On Sunday, December 8th local time, in the 11th round of the first half of the Italian Superlegaga, Perugia, where Ishikawa Yuki plays, will face Piacenza.
The first set was a battle of serves with each team getting five aces, but Perugia won 25-19 thanks to OP Ventara's attacks and blocks. In the second set, Perugia continued to serve and won 25-23 with S Gianelli's blocks and a toss work that made good use of three side attackers.
However, in the third and fourth sets, Perugia lost more than 10 points due to mistakes, while Piacenza scored points mainly through substitute players OP Bovolenta and OH Mar, winning consecutive sets 22-25 and 17-25 to force a full set.
However, in the fifth set, Perugia got on a roll thanks to three service aces from OH Plotnicki, who took the set 15-9 and won 3-2.
Ishikawa Yuki started on the bench for this match, but entered the court midway through the third set and played from the start of the fourth and fifth sets. He scored a lot of points in the third set, including a service ace and a block, with 12 points, but he also lost five points in attacks. He himself commented on X, "I feel like I made a few too many mistakes with my spikes." However, there is no doubt that he contributed to the team's victory this time as well.
However, the highlight was OH Plotnicki, who was also selected as the MVP of the match. At the end of the fourth set, the flow of the match was completely in Piacenza's favor, and as expected, the early part of the fifth set also saw Piacenza take the lead. However, Plotnicki's serve led to a barrage of consecutive breaks, including aces, which brought the flow back to Perugia, leading them to victory. I had always thought that he was a player with a strong serve, and he showed it here again. I felt that he was once again one of my favorite players.
What was interesting in the fifth set was that Perugia took OP Ventara down and placed OH Protnicki in the opposite position, playing the so-called 3OH system. It's true that OP Ventara's attack numbers didn't go up after the third set, but it turned out that using OP Herrera as a 3OH instead of as is was a good idea. This 3OH is still strong, and if Ventara wasn't the opposite, it wouldn't be strange if this had become the standard. It's fun to watch. However, it's a bit sad that when these three are lined up, Ishikawa is given priority and is exempt from receiving serves.
Piacenza also made a splendid comeback. To be honest, I didn't think they would push Perugia this far, but OP Bovolenta did a great job. However, I think it all depends on OH Marr's serve reception. At Monza last year, they managed to do something because they had a super sub called OH Lepki (now at Civitanova) waiting in the wings, but it will be difficult for Piacenza as they don't have an all-rounder like him on their bench. However, there are rumors that this is my favorite S. Brizard's last year at Piacenza, so I hope they do their best (incidentally, Perugia's Gianelli won the setter's points this time).
Perugia was already in first place at the end of the first half, so they will face Modena, who is in 8th place, in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals. Piacenza is in 5th place, so they will face Verona, who is in 4th place, in the quarterfinals. The Coppa Italia is a one-off game, so anything can happen. Therefore, this may be the most pressure-inducing tournament for Perugia.
PERUGIA - PIACENZA
3-2(25-19, 25-23, 22-25, 17-25, 15-9)
Perugia
Starting line-up: OH Semeniuk (13), MB Sole (5), S Gianelli (7), OH Plotnicki (16), MB Rosell (8), OP Ventala (13), L Corati
Substitutes: MB Candelaro, OH Cianciota, OP Herrera (2), OH Ishikawa (12).
Piacenza
Starting line-up: OH Kovacevic (5), MB Simon (7), OP Romano (5), OH Marr (16), MB Galassi (7), S Brizard (5), L Scanferla
Substitutes: OH Andringa, OP Bovolenta (18)
MVP: OH Oleh Plotnicki
16 points (4 serves, 1 block), attack effectiveness rate 25%
OH Ishikawa Yuki
Substitute appearance: 12 points (1 serve, 1 block), attack efficiency rate 27.771 TP 3T
Detailed match stats here:
https://www.legavolley.it/match/38265
Next Round
Italian League Round 1
December 15th (Sun) 26:00~ vs Verona
Distribution: VBTV (https://subscribe.volleyballworld.com/volleyball-tv1)
Photo: legavolley.it
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