In the 8th round of the Italian men's volleyball league Serie A, Milan, where Ishikawa Yuki plays and is in 7th place in the league, played against Piacenza, who are in 8th place, at home on Sunday, November 20th local time, and Milan lost 2-3 (18-25, 25-21, 25-23, 22-25, 13-15).
Yuki Ishikawa started in the lineup and scored a team-high 19 points, but the team missed out on the victory.
First set starting lineup
Milan
OH: Ishikawa,
MB: Vitelli (Italy)
OH/MB: Melgarejo (Cuba), Ebadipour (Iran)
OP/MB: Patry (France)
S: Porro (Italy)
L: Pesaresi (Italy)
Piacenza
OH: Lucarelli (Brazil), Real (Brazil)
MB: Simon (Cuba), Caneschi (Italy)
OP: Romano (Italy)
S: Brisard (France)
L: Scanfera (Italy)
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
The stats for this match areHere
Match Report
For this match, Milan had to play with an unusual formation at short notice, as not only had MB Piano been unable to play since last week due to poor condition, but it was also discovered on the day of the match that MB Rosell would not be able to play either.
Ebadipour, who is normally an OH player, was placed diagonally across from MB Vitelli, and the three players - Ebadipour, OH Melgarejo and OP Patri - played in middle blocker positions depending on the rotation and situation.
Milan, with their hastily put together formation, struggled in the first set.
From the beginning, Piacenza was able to secure side-outs with OH Real's spikes, and with an ace from MB Simon and a block from MB Kaneschi, they successfully broke through and took a 2-5 lead.
Milan fought back with spikes from OP Patri, but after a service ace from Real in the middle of the game, Piacenza extended their lead to 10-15 with three consecutive breaks.
Milan continued to make mistakes and had no chance to fight back, and in the end, they were hit with a sharp pipe attack from Real Madrid, losing the set easily 18-25.
However, the second set started off well when Ishikawa blocked Piacenza's OP Romano to grab the first point, and then he followed that up with aces all over the sideline and a sharp pipe attack to give Milan a 5-2 lead.
Milan continued to score points with strong defense and serve, including a spike from Melgarejo after desperately passing the ball, an ace from setter Porro, and a spike from Ishikawa, to take a 15-10 lead, the opposite of the first set.
Milan continued to push forward until the end, when Ebadipoour hit a powerful spike that smashed through the opponent's block to take the set 25-21.
In the third set, Piacenza started the match with Chester, replacing MB Caneschi.
A quick goal from Ebadipoul gave Milan their first goal, and then Patri scored an ace to make it 3-1. It looked like Milan would continue their momentum, but Piacenza quickly equalized with successive attacks from Real.
After that, Milan's Vitelli stopped Real with a block, and Piacenza's setter Brizard also shut out Ishikawa's spike, and as soon as one team broke, the other team would immediately break and catch up, and the gap in the points seemed to be widening, but it never did, as the game approached the end.
Piacenza was the first to reach 20 points at 19-20, but at 22-22, Milano broke consecutively with an ace from Pollo and a block to stop Ebadipoule's Simon, giving them a set point at 24-22, and finally Brizard's serve went out, giving Milano the set.
In the fourth set, Piacenza got off to a good start with a 1-4 lead after Real's spikes and consecutive losses from Patri.
Milano closed the gap to 7-8 with some skillful roll shots and block outs from Ishikawa, but they were unable to get a break after that, and instead made the rotation mistakes that Milano had been dreading, allowing them to widen their lead to 14-19.
However, Ishikawa then scored consecutive sharp service aces that hit between the opposing receivers to make the score 17-19, and Vitelli followed with an ace to close the gap to 19-20, just one point behind.
However, Milan's counterattack did not last, and in the end, Ishikawa's attack was blocked by Romano, giving Piacenza the set 22-25, forcing the match into a tiebreak.
In the fateful final set, Ishikawa spiked the first point for Milan, but his second spike was blocked by Brizard, giving Piacenza a 1-3 lead.
After the time-out, Vitelli's spike gave Milan a side-out, and just like in the fourth set, Ishikawa's serves again hit the Piacenza court, with four consecutive breaks, including a service ace, to take the lead at 6-3 and turn the tide in Milan's favor.
With Milan leading 8-6, the two teams changed courts, and then Porro's excellent serves forced Milano into making mistakes, resulting in three consecutive breaks for Milan. Milan then extended their lead to 11-6 and it looked like they had sealed the match.
However, thanks to spikes from Real and an ace from Lucarelli, Piacenza closed the gap to 12-11, and Milan also cut the lead with a spike from Ishikawa to make it 13-11, but Real scored again shortly after to make it 13-12, preventing Milan from getting a match point.
On the other hand, Ishikawa made a spike error and then Patri was caught in a block by Real, giving Piacenza a match point at 13-14, and finally Simon's short serve fell in front of Ebadipoul, making the score 13-15 and ending the match.
Milano lost this set in an unexpected reversal and ended up losing to Piacenza in a full set.
