In the 29th round of the Polish Men's Volleyball League (Przlyga), Nysza (8th place), of which Miyaura Kento plays, played against Warsaw (5th place) away on Sunday, March 26th local time, and lost 2-3 (17-25, 25-16, 25-18, 17-25, 8-15).
Miyaura Kento played in all sets except the first set mainly as a relief server, and scored one point with a service ace.
First set starting lineup
Nisa
OH: Gerzhod (Poland), Kwasowski (Poland)
MB: Jankowski (Poland), Zerba (Argentina)
OP: Bentara (Tunisia)
S: Szczurek (Poland)
L: Dembiec (Poland)
Warsaw
OH: Tilley (France), Szabuk (Poland)
MB: Wrona (Poland), Nowakowski (Poland)
OP: Weber (Germany)
S: Filrey (Poland)
L: Wojtaszek (Poland)
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
The stats for this match areHere
Match Report
In the early stages of the first set, Warsaw scored three consecutive breaks from S. Philley's serve, OP Weber's spike and MB Nowakowski's block to take a 6-9 lead.
Nisa also scored points with a block from MB Zerba and a spike from OP Ventala, but the lead was widened to 12-17 with a spike from substitute OH Grobelny (Belgium) and a serve from MB Kowalski (Poland).
In the final minutes, consecutive aces from OH Grobelny and MB Nowakowski helped Warsaw extend the lead to 15-23, and finally OH Szarbuk scored a spike to give Warsaw a 17-25 victory.
In the second set, both teams broke the score early on with a spike from OH Gerdzhot for Nysa and a block from S. Filray for Warsaw, but the set started off with the score tied at 6-6.
However, with OP Ventala's powerful serve, OH Gerjot and OP Ventala scored one after another on the counter, making it six consecutive breaks, and Nisa took the lead at 12-6.
After that, with consecutive blocks from OH Kwasowski and a service ace from MB Jankowski, the lead temporarily widened to 10 points, 19-9.
From there, Warsaw went up 22-14 with a block from MB Kowalski and a service ace from OH Szarbuk, but Warsaw made some serve errors in the end and Nysa took the set back 25-16.
In the third set, both teams scored points with breaks from the three on the sides from the beginning, and the match continued with the score tied at 10-10.
However, Nisa scored consecutive breaks with a block and a service ace from OH Kwasovski and a spike from OP Ventala to take a big lead at 16-11.
Furthermore, with three consecutive breaks, including one service ace, from relief server OP Miyaura's serve, Nisa put Warsaw far ahead, 20-12.
After that, Nyszczak's side players continued to score side outs, and finally, with a spike from OH Kfasovski, Nyszczak made it 25-18 and took the set.
In the fourth set, Warsaw, with no other options, started with OP Krawek (Netherlands) and MB Semeniuk (Ukraine).
From the beginning, OP Kravec's serves mercilessly attacked Nysa's receivers, and he succeeded in a furious nine consecutive breaks with his own spikes and service aces, giving Warsaw a huge lead of 2-11.
From there, Warsaw further extended their lead to 5-15 with consecutive blocks from MB Semeniuk and MB Nowakowski.
Nisa also got a little revenge with consecutive pipe attacks from OH Kwasowski to make it 14-22, but in the end OP Krawek, who was in top form, scored a spike to give Warsaw the set 17-25.
In the fifth set, Nisa started the set by putting Miyaura in a middle position and trying to break with the opening serve, but it was cut off by an attack from OH Shalpuk.
After that, MB Semeniuk continued to score block points, giving Warsaw a 2-5 lead, but then OH Kwasowski made a spike error, making the score 4-8 and the court changed.
Nisa wanted to close the gap from here, but a service ace from OP Kravec allowed the gap to widen to 7-13.
In the end, OP Ventala's spike was stopped by MB Semeniuk, and Warsaw took the set 8-15.
As a result, Nysza lost to Warsaw in full sets 2-3.
Nisa, who had already played their 30th round match, has now finished all of their regular season matches, and as of March 28th they are provisionally in 8th place with 14 wins, 16 losses and 44 points.
In addition, due to points, it was confirmed that Nisa would finish 8th in the regular season finale, which also meant that they would advance to the playoffs.
This will be Nyssa's first time in the playoffs in 19 years, since the 2002/03 season.
In the playoffs, they will face the team that finished first in the regular season, but the opponent has yet to be decided.
Thoughts on the match etc.
The match was truly worthy of being called a "serve game," with the player with the better serve winning the set by a large margin, a match that in some ways symbolizes modern volleyball.
