In the 16th round of the Romanian Men's Volleyball League, Dinamo Bucharest, of which Yamamoto Ryu is a member, played against Steaua Bucharest on Saturday, February 3rd local time, and lost 2-3 (25-20, 17-25, 24-26, 25-22, 8-15).
This Bucharest derby match was held at Steaua Bucharest's home stadium. The stadium was small, with a maximum capacity of about 1,000 people, but the stadium was filled with the enthusiastic cheers of Steaua fans.
Yamamoto started in this match, and with a variety of tosses that also included pipe attacks, he confused the opposing blockers and helped Dynamo take the first set with a comfortable 25-20 victory.
However, gradually Steaua's blockers began to adapt, and Steaua scored five block points to take the second set by a large margin of 17-25.
The third set was a close one, with Dynamo leading until the end. However, at 23-22, Yamamoto was replaced by Butler (Austria, height 198cm (Yamamoto is 185cm)) to strengthen the block, and Steaua took the set 24-26 after allowing the reversal.
Butler was used from the start of the fourth set, and Yamamoto was on the bench. With the help of OP Barbast (Iran), they managed to take the set 25-22 and bring it to a full set.
However, in the fifth set, Dinamo Bucharest was overwhelmed by Steaua's serves from the beginning and won 8-15, losing to Steaua Bucharest 2-3.
The footage of the matchHereYou can watch it for free from here.
Interview with Ryu Yamamoto
T: How do you feel looking back on the match?
Yamamoto: I was allowed to start today, and I was in a good flow in the first set, and then there were times during the match when my opponent was able to read my characteristics, but I wasn't able to correct that and how I got the one-point shot during the match by the third set. If I had been able to fix that, I think it would have been a much easier game.
T: How did you originally plan to structure your day today?
Yamamoto: Yes, I was conscious of (attacking from the center), but there were a lot of commits (blocks) especially during A passes, so I was conscious of using the quick sides and the pipes there.
T: It looked like you were receiving a lot of instructions from the manager and coaches during the game. What did they say to you?
Yamamoto: They told me a lot of things, like I could use the near side (the side closer to the set position) more rather than sending it to the far side (the side farther from the set position), and today my wrist wasn't in good condition so I couldn't hit a jumping serve, but they said things like "jump and hit it" and "you can do it," so I said it wasn't possible today and tried to concentrate on tossing the serve.
T: What happened to your wrist?
Yamamoto: This is probably something that will heal quickly, but I overused it and my wrist got a little weird. I was counting on it for this match, but I ended up losing.
T: You went to the bench towards the end of the third set until the end, but how did you view the match from then on?
Yamamoto: It's a team sport, so if you're not doing well, you can change, and the coaches choose the means to help the team win, but I had a chance to be substituted in the third set, at deuce... Yes, it's frustrating to be substituted... I think that was a test of trust and an evaluation of my skills, so I think it's important that I can make a better showing from now on.
T: The support from the opposing team's fans was incredible today. Is the atmosphere like this at away games in the Romanian league?
Yamamoto: Yes, it seems that Steaua in particular has quite a rivalry with Dinamo, and it was my first time (playing an away game) and the support from the other side was amazing, but they were saying things like "Sushi!" to us (laughs). I didn't really mind it. After all, nothing can beat that experience in Iran at the Asian Championships, so I didn't really mind it.
T: Given today's disappointing result, how do you want to approach this going forward?
Yamamoto: I made my own plan, and it worked well at first, so I was able to take the set, but my opponent was able to read my plans, and as I said earlier, if I had made better choices when I needed points, I think I could have gotten them.There are many issues I need to address, such as being more relaxed, having a broader perspective, and communicating better, but I would like to work hard to make use of these things next time.
Photo: Author
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