
Roubaix
OH: Nikolov (Bulgaria), Bottolo (Italy)
MB: Sineniese (France), Anzani (Italy)
OP: Zaitsev (Italy)
S: Dececco (Argentina)
L: Barrasso (Italy)
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
The stats for this match areHere
Match Report
Coincidentally, the Coppa Italia quarter-finals saw the same matchup as last year.
At the start of the first set, Milan's MB Vitelli was caught in a block by the opposing MB Anzani, and attacks by OP Patri and S Pollo were also blocked by Roubaix's blocks, giving Milan a large lead of 1-6 right from the start.
Roubaix continued to score breaks with an ace from OP Zaitsev and a direct spike from MB Sineniede after a powerful serve from OH Nikolov, further widening the gap with Milan to 5-13.
From the middle of the set onwards, Milan was able to cut off their opponents' serves in one go thanks to spikes from OH Melgarejo and OH Ishikawa, but they were unable to break due to serving errors, and Roubaix's OH Nikolov also made solid spikes at crucial moments to prevent Milan from catching up.
Finally, OH Nikolov's spike was successful, and Roubaix took the set 18-25.
In the second set, Milan started the match with MB Piano (Italy), who had been brought on to replace MB Vitelli midway through the first set.
In the early stages, Milano scored points with spikes from OH Ishikawa and MB Piano, while Roubaix continued to score points mainly from OP Zaitsev, and the race continued to be a close one.
However, Milano took a step ahead with a block from OH Nikolov to take a 10-8 lead, and then with a service ace from OH Ishikawa and consecutive spikes from OP Patry, they went into the final stages with a five-point lead over Roubaix at 19-14.
Shortly after, Roubaix also made two consecutive breaks, including an ace from OH Nikolov's serve, to close the gap to 19-17, but Milano quickly scored consecutive points with an ace from OH Melgarejo and a good dig from OP Patri followed by a counter attack from OH Ishikawa to close the gap to 23-18.
In the end, OP Patri scored a powerful spike to give Milan the set back, 25-21.
In the third set, Milan continued their momentum from the second set with a spike from MB Piano and a block, spike, and serve from OH Melgarejo in succession from the beginning, putting them ahead of Roubaix 7-3.
Milano continued to score points from rallies with spikes from OH Ishikawa and blocks from MB Piano, further extending their lead to 15-8.
Roubaix also managed to break through with some spikes from OH Yanto (Cuba), who replaced OH Nikolov, but Milano again managed to hold off with an ace from OH Melgarejo and a block from MB Piano, leading 21-13.
Milan then gave up two consecutive service aces to OH Bottolo when they had a match point, but OH Ishikawa returned the third aces to the setter, and OH Ebadipour (Iran), who had replaced OH Melgarejo, scored the toss to give Milan the set a 25-18 victory.
In the fourth set, OH Ishikawa's powerful serve was blocked by OP Patri to stop OH Bottolo, giving Milano the lead.
After that, Milan's OH Ishikawa and OP Patrie, and Roubaix's OP Zaitsev and OH Nikolov led to an exchange of side-outs, and the score gap did not widen for a while.
However, in the middle of the game, S. Porro blocked an attack from OH Nikolov to take the lead at 15-13, and then OH Ishikawa shut out OP Zaitsev with one shot to make it 17-14. Ishikawa then scored a sharp pipe attack to make it 19-15, widening the lead to four points for Milano.
From there, OH Melgarejo and OH Ishikawa made solid spikes on the side outs, and finally Ishikawa's sharp spike from the riding side pierced the center of the Roubaix court, giving Milano a 3-1 victory over Roubaix with a score of 25-21 and the set.
As a result, Milan won the quarter-finals against Roubaix for the second consecutive year and advanced to the Coppa Italia semi-finals to be held in February next year.
MVP: Ishikawa Yuki (21 points (1 serve, 2 blocks), attack success rate 601 TP 3T (2 conceded), serve reception success rate 431 TP 3T (2 conceded).
This is Ishikawa's first MVP award of the season throughout the league.
The Coppa Italia semi-finals and final will be held in Rome on February 25th and 26th next year, with Milan facing Trento in the semi-finals.
The next league match will be against bottom-placed Siena away from home on Sunday, January 8th at 15:30 local time (11:30 the next day Japan time).
Here is the report from the first half
Thoughts etc.
We won~~~~~~~~~!! And Ishikawa was the MVP!!
I was overjoyed at the Civitanova venue, but I'll start by telling you the chronology of what was happening inside me (laughs).
I covered the situation on site that day.
If we win, it's an important match that will determine our place in the Coppa Italia top four, so there's no reason not to go.
I had been in Modena the previous day to watch the same Coppa Italia quarter-final match between Modena and Trento (which was also an exciting match), so on this day I took the train from Modena to Civitanova.
The express train would take you three and a half hours, but I was reluctant to pay the difference of nine euros (about 1,300 yen), so I opted to take a local train (with one transfer) for the four and a half hour journey.
When we arrived in Civitanova, it was already evening outside.
