In the 11th round of the Italian Men's Volleyball League, Monza, the team that Takahashi Ai plays for, played against Cisterna on Tuesday, December 26th (local time) and lost 1-3 (18-25, 20-25, 25-21, 22-25). Takahashi Ai started the game and scored 15 points, the second highest on the team.
First set starting lineup
Monza
OH: Ma (Canada), Takahashi
MB: Galassi (Italy), Di Martino (Italy)
OP: Schwartz (Canada)
S: Klering (Brazil)
L: Gaggini (Italy)
Cisterna
OH: Ramon (Spain), Peric (Serbia)
MB: Rossi (Italy), Nedeljkovic (Serbia)
OP: Fall (France)
S: Baranovich (Italy)
L: Piccinelli (Italy)
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
Match Report
In the first set, Monza made a series of mistakes early on, giving Cisterna a 2-5 lead. From there, Cisterna continued to score with OP Fall's spike and OH Peric's service ace, widening the gap to 8-14. Monza scored with OH Takahashi's spike and MB Di Martino's block, but Cisterna further extended their lead to 12-19 with consecutive service aces from OH Ramon. From there, it was a battle for side outs, and finally Cisterna won the set with 18-25 thanks to OH Petric's spike.
In the second set, OH Takahashi scored a spike from the right back at the start, and Monza took the lead 7-4 with further points from OH Takahashi's spike and S Kreling's service ace. However, Cisterna made five consecutive breaks with OH Ramon's spike and two service aces to turn the game around to 8-11, and then OH Peric's spike and service ace gave Cisterna an even bigger lead of 11-18. From there, Monza also made five consecutive breaks with spikes and blocks from OP Schwartz and MB Di Martino to close the gap to 18-19, but Cisterna scored three consecutive breaks with OP Fall's spike and S Baranovic's service ace to pull away from Monza again with 18-23. Finally, OH Peric's spike gave Cisterna the lead at 20-25.
The third set was a close one in the beginning. Monza and OH Mar and Cisterna scored points mainly from OP falls, leading to a score of 8-8. After that, both teams broke the ball, but the score difference remained the same, leading to 14-14, but then MB Rossi's block gave Cisterna a 2-point lead at 14-16. However, Monza quickly tied the score at 16-16 with a spike from OH Mar, and then OH Takahashi's spikes and other efforts turned the game around to 19-17. In the final stages, Monza continued to score with attacks from S Kreling and consecutive spikes from OH Takahashi, widening the gap to 23-19, and finally MB Di Martino scored a spike to take the set 25-21.
In the fourth set, OH Pericic's consecutive service aces put Cisterna ahead at 4-6, and OP Fall's spikes widened the gap to 6-10. In the middle of the set, Monza tied the score at 14-14 with spikes from OP Schwartz and OH Takahashi, and the match then became a battle for side-outs. Monza scored with OH Mar and Cisterna with OH Ramon, and the match went into the final stages at 20-20. However, OH Takahashi's attack error put Cisterna ahead at 20-22, and OP Fall scored consecutive spikes, giving Cisterna a match point with a three-point lead at 21-24. Cisterna then won the set with another OP Fall, winning the set at 22-25.
As a result, Monza lost 1-3 to Cisterna.
MVP: OP Theo Fall 24 points, attack efficiency rate 42.55%
OH Ai Takahashi: 12 points, attack efficiency rate 46.15%
With this, Monza finished the first half (1 leg) in 4th place with a total record of 7 wins, 4 losses and 20 points. As a result, they will play at home against Civitanova, who is in 5th place, in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals.
The next match will be against Civitanova at 2:00am Japan time on Sunday, December 31st (league match).
Italian League Website: https://www.legavolley.it/
Distribution (VBTV, paid): https://www.volleyballworld.tv/home
Photo: legavolley.it
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