MVP: OH Yolandi Leal (24 points (1 serve, 1 block), attack success rate 651 TP 3 T)
Ishikawa also performed at an MVP level, scoring the most points on the team with 19 points (4 serves and 1 block), and had an attack success rate of 471 TP3T, but it was just not enough to lead his team to victory.
Milan now sits in provisional 8th place with a total of 4 wins, 4 losses and 11 points.
Next week, we will play away against Trento on Saturday, November 26th at 18:00 local time (2:00 Japan time).
Thoughts etc.
On this day, we were there to watch the game and report on it.
The last time we came to Allianz Cloud in Milan, our opponent was Piacenza, and they lost, so I really wanted to see Milan win this time, but I never expected it to end like this.
The venue was packed with spectators, and the courtside area behind the benches in particular seemed to be almost full up (official announcement said the attendance was 3,318 people).
Their opponent, Piacenza, is also close to Milan, and it may have also been a big factor that Piacenza had Romano, who is from Monza near Milan, played for Milan last season and made a brilliant contribution to Italy's victory at this year's World Championships as a starting opposite (in fact, when Romano was introduced by the announcer at the venue, there was a huge cheer, despite the team being away).
Milan's Ishikawa looked relaxed as he passed the ball to Patri during the pre-match warm-up.
However, the piano isn't uploaded, and Rosell still has his jacket on...that's weird...
And then when the starting lineup was announced, they said "Melgarejo!" and "Ishikawa!" and I thought "Oh, today is the day for Ishikawa and Melgarejo, who were good enough to be facing each other in last week's match against Padova!" but then they said "Ebadipoule!" "????"
I was confused.
If you look closely, you can see that Rosell was on the bench without even wearing his uniform, which means that since Vitelli was the only midfielder available, it seemed like the strategy was to use one of the outside players as a midfielder.
Coach Piazza had done something similar five seasons ago with Poland's Belchatov and three seasons ago with Milan, so I was a little excited to have the opportunity to watch such a special match live.
I wanted to see Roselle too, but this was fine (lol)
However, I wondered whether we could beat the strong Piacenza team with such an unconventional formation, and sure enough, the first set was quite hectic and we lost the set easily.
Ishikawa also didn't seem to be in good form in this set, other than finally scoring one point with a spike towards the end, and I was feeling dejected and thinking, "I guess today is just going to end like this..."
But Ishikawa Theater started with the second set.
Block, spike, back attack!!
They're coming, they're coming!!
Furthermore, consecutive Melgarejo spikes from dedicated play by Pollo!!
When the energetic Melgarejo scores, the whole team becomes brighter.
This is getting interesting!!!
Real Madrid in Piacenza are still scoring goals, but their unconventional Milan side are not giving up!
And with that momentum, we won the second and third sets!!
The excitement is building when Ebadipour and Melgarejo, who are usually side players, make quick goals, and Ishikawa was on top form from the second set onwards, with everyone picking up a lot of balls.
Piacenza also had Brizard spiking the ball against a three-man block (even though he's a setter lol).
It was an amazing match, extremely entertaining.
Take and take, break and break back.
I couldn't get enough of it!
We could also get a good view of the players' expressions from the press box, and Ishikawa seemed much happier when his teammates scored points than when he scored himself, and when Ebadipoul scored a difficult ball his face was all red with joy, and when Porro got an ace he quickly went over to him and gave him a hug (laughs).
The fourth set was in Piacenza's pace, but Ishikawa's consecutive aces were spectacular.
My seat was exactly on the extension of the serve path from which the ace was taken, so I could see its trajectory clearly, and just as Lucarelli and Scanfera were waiting, I could see server Ishikawa, and he really came barreling down on me with the serve.
And there were two of them.
Wow, what a luxurious sight I am seeing.
Then the same ball came up again in the fifth set, and I was just super excited. After that we broke Porro's serve, and my hands were sweating profusely. I thought to myself, "If we keep going like this, we'll win, and the MVP will most likely be Yuki Ishikawa, his first MVP of the season, and I'm about to witness a fantastic moment when Milan wins against the powerful Piacenza with an unconventional formation."
Even when Piacenza caught up at 13-13, we remained calm.
Ishikawa would be serving again in two rotations, so I firmly believed that if Milan could hold out until then with side outs, they would definitely win.
Rather, I thought, "It was great to see such a thrilling game until the very end! And it ended with Ishikawa's ace hit!"
However, Ishikawa never got to serve again after that, and the match ended with an ace from Simon's short serve, without even going for deuce.
...Eh...it's over?
To be honest, it took me a few seconds to accept the reality.
I had only prepared a scenario in which Milan would win and an interview with Ishikawa if they did win, so I didn't know what else to ask.
What is this, what is this feeling?
It was frustrating, certainly, but there were emotions there that could never be expressed in just that one word.
However, even though he is the one who is actually the most disappointed, Ishikawa answered the interview questions with a smile.
They also made sure to respond to all the fans, right down to the very last one.
That's why he is supported and loved by so many people.
Next time, I hope to be there when his team wins and congratulate him on being MVP.
With that promise in mind, I left the venue that day.
Photo: Lega Pallovolo Serie A, author's photo
Here are the players' comments from this match:
English 
Japanese