First, I took in the view of the Adriatic Sea, ate the Italian gelato that I liked the last time I was here, and then headed to the venue.
The venue is approximately 3.5km from Civitanova Marche Station.
There seems to be a bus, but I walk about 40 minutes every day.
Roubaix was originally based in the nearby town of Macerata, but the arena was too small so they moved to Civitanova in 2015 when a new arena was built.
This is what it looks like inside.
The court is stylish and painted in the tricolor of the Italian flag, and the seats are steeply inclined so you have a great view from any seat.
The official shop was also well stocked.
However, it seemed like there were fewer attendees than in Modena the previous day (in fact, Modena had about 4,400 people, while the Civitanova venue on this day had about 2,600).
I felt a little sad, knowing that the stadium was packed during last season's playoffs.
This season, when I watch footage, I notice that there are significantly fewer spectators at Roubaix Home, which makes me a little worried.
Is it because Yuan Traina has left...?
Still, the Roubaix supporters are amazing.
Meanwhile, a small but elite group of Milan fans cheered loudly.
Come to think of it, I had heard reports that a large number of Japanese fans had flocked to Allianz Crowd at the home game in Milan three days earlier, but as expected, not many people came to Civitanova, and I was only able to see about three Japanese fans (which is still impressive).
While I was thinking about this, both teams started warming up.
First, check if they're alive (lol).
It looked like everyone was able to play in both Milan and Roubaix.
As usual, Ishikawa made a one-to-one pass to Patry.
On this day, even from the warm-up, it seemed as if Ishikawa's hidden fighting spirit was coming to the forefront as an aura more than usual.
And finally, match time is approaching.
For this match, Milan started with Melgarejo in the starting lineup.
Since Roubaix has strong serves, it was a bit of a surprise for me as I had assumed that Ebadipoule, who has good serve reception, would be in the starting lineup.
It seems that coach Piazza relied more on Melgarejo's offensive power than on defense.
However, once the match began, the first set was dominated by Roubaix...
Roubaix's block defense was solid, making it difficult for Milano to get side outs.
Setter Porro's tosses were not so good, and his combination with Rosell was not working well either.
On the other hand, at Roubaix, Zaitsev, Nikolov, and Sineniedze were all scoring big spikes, and the crowd was in high spirits.
The Roubaix supporters were located directly behind the press box, and the already loud sound of the drums sounded especially loud at this time.
However, even when they were at a disadvantage, or perhaps because they were at a disadvantage, it was very impressive to see the Milan players smiling and actively communicating with each other during captain Piano's timeout on the bench or when the starting players were substituted.
He's like the father of the team, and as a former starter for the Italian national team, he's not only a great player, but I was reminded once again that he's a wonderful person as well.
The piano was brought in midway through the game, and although they managed to recover in the second half and were able to consistently get side-outs, the point difference from the first half continued to have an impact, and Roubaix took the first set by a large margin.
To be honest, if you just look at the numbers, the situation was very dire, but I wasn't that pessimistic.
The reason is that they were recovering in the second half of the first set, but also in the match in Modena the day before, the home team Modena overwhelmed their opponent Trento 25-17 in the first set, but then Trento came from behind to win the second, third, and fourth sets, so I had just seen that, so I somehow thought, "Maybe they'll make a big comeback like they did yesterday in this match too."
And then, actually, it actually happened (laughs).
Zaitsev continued to play well in the second set, but Milan's Ishikawa and Piano continued to make the set with repeated side outs with their highly decisive play.
Ishikawa is especially amazing.
His movements were crisp and in addition to his sharp attacks, he also had rebounds, feints, blockouts, and service aces, so it seemed like everything was going well for him.
In response to this, both Melgarejo and Patri improved their form in both spiking and serving, creating a positive cycle.
Not only the offense but also the defense worked very well and the ball did not fall easily.
On the other hand, in Roubaix, Bottolo showed off some sharp line shots, but Nikolov made mistakes at crucial moments and had a hard time riding.
When Gabi came out as the reliever server and missed her serve, the entire venue erupted in cheers of "Ahhh↓" (laughs).
The momentum was already clearly shifting in Milan.
Milan won the second set 25-21, and the third set continued to be in their favour.
Milano is really into it, and Professor Ishikawa in particular is awesome.
Melgarejo's dig in the midfield and Patri's under-set from behind that resulted in a goal was personally the best play of the match; it had me in stitches watching it.
Also, at the 16-11 stage, after chasing Zaitsev's spike and crashing into the boards together with Melgarejo, he seemed to say, "That was my ball, so leave it to me!" and then pounded his chest with great force.
Captain Matteo also played a major role in this set with his spiking and blocking.
Having seen him desperately encouraging his teammates from the bench during the first set, it was heartwarming to see him demonstrate his presence through his play as well.
Also, when standing next to the piano, Ishikawa's expression sometimes softens in a good way, and I got the impression that he was relaxed.
The captain is great as always.
Also, the Pollo-Rosello hotline is finally starting to work, and everyone at Milan was really good in this match, everyone was amazing.
