On Sunday, October 6th local time, in the first match of the first half of the Italian Serie A1, Novara, the team that Ishikawa Mayu plays for, faced Chieri and lost 2-3 (22-25, 25-16, 22-25, 25-15, 11-15).
In the match, Chieri took the first set by scoring from the side, including OP Gicquel (France) and OH Omorui (Italy), but in the second set, Novara took it back with a heroic performance from OH Ishikawa, who scored 7 points and had an attack efficiency rate of 77.781 TP3T. Chieri took the third set, but in the fourth set, OH Ishikawa scored 7 points again and Novara took it, sending the match to a tiebreak. However, Chieri, who scored points mainly from OH Skinner (USA), took the fifth set and won the full set victory.
Although they lost, Novara's Ishikawa's performance was as expected. In particular, his spikes, which tied him with OP Torok (Russia) for the most points of both teams with 22, were impressive, and his super cross spikes were very sharp, which is hard to believe for a player who is only 170cm tall. Although the team is new, this is only his second season in the Italian league, and the opposing team is the same OH Alsmaier (Germany) as last season, so he seemed calm. However, I thought his performance was a bit inconsistent depending on the set, so I would like to fix that from next time.
Still, it's truly amazing that she is able to have such a strong presence on the offensive side of the ball in the Italian Women's League, where there are many players over 190cm tall.
As a team, we made a lot of mistakes in the OP Trok, which was a waste. In particular, we want to eliminate crossing the end line during serves and crossing the attack line during back attacks.
On the other hand, it was a big win for the winning Chieri. Last season, I often watched the team, which had Japanese coach Kento Hayashi (currently with Toray Arrows Shiga) on it, but this season, I thought it would be a tough one as OP Globerna (currently with Quincys Kariya), who had supported the team for five seasons, was gone.
However, when the game started, the spikes and serves of the new recruit OP Gickel were very strong, and OH Skinner, who is in his second season as a starter, won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics and seemed to have gained a lot of confidence. If it's like this, I'm a little relieved that they'll do well this season too.
Last season, Ishikawa was the only Japanese player in the Italian women's league, but this season, Fukudome joined Milan and Seki joined Conegliano, and following the men's league, there is a boom in Japanese players in the women's league. I'm looking forward to seeing Japanese players compete in future leagues.
Novara
Starting lineup: MB Squarcini (11), S Bosio (4), OH Alsmaier (11), MB Aleksic (10), OP Torok (22), OH Ishikawa (22), L Denardi
Substitutes: S. Bartolucci, O.P. Mims
Kieri
Starting line-up: OH Skinner (17), MB Gray (1), OP Gickel (18), OH Omoruyi (5), MB Zacchaeu (4), S van Aalen (2), L Spirito
Substitutes: OH Weiss (10), MB Alberti (5), OP Ansouri (1), OH Carletti, S Guiducci
MVP: OH Avery Skinner
17 points, attack efficiency rate 33.331 TP3T
OH Ishikawa
22 points, attack efficiency rate 41.301 TP3T
Detailed match stats here:
https://www.legavolleyfemminile.it/match-center/746915/statistiche/
Next match: October 13th (Sun) 23:30~ vs Pinerolo
Distribution: VBTV
Photo: legavolleyfemminile.it
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