In the Italian men's volleyball league Serie A, Ishikawa Yuki's Milan team played the third match of the playoff semi-finals against Civitanova away on Wednesday, April 19th local time, and won 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 26-24).
Ishikawa Yuki started in this match and scored 13 points, tied for second on the team.
First set starting lineup
Milan
OH: Melgarejo (Cuba), Ishikawa
MB: Rosell (Argentina), piano (Italy)
OP: Patry (France)
S: Porro (Italy)
L: Pesaresi (Italy)
Civitanova
OH: Nikolov (Bulgaria), Yant (Cuba)
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
In the first set, Civitanova scored consecutive points with blocks from Zaitsev and service aces from Yount early on, taking a large lead of 3-8.
Milan also managed to break through with a spike from Melgarejo and a block from Ishikawa, closing the gap to just one point at 9-10, but immediately afterwards they fell behind again with a spike from Zaitsev and another at 9-13.
However, Milano continued to score with blocks from Rosell and spikes from Patri, closing the gap to 16-17 again, and from there the game became a battle for side outs.
Then, at 22-23, a block from Piano and a spike from Melgarejo gave Milan a 24-23 lead and they grabbed the first set point, and finally, Patri's serve was an ace, giving Milan the set 25-23.
In the second set, Milano extended their lead to 6-2 early on with Rosell's spikes and Patri's blocks.
After that, they continued to score break points with service aces from Rosell and Patrie and blocks from Ishikawa, further widening the gap to 16-8.
Civitanova narrowed the gap to 17-14 with spikes from Sinenieze and Zaitsev, but Milano again widened the gap to 21-15 with a service ace from Rosell and a pipe attack from Ishikawa.
Dececco's final attack ended in a miss, and Milan took the set 25-18.
In the third set, Milano made several breaks with spikes from Patri and service aces from Piano early on, taking a 10-6 lead.
Although the lead was narrowed slightly, Milan continued to lead until the middle of the game, at which point Civitanova brought on Garcia (OP, USA) to replace Zaitsev.
Garcia then scored points in succession with a spike, block, and serve, and Civitanova successfully turned the game around to make it 18-19.
After that, both teams traded side outs to make the score 22-23, but immediately afterwards, Milan got a side out with an attack from Ishikawa to make the score 23-23. Ishikawa's following serve was an ace that went into the net, giving Milan a match point with the side score reversed to 24-23.
Although Ishikawa's next serve was a mistake, he again got the side out with a pipe attack to make the score 25-24, and finally Melgarejo stopped Garcia with a block to make the score 26-24. Milano won the set and defeated Civitanova 3-0.
MVP: MB Agustin Rosell (13 points (2 serves, 1 block), 83% attack success rate)
Ishikawa Yuki was tied for second on the team with 13 points (1 serve and 1 block), with an attack success rate of 58% and a serve receive success rate of 33%).
With this, Milan's overall semifinal record improved to 2 wins and 1 loss, putting them in a strong position to advance to the final.
The fourth match of the playoff semi-finals will be held at Milan's home ground on Saturday, April 22nd at 18:00 local time (1:00 am Japan time).
Thoughts on the match etc.
Milan is on the verge of the final!!!
From the moment we beat Perugia I thought "We're going to the Milan final," and now that I feel that reality is slowly getting closer, I can't help but feel my heart pounding with excitement (laughs).
The match ended in a straight 3-0 victory, but the first set was won after Japan had a large lead early on and then made a comeback in the final stages, and the third set was also won after Japan was overtaken in the final stages and then made another comeback.
Milan's serves were generally good in this match, and they also had several service aces into the net, so it seemed as if they had luck on their side in the match.
Furthermore, until the beginning of the third set, Rosell and Patry were scoring like crazy, and I was especially delighted with Patry's good form, as I personally see him as the final piece to our victory.
However, from the middle of the third set onwards, setter Porro started giving the ball to Ishikawa and Melgarejo, and in the end they took the sweet spot and the deciding factor... (laughs).
Even so, since he was the best scorer, it seemed like he would get the MVP, but that award went to Rosell, who had an attack success rate of 83%...
Patry, let's perform even better than today in the next home game and be named Patry MVP to advance to the finals!
But I also like Rosell, so I'm happy that he won MVP.
Looking back, he was a player on the Argentina national team who was scoring goals with his mid-range shots, so at the beginning of the season he had difficulty finding a good combination with Porro and the number of goals he scored wasn't increasing, which made it difficult for us to watch.
But now, Porro is able to give Rosell strong sets even from near the attack line, which makes me really happy.
I once again felt that Milan has really grown a lot as a team in just this one season.
Milano had been defeated by their opponents several times at the beginning of the season, so it was quite moving to see them pull off last-minute comebacks in the final stages of the first and third sets.
Wow, we really have become a good team.
On the other hand, Civitanova struggled to serve and had a long period of difficulty.
Also, Zaitsev, who had been in great form in the first two games, did not improve his success rate on this day.
Garcia, who came on in the middle of the third set, helped the team turn the game around in the final stages, but he was also shut out in the end.
However, after Garcia came on, it was truly a mystery why the Milan servers didn't serve to Nikolov, who is not good at receiving serves (although it was okay because we won).
Now we're back in Milan for the fourth round.
Milan has yet to lose a home game since the playoffs began.
So I'm sure I can win next time too (and probably in a full set (lol))!!
Come to think of it, we weren't winning any home games at the beginning of the season.
I guess this is also an area of growth.
Anyway, let's advance to the finals at home!
Forza Milano!!!
Photo: Lega Pallavolo Series A
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