イタリアに1-3で敗れるも堂々の銀メダル！！【バレーボールネーションズリーグ女子】

Despite losing 1-3 to Italy, Japan still managed to win the silver medal! [Women's Volleyball Nations League]

June 25, 2024 October 5, 2024

In the final round of the 2024 Women's Volleyball Nations League (Thailand), the Japanese national team faced Italy in the final on Sunday, June 23rd (local time) and lost 1-3 (26-24, 20-25, 25-21, 22-25, 15-12), finishing as runners-up in the tournament.

Starting members

Japan

OH: Koga (17), Ishikawa (6)
MB: Yamada (6), Miyabe (2)
OP: Wada (5)
S: Iwasaki (2)
L: Kojima, Fukudome

Substitutes: OH Inoue (11), MB Araki (4), OP Hayashi (3), S Seki, OP Kurogo

Italy

OH: DeGradi (12), Silla (15)
MB: Danesi (6), Farr (9)
OP: Egon (27)
S: Ollo (2)
L: De Gennaro

Substitutes: OH Bosetti (5), OP Antropova (3), MB Rubian, S Cambi, OH Giovannini

*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero

※ () indicates score

TOSHIKI'S MVP

L Monica DeGennaro

Serve reception success rate: 46%, number of successful digs: 32

OP Egon was named the MVP of the tournament, but personally I think he was the MVP of this match as well.

Japan's attacks were picked up to an incredible extent.

I think Italy's strategy was to block the right side and guide Japan's spikes to the left side for her to pick up, but even so, 32 digs in four sets is truly amazing.

You can get an idea of how amazing he was when I tell you that the Japanese player with the most digs in this match was OH Koga, with 14.

A 37-year-old veteran, he has played as a starting libero for Italy's strongest club, Conegliano (to which S. Seki will transfer next season), for 10 seasons.

It's a shame that she wasn't chosen as the best libero, let alone the MVP. Of course, L Kojima's performance was good, but I hope she gets more recognition.

Match commentary

It was a very tough match, but it was great to see us take the third set after being so one-sided in the first and second sets.

Japan couldn't make their serve work, and couldn't block and defend against Italy's attacks. They were especially beaten by OH Degradi and OH Silla in the first set, and OP Egon in the second set.

In the third set, Japan was able to take the lead with two service aces from OH Inoue, who came on as a substitute, and they also managed to break down OH Degrady with their serves, while MB Araki and others scored block points.

However, substitute OH Bosetti made some excellent corrections to the serve reception, giving Japan no chance to fight back in the fourth set.

Japan also struggled offensively, giving up a total of 12 block points, and even when they did break through the blocks, the aforementioned L. De Gennaro picked them up, so they were unable to score.

The attack effectiveness rate was 18.331 TP3T for OH Koga, 15.001 TP3T for OH Ishikawa, and 11.761 TP3T for OP Wada. Substitute OP Hayashi had 01 TP3T and OH Inoue had 14.291 TP3T, and all of the side attackers were kept below 201 TP3T. There was no way they could win with this.

On the other hand, MB Yamada and MB Araki were good at scoring from the middle, so if they had been able to score more goals from the middle, they might have still had a chance of winning.

Japan's serve reception did not break down significantly even against Italy's powerful serves, so I think that if they can improve their mid-range attacking power, they will be able to compete against even stronger opponents.

Although MB Miyabe didn't score many goals this time, I think he has both height and power, so if he can improve his situational judgment and shooting skills, I think he will become a great weapon for Japan.

In any case, even though we lost in the final, coming in second place in the VNL is still a very wonderful result. To be honest, I didn't expect to make it to the finals, so it was a complete surprise.

I hope that they will not be satisfied with this, but will make full use of this experience and achieve great results at the actual Olympics.