Even though it was a full set, the score difference in each set was more than seven points, so the result was easy to see from the spectators and there was no thrill towards the end, which made it feel a little disappointing, but it was still a flashy and exciting match.
To be honest, after losing the first set 17-25, I was thinking "Nisa's serve receive was terrible throughout the day and she's going to lose by a strikeout," but considering that she was able to recover from there, including mentally, and take sets two and three, I think it was a good match that defied expectations in a good way.
What was particularly impressive about this match was how hard Gerjot put in until the third set.
Nisa's usual losing pattern was that Gerdjot would be thoroughly beaten by the opponent's serves, causing his serve reception to collapse and causing him to lose, but up until the third set, Gerdjot was able to hold on, although he was not completely conceding any points directly.
This was a very good trend, as my recent tendency has been that I can endure one or two sets but not three.
On the offensive side, he performed exceptionally well with an attack success rate of 57%, and 66% up to the third set, with only one point conceded. He also managed to score one service ace, so it felt like we were seeing Gergiot in a reliable form for the first time in a while.
When Nisa took the third set to end the score at 2-1, it looked like Gerjot might be the MVP for the first time in a while, but from the fourth set onwards, she started to lose more points directly on serve receives, and was unable to be effective in either attack or serve, leading to her being substituted.
After losing to Warsaw, he looked the most frustrated on the team and it even seemed like he had tears in his eyes.
In the first place, Gerdjot was the driving force behind Nisa's rapid progress in the first half of the league, and at that time he was scoring 65% of his attacks and hitting three service aces in every game, so I think he is probably feeling a lot of regret at himself for not being able to maintain his condition at that time, and a sense of guilt towards the team.
As he is captain of the Poland U-22 national team, he is a player with a greater sense of responsibility than anyone else, so I hope he will be able to fully demonstrate his true potential in the playoffs and make up for his disappointment.
As for Miyaura, I thought his performance was particularly outstanding in the third set when he came in as a relief server and got three breaks, including a service ace.
However, I was bothered by the fact that when we came on as a substitute in the fourth set and were at a disadvantage, we were never given a toss from setter Zukowski.
I heard later that Zukowski had been feeling unwell and had been unable to practice much until just before the game, but I imagine that this was the same for the other players, so I can't help but imagine that the fact that he was never entrusted with the job even once made them feel anxious about the situation.
I also wanted to get a break on the first serve in the fifth set, but it didn't work out.
However, it must have been difficult to serve when deployed in that manner, and the same strategy didn't work well when we tried it last time either.
Coach Prinski, I don't think that was a good strategy (laughs).
From the fourth set onwards, Warsaw took control of the game and went on to win the match, but I think the key to this was the way they used their players and the depth of their bench.
Warsaw started with opposite end Kravek and middle end Semeniuk in this set, and they played their roles admirably, with Kravek delivering five service aces and Semeniuk making seven blocks to contribute to the comeback victory.
In particular, Semeniuk was a starter for the Ukrainian national team but was only a fourth middle blocker in Warsaw, and has rarely played recently, not even taking to the court once until the third set of this match.
In that situation, I thought the coach's decision to send him onto the court from the fourth set, and Semeniuk's response to that decision, were truly impressive.
In addition, until the third set, outside player Tiri, who had only played in the back court due to recovering from an illness, was brought into full play, and although he took much more modest shots than usual on the offensive side, he kept his serve receive stable and did not allow Nisa to break.
On the other hand, Nisa was not good at making substitutions when they were at a disadvantage.
In contrast to Nysza, who tends to be slow to make substitutions and have difficulty making them work well overall, Warsaw not only has a deep roster of players, but it also seems that their substitutions have worked well throughout the season.
Warsaw changed their manager in the first half of this season (technically he was promoted from assistant coach), but since then they have won 16 games and lost only one, and are currently on a 13-game winning streak.
Although they are not as talented as Italy's Perugia, the fact that they have been able to achieve such results speaks to the strength of the team, including the players and manager.
Warsaw will face last year's European champions, Saksa, in a playoff and it is entirely possible that they could beat the champions.
As a Warsaw citizen, I have high hopes for this team.
Personally, I've become good friends with Tiri too (laughs).
By the way, Warsaw's number 13, OH Grobelny, was previously a teammate of Yanagida at Rubin.
Anyway, congratulations to Nisa for making it to the playoffs!!!
We don't know who our opponents are yet, but no matter which team comes, if we can hold out on serve receive and hit with our serves we can win, so do your best!!!
I especially want to see Gerdjot recover, and Miyanoura get a service ace and be embraced by Gerdjot again!!! (laughs)
Photo: PZPL
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