In the fourth round of the Italian Men's Volleyball League, Monza, the team that Takahashi Ai plays for, played against Taranto on Sunday, November 12th local time, and won 3-0 (25-14, 25-10, 25-17).
Takahashi Ai started in the lineup and scored 11 points, including three service aces.
First set starting lineup
Monza
OH: Ma (Canada), Takahashi
MB: Galassi (Italy), Di Martino (Italy)
OP: Schwartz (Canada)
S: Fernando (Brazil)
L: Gaggini (Italy)
Taranto
OH: Lanza (Italy), Gutierrez (Cuba)
MB: Aletti (Italy), Jendrick (USA)
OP: Russell (USA)
S: Trinidad (Serbia)
L: Rizzo (Italy)
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
Match Report
In the first set, OH Takahashi was caught by Taranto's block, but soon OH Takahashi and OP Schwartz each got three consecutive breaks, and Monza took a big lead from the beginning, 10-4. After that, Monza continued to score points with spikes and blocks from OP Schwartz and spikes from OH Marr, widening the gap to 21-11. Finally, OH Takahashi scored a sharp spike to win the set, 25-14.
In the second set, OH Takahashi suddenly took two consecutive service aces, followed by MB Galassi's block, Monza took a 5-0 lead right from the start. From there, Monza continued to widen the gap with spikes and service aces from OH Marr and MB Di Martino to 13-5, and then MB Galassi's two consecutive service aces to 21-8. Monza closed the set with a service ace from OH Marr and took the set 25-10.
In the third set, Taranto scored points with the spikes of OP Sala (Italy) who entered the match as a substitute, and took a 3-5 lead in the early stages. However, Monza made a comeback with MB Galassi and OH Takahashi scoring from S Fernando's serve, and with six consecutive breaks, they took the lead at 14-8. From there, Monza continued to score points mainly with the spikes of OH Marr and OP Schwartz, and kept the lead. Finally, OH Marr scored a spike to win the set 25-17.
As a result, Monza won against Taranto 3-0.
MVP: S Fernando Kreling (no points, team attack effectiveness rate 50%)
Takahashi scored 11 points (3 on serve) with an attack effectiveness rate of 31.25%.
Monza now sits in provisional first place with a total record of 4 wins, 1 loss and 12 points.
Their next match will be against Trentino, who are in second place, on Monday, 20 November at 2:00am Japan time.
Italian League Website: https://www.legavolley.it/
Distribution (VBTV, paid): https://www.volleyballworld.tv/home
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Toshiki's Tweets
It was overwhelming.
They overwhelmed Taranto with their serves even more than they did in last week's match against Modena. They had the same number of service aces (10) as they did in the Modena match, but I think they had more aces than they did then, such as S. Fernando's serve in the third set, which were not directly aces. What a fearsome serving power. Monza can serve at a high level with a variety of serves, including not only pure big serves, but also control serves and jump floater serves, so I think it will be difficult for opponents to deal with them.
Incidentally, this is also proven by the fact that OH Takahashi and OH Marr are currently ranked 1st and 2nd respectively in the league's best server rankings (number of service aces).
Takahashi started the match with a lack of success in attacks and an uncharacteristic mistake in his serve (a toss miss?), but he made good corrections after that. In the second set, Takahashi's characteristic sharp play was evident throughout, with two consecutive service aces and a fake set from the beginning. His defense was also as stable as ever.
The MVP was Fernando. As always, he used aggressive attacks from the middle, setting up a targetless game, and in the third set, he made a big comeback with his own serve. His combination with Takahashi seems to be getting better and better.
The team atmosphere at Monza also seems to be very good. At the match point of this match, the team's youngest libero, Moragini, was sent in as a relief server. And when Moragini received the opponent's attack and Ma scored a spike to win the game, the whole team started mobbing Moragini (lol). The team photo afterwards was like this (lol) ↓
Monza is very strong and has a great atmosphere. Even though they have played one more game than the other teams, they are in first place in the rankings and are in high spirits! I am very happy as a supporter that Takahashi has transferred to a really good team!!
Next week we will be playing against the strong Trentino team, but if we can keep up this momentum and keep attacking with our serves we should have no problem! Forza Monza!!
Photo: Vero Volley
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