In the 10th round of the second half of the Italian Men's Volleyball League, Milan, where Ishikawa Yuki plays, played against Taranto on Sunday, February 25th (local time) and won 3-1 (27-29, 25-22, 25-14, 25-21). Ishikawa Yuki started the game and scored 6 points.
First set starting lineup
Milan
OH: Melgarejo (Cuba), Ishikawa
MB: Vitelli (Italy), Rosell (Argentina)
OP: Regels (Belgium)
S: Porro (Italy)
L: Catania (Italy)
Taranto
OH: Lanza (Italy), Gutierrez (Cuba)
MB: Gargiulo (Italy), Jendrick (USA)
OP: Sara (Italy)
S: Trinidad (Serbia)
L: Rizzo (Italy)
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
Match Report
In the first set, Taranto took a 2-4 lead with spikes and service aces from OH Lanza. After that, Taranto continued to score with spikes from OH Gutierrez and maintained a 12-15 lead. From there, Milano tied the score at 18-18 with spikes and blocks from OP Regels, and then took the lead at 22-21 with a spike from OH Ishikawa. The game went straight to deuce, and an attack error from Taranto put Milano at 27-26 and put them on set point, but then Taranto scored three consecutive points with spikes from OH Gutierrez and other efforts to take the set 27-29.
In the second set, Milano took a 5-3 lead after consecutive breaks from OP Regels' serve. From there, S Trinidad's two attacks brought Taranto within one point at 11-10. However, with MB Rosell's block and OP Regels' spike, Milano widened the gap to 17-13. In the final stages, MB Gargiulo's block brought Taranto to 23-21, but OP Regels' spike finally gave Milano the set at 25-22.
In the third set, Milano took a 7-3 lead with a break from OH Melgarejo's spike. Milano then widened the gap to 17-9 with a service ace from S Porro and a spike from OP Regels. In the final stages, Milano made a break from MB Rosell's block and OH Melgarejo's spike to make it 24-13, and finally, MB Rosell's spike gave Milano a 25-14 lead.
In the fourth set, Milan took the lead 6-3 with a service ace from MB Rosell, and then a service ace from S. Porro widened the gap to 10-6. After that, Milan continued to break with blocks from OH Melgarejo and spikes from MB Vitelli, leading to a 17-11 lead. In the final stages, Taranto narrowed the gap to 23-20 with a spike from MB Gargiulo, but in the end, Taranto's attack was a mistake and Milan took the set 25-21.
As a result, Milan won against Taranto 3-1.
MVP: L. Damiano Catania, 45% serve reception success rate, 13 digs
OH Yuki Ishikawa 6 points Attack efficiency rate 3.231 TP3T
Milan now has a total record of 11 wins, 10 losses and 36 points, maintaining their position in 7th place.
The next match will be against Perugia on Sunday, March 3rd at 26:00 Japan time.
Italian League Website: https://www.legavolley.it/
Distribution (VBTV, paid): https://www.volleyballworld.tv/home
Toshiki's comment
First of all, I'm happy we were able to get three points!
This means there is still a chance for us to finish the regular round in 4th place.
If they finish in 4th place or higher, they will be able to start the playoff quarter-finals at home, which will be a huge advantage when considering the burden of travel.
Our next opponent in the final regular round match will be Perugia, the Coppa Italia winner, but we have a chance of winning because we won the first half and played a full set against them in the Coppa Italia semi-finals. Although I am concerned about the absence of Piano.
Ishikawa was a really unremarkable player in this match. He didn't have any service aces, and his spike efficiency was only around 3%, which was pretty poor.
However, their defense was very stable with a serve receive success rate of 61% and no points conceded, and on the offensive side, Regers and Melgarejo were scoring with a high success rate.
Ishikawa himself has said before that he relies on those around him when he's not in good form, and there are many cases where things don't go well for the team when Ishikawa stands out too much, so I think a victory like this is acceptable.
Still, they were helped a lot by the opponent's attacking mistakes, so we have to say that at least their spiking numbers were too low.
We cannot beat Perugia next week unless all the players are in good form, so I hope they will use the next week to get in shape and show us the kind of play that shows we are the epitome of Ishikawa Yuki and Milan.
Photo: volleyball.it
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