In the quarterfinals of the men's French Cup volleyball, Paris, where Miyaura Kento and Kai Yuto play, played against Tours on Wednesday, February 14th (local time), and lost 0-3 (18-25, 24-26, 21-25).
Miyaura Kento started the game and scored 15 points, while Kai Yuto came on as a substitute and scored 2 points.
First set starting lineup
Paris
OH: Panu (France), Conde (Argentina)
MB: Jurkovic (Austria), Wetter (USA)
OP: Miyaura (Japan)
S: Ossar (France)
L: Kapur (Serbia)
Tours
OH: Mendes (Argentina), Potlon (France)
MB: Nascimento (Brazil), Parkinson (Netherlands)
OP: Dramenet (Brazil)
S: Coric (Bosnia)
L: Ramon (France)
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
Match Report
In the first set, Tours broke the lead 1-5 with a spike from OP and a service ace from S. Coric. Paris scored mainly from OP Miyaura, but Tours widened the gap to 9-15 with a spike from OH Tammeal and a block from MB Parkinson. In the final stages, Tours broke the lead with a block and spike from OP to make it 15-23, and finally Tours won the set with an attack from OH Mendes 18-25.
In the second set, OH Mendes' blocks and spikes put Tours ahead at 1-4, but OP Miyaura's service aces helped Paris tie the score at 5-5. From there, MB Parkinson's blocks and OP's spikes scored breaks, putting Tours at 10-14 again. At 13-16, Paris brought on OH Kai and S Mottapaes as substitutes. Kai played opposite, which is not his usual position, but he spiked and blocked to put Paris at 17-19. Tours continued to attack and made mistakes, tying the score at 22-22. However, OP Miyaura's serve after returning to the court made an error, giving Tours the first set point at 23-24, but OP Miyaura's final attack error made it 24-26, giving Tours the set.
The third set started with S. Mottapaes. In the early stages, Paris Saint-Germain led 7-3 with spikes and blocks from OH Conde. From there, Tours turned the game around with spikes from MB Nascimento to 8-9, but spikes from OH Panu and OH Conde put Paris in front again with 14-11. However, a spike and block from OH Mendes put Tours back in front with 14-15, and a service ace from OH Mendes extended their lead to 18-21. In the end, OP's block was successful and Tours took the set with a score of 21-25.
As a result, Paris Saint-Germain lost 0-3 to Tours.
MVP: OH Nicolas Mendes 14 points (2 serves, 3 blocks) Attack efficiency rate 13.631 TP3T
OP Kento Miyaura 15 points (1 serve) Attack effectiveness rate 25.00%
OH Yuto Kai 2 points (1 block) Attack effectiveness rate 0.00%
This meant that Paris was eliminated from the French Cup.
The next match will be against Presilobançon in a league match on Saturday, February 17th at 28:00 Japan time.
League website: https://www.lnv.fr/lam/statistiques
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Post-match comments from players
OP Kento Miyaura
We were really motivated for the cup match, but frankly, it's disappointing that we lost. We had a chance to win, and we had a chance to take the set. We couldn't score there, so it was a wasteful game.
OH Kai Yuto
We didn't have a good flow, and there were many occasions when the opponents picked up the ball, so I think we weren't able to play the kind of volleyball we wanted to play.
Toshiki's Tweets
I watched this match live.
Paris is currently hovering around eighth place in the league - the required position to qualify for the playoffs - and it is possible that they may not even make it into the playoffs.
For that reason, I saw the French Cup as a big opportunity to overthrow the ruling party and win the title, and since the final was scheduled to be held in a large arena in Paris, I felt that the club was very determined to win it.
But I never thought it would end up like this.
I'm willing to concede that I lost, but it left me feeling very frustrated.
The reason for this was that the starting setter that day was reserve player Ossar, not Mottapaes, who is normally a starter.
It would be understandable if Mottapaes was injured or unwell, but that doesn't seem to be the case (even when he was running at the end of the court during game time, he made an appeal to a team member sitting at the end, as if to say, "Why, I'm fine.").
The other players were also confused.
As expected, Ossar's set quality was not very good, so they were unable to bring out the best in their attackers and their attacks were monotonous, relying on Miyaura. It's harsh, but I think that was the main reason they lost the first set.
We continued to play catch-up in the second set, and it felt like we were finally able to start fighting after Mottapaes was brought on as a substitute.
In the third set, Mottapaes started because Ossar injured his leg in the final play of the second set. In the end, they lost this set too, but while they had lost points in the first and second sets because of their own mistakes, in the third set, it seemed like they had lost because their opponent played better.
So I think if Mottapaes had played from the first set, the match could have lasted at least a little longer.
After the match, I talked to Miyaura and Kai about using this setter, but they still didn't seem to understand the reason.
After that, I spoke to the Paris Volleyball coach directly and he said, "Because Ossar was better at training." To be honest, I didn't understand what he meant, but I thought that if I asked any more, I wouldn't get a clear answer, so I left the conversation there.
Of course I'm disappointed that we lost, but I'm even more disappointed that we lost without giving it our all. I didn't want to see a game like that.
Miyaura also did well despite the toss being shaky, and it was great to see Kai play up front, and even as the opposite, but more than that, it was a game that left me feeling very frustrated...
Photo: Parisvolley
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