In the 9th round of the second half of the Italian Men's Volleyball League, Monza, where Takahashi Ai plays, played against Padova, where Taniguchi Wataru plays, on Saturday, February 24th local time, and won 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 23-25, 25-13).
Takahashi Ai came on as a substitute and scored two goals.
First set starting lineup
Monza
OH: Marr (Canada), Lepke (Canada)
MB: Galassi (Italy), Di Martino (Italy)
OP: Schwartz (Canada)
S: Cachopa (Brazil)
L: Gazzini (Italy)
Padua
OH: Gardini (Italy), Porro (Italy)
MB: Prak (Netherlands), Crossart (Italy)
OP: Garcia (Puerto Rico)
S: Falaschi (Italy)
L: Zenger (Germany)
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
Match Report
In the first set, Padova took the lead 6-8 with OH Porro's skillful attacks. However, Monza tied the score at 9-9 with an ace from OH Lepke, and in the middle of the set, they made three consecutive blocks to turn the game around to 17-15. Monza then extended their lead to 22-16 with four consecutive breaks, including consecutive aces from OH Lepke. Finally, a spike by substitute OH De Smet (Belgium) caused a mistake, and Monza won the set 25-20.
In the second set, Monza took a 6-1 lead early on with four consecutive breaks, including three service aces from Lepke. Padova narrowed the gap to 8-6 with spikes from OP Stefani (Italy), who entered the match as a substitute, but Monza widened the gap again to 15-10 with a service ace from OH Lepke and a spike from MB Galassi. Monza also held the set point at 24-16 with consecutive breaks from blocks from OH Lepke, and finally won the set 25-18 with a touch of the net from Padova.
In the third set, Monza started with OH Takahashi. With spikes from OH De Smet, Padova took the lead at 5-8 in the early stages. With an ace from OH Lepke, Monza closed the gap to 8-9, but with spikes and aces from OP Stefani and blocks from MB Crossart, Padova extended the lead to 11-15 and maintained the lead. With consecutive aces from S Cachopa, Monza was again one point behind at 16-17, but from there they continued to make serve errors and were unable to get a break, and finally with a spike from OH Porro, Padova took the set at 23-25.
In the fourth set, Monza took a 4-1 lead with attacks from OH Marr from the beginning. From there, Monza extended their lead to 13-5 with consecutive points from MB Galassi's block and S Cachopa's two attacks. Monza further pulled away from Padova with a break from spikes and service aces from OH Marr, leading to 23-11, and finally, Padova's serve error made it 25-13, giving Monza the lead to win the set.
As a result, Monza won against Padua 3-1.
MVP: OH Eric Lepke 22 points (8 serves, 3 blocks) Attack efficiency rate 39.131 TP3T
OH Ai Takahashi 2 points Attack effectiveness rate 20.00%
This brings Monza's overall record to 12 wins, 9 losses and 36 points.
The next match will be against Warsaw (Poland) in the Challenge Cup final second leg at 28:00 on Tuesday, February 27th, Japan time.
Italian League Website: https://www.legavolley.it/
Distribution (VBTV, paid): https://www.volleyballworld.tv/home
Toshiki's comment
Lepki was too strong... (laughs)
With 8 service aces and 3 blocks, half of the total points were scored outside of attacks, and the attack also lost only 1 point, with an efficiency rate of over 401 TP3T, and no losses in serve reception. That's amazing. 8 service aces, just like Nishida from some time ago (lol).
It's true that since the Coppa Italia semi-finals, Lepki has continued to perform well even in games where the team has lost.
It will be tough for Takahashi, who has just recovered from an injury, to take back his starting spot from Repke.
In fact, Takahashi suffered a bitter defeat in this match as well.
They won the first and second sets without any problems, and in the third set, Takahashi was selected as a starter, just like in the previous match against Catania. However, that set was taken by Padua after a close match, and Marr was again selected as a starter in the fourth set.
It's not Takahashi's fault that he lost the third set, but it's true that he didn't perform as well as expected. As was the case in the last match against Warsaw, I think he knows this better than anyone, so I hope he will continue to improve without rushing.
Maybe he'll be okay.
Padua has a decent number of good players, just like last year, but they're not making the most of them. I really don't understand the coach's intentions.
I really don't understand why Porro the younger, who is also good at defense, has been placed in position 5, just like Takahashi was last season, while Guardini, who is not very good at receiving serves, has been placed in position 2, where he often receives serves in the middle.
It would be a lot easier for Padua if they could reduce the number of points they concede directly on serve receive.
As expected, Takahashi had been with the team for two seasons until last season, so after the game, he hugged and talked with many players. Just from what I could see on the video, he was talking to Gardini, Crossart, and Zenger.
It's always heartwarming to see players like this and I could watch them forever.
I hope the circle of people continues to grow.
Photo: verovolley
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