Round 2
First set starting lineup
Nisa
OH: Gerzhod (Poland), Kwasowski (Poland)
MB: Jankowski (Poland), Zerba (Argentina)
OP: Bentara (Tunisia)
S: Zukowski (Croatia)
L: Dembiec (Poland)
Rzeszow
OH: Chebuj (Slovenia), Defalco (USA)
MB: Kozamelnik (Slovenia), Kochanowski (Poland)
OP: Muzai (Poland)
S: Zizga (Poland)
L: Zatorski (Poland)
*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, Rzeszow scored consecutive points with Defalco's spikes early on to take a 3-6 lead.
With a block from Defalco and consecutive aces from Zizga, Rzeszów scored six consecutive breaks to pull away from Nysza with a score of 4-13.
After that, Rzeszow continued to widen the lead with a block from Kozamelnik and a service ace from Muzaj, leading to 7-20.
Nisa replaced Ventala with Miyaura (OP), who scored one point after another with his spikes, but in the end Jankowski's serve went wrong, and Rzeszow took the set 12-25.
In the second set, Nysa started the match with El Graoui (OH, Morocco) and Szczurek (S, Poland), who had been brought on midway through the first set.
In the early stages, Nisa made a series of mistakes and Rzeszów took a 6-9 lead, but a block from Ventala and a spike from El Graoui put them back at 12-12. Then, more mistakes from the opponent gave Nisa the lead at 17-14.
However, with a service ace from Kozamelnik and a block from Defalco, Rzeszów caught up at 20-20, and then, from 23-21 down, they scored four consecutive points with spikes from Cebuj and Muzaj to take the set 23-25.
In the third set, Rzeszow took the lead 3-8 early on with attacks from Defalco and a service ace from Cheby.
Nisa also made it 14-12 with a spike from Ventala and a block from substitute Kramczynski (MB, Poland), and in the final stages, Kwasowski's attack brought them within one point at 21-20.
However, with spikes from Muzaj and Kozamelnik, Rzeszow quickly took the lead to match point at 20-24, and finally Muzaj scored a service ace to give Rzeszow the set at 20-25.
As a result, Nysa lost 0-3 to Rzeszów, following their first-leg defeat.
MVP: OH Torrey Defalco (13 points (2 blocks), 58% attack success rate, 33% serve reception success rate)
Miyaura Kento scored four goals in this match, with an attack success rate of 44%.
This match marked Rzeszow's second win overall, putting them in a strong position to advance to the semi-finals.
The next round, Round 3, will be held in Nisa on Friday, April 14th at 17:30 local time (0:30 the next day Japan time).
Thoughts on the match etc.
Just like Milan vs. Perugia, this was a showdown between the 1st and 8th place in the regular round, but in this case, 8th place Nisa suffered two straight defeats, both in straight sets.
However, rather than saying that their opponent, Rzeszów, was doing better, it seemed to me that Nysa was doing worse than usual.
He made a lot of wasteful mistakes that he should not have made, such as poor matchmaking and poor judgment, and his serve, which is his greatest weapon, was also lackluster.
Ace Ventala also lacked his usual impressive power in both spikes and serves.
The third set of the first game and the second set of the second game were sets that we had to win, but in both cases we lost the set after allowing four consecutive points in the final seconds.
Towards the end, we showed a lack of concentration at crucial moments.
Of course, their serve reception was still terrible, with Gergiot and libero Dembiec in particular being completely disrupted.
It's true that Busek on the bench is the only member of the team who has had proper playoff experience, and I'm sure it will be difficult for the staff as it's a unknown quantity, but I hope they can somehow avoid Nisa not being able to show his strengths and being eliminated without winning a single set...
However, Miyaura, who came on in the middle of the first set of the second match, performed brilliantly.
Although we crossed the center line once and conceded a run, I think we were perfect otherwise.
Although the attack success rate was not that high at 44%, the unsuccessful attacks were due to rebounds, and all of those rebounds were successful.
Comparing Miyaura's performance with Ventara, who was not in good form both days, I think it would have been good for Miyaura to play from the second set onwards in the second match (of course, I personally would have liked to see more of his play (lol)).
With the third race now numbered, I think Nisa will be required to make some kind of changes.
I secretly hope that Miyaura can become that piece.
Photo: PZPL
English 
Japanese