Towards the end of the third set, Ishikawa was pushed back and Bottro scored consecutive aces, but in the end Ishikawa put in a strong lead and Ebadipoul scored to win the set 25-18.
I think Milan did a very good job in this match of not leaving any of those unpleasant or uncertain aspects behind.
In the fourth set, Ishikawa also started off well, attacking with his serves and Patry blocking Bottolo's spikes.
Although he made a mistake on the second serve, Ishikawa was adept at changing the course of his serve, which was annoying.
With the score at 2-2, Pipe's setter was positioned closer to the attack line, so they were able to hit the ball at a quick pace.
However, it was not just Milano; Roubaix also played very good defense (libero Barrasso's kick dig was amazing), and even though it was a tough situation, Bottolo was smiling and encouraging his team.
The fourth set was a real battle.
Roubaix has no traces of itself, while Milano wants to decide the match with this set before they lose the momentum.
You could feel the intensity of the players' passion for every ball, and although the outcome of the game is still unknown, it was a game that made me think, "I'm glad I came here, I'm so happy."
Zaitsev's aura was particularly incredible in Roubaix, and his skin was bright red, visible even from a distance, probably due to his high adrenaline.
However, his powerful serve was blocked by the net (Roubaix fans exclaimed, "Ahhh↓"), and his powerful spike was shut out by a single block from Ishikawa.
Even so, he looked very cool as he made his spirited plays, scoring attacks and showing his true colors.
That was the back of a true man.
However, even Zaitsev was unable to stop Milan today.
A quick from Rosell and a pipe from Ishikawa made it 19-15.
I too could feel my heart rate increasing with excitement.
In the final stages, Melgarejo got side outs at a good pace, and Ishikawa, who came forward, scored to make the score 23-19.
At this point it would seem like the outcome is almost always decided, but in my mind I also remember the dramatic comeback in the recent match against Piacenza, so we can't let our guard down yet.
Even though Ishikawa himself was in good form overall, there were quite a few games this season, including with the national team, where he suffered bitter defeat after failing to score a crucial goal.
However, on this day it seemed like he had needless worries.
First, he calmly got a rebound from the left and then made a powerful block out to grab match point.
Then, on the next side-out, he smashed the ball handed to him by Porro from the right field into the center of the court, setting the game!!!
By the way, the winning ball he hit ended up flying all the way to me (laughs).
By the way, I got the match point ball 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/C6w7RHA5Eh
— TOSHIKI (@toshikit71) December 29, 2022
The MVP is of course our very own Yuki Ishikawa!!!
Whether you look at the numbers or the impression of the game, there is no doubt that he is the undisputed MVP!!!
Personally, I would like to give some kind of award to the piano!! (laughs)
After the victory, the Milan players exploded with joy and hugged each other.
After taking the victory photo, we all gathered in a circle and talked for a fairly long time.
Everyone's faces were filled with joy and a sense of accomplishment and relief.
I also jumped on the bandwagon and shared a hug with Ebadipoor, who I'd become friends with through the interview (laughs).
Meanwhile, the defeated Roubaix members quickly left the venue.
Missing out on the Coppa Italia quarterfinals for the second year in a row must have been a huge blow for such a big club.
However, they made a remarkable comeback from there last year to win the Scudetto (league championship), so I'm sure they will become even stronger from now on.
After Ishikawa had finished hugging all of his team members and staff, he agreed to be interviewed.
Even though he was more emotional than usual on the court today, when I excitedly told him "I can finally say this! Congratulations on your victory!" he replied in his usual calm tone, "Thank you" (laughs).
However, in the past, even if an individual was in good form, they would often make comments with a strong sense of self-reflection, such as "Today this wasn't good" or "I couldn't do that." However, this time, they were consistently positive in their comments.
Although he made his comments in his usual calm manner, there was a glimpse of confidence and joy in his tone, which was different from previous interviews he had given after losing.
But if you look at me from the sidelines, I'm sure I was the one grinning (laughs).
Check out Ishikawa's post-match comments here:
Anyway, congratulations Milan and congratulations Ishikawa Yuki.
Up until now, all of my on-site coverage had been of Milan losing games, but this was their first win, an important match that would decide a place in the Coppa Italia final, against Roubaix, and Ishikawa was the MVP, playing a spectacular performance, so I really have nothing more to say.
Personally, I'm glad that we were able to erase the legend of the Japanese team losing every time they went to Italy in 2022 (laughs).
If this continues, we should be able to have a victory interview with Ai-kun in the new year (lol)
Anyway, it was absolutely amazing!!!
Bravo if you're joining the trend!!! (lol)
The semi-final will be on Saturday, February 25th against Trento, and the deciding match will be against Roma!!!
Let's make it to the finals this year, something we weren't able to do last year!!!
I'm really grateful to have been there to witness this moment.
It's all thanks to your support.
Thank you so much!!!
So, everyone, have a happy new year!!!
Photos: Lega Pallovolo Serie A, Powervolley Milano, author
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