On Monday, January 6th local time, Milan, where Otsuka Tatsunori plays, will face Monza in the fourth round of the second half of the Italian Superlegaga.
In the first set, Milano scored mainly through OH Kaziyski and Monza through OP Schwartz, and the game was back and forth from the beginning. In the middle of the game, Milano took the lead 16-13 with consecutive points from OH Kaziyski, but Monza caught up again with 16-16 thanks to the efforts of MB Di Martino and OH Roers. Towards the end, Monza had their first set point at 23-24, but Milano prevented it with a block from OH Ruati. After that, both teams had many set points, but were thwarted by the opponent's solid defense and attack. The game continued with neither team giving an inch, with the score at 30-30, 35-35, and even 40-40. However, in the end, OH Kaziyski scored a powerful spike, and Milano won the first set 42-40.
This set alone lasted over 47 minutes, making it one of the best sets in Superlegga history.
Monza started the second set with momentum. With S. Krölling (Cachopa)'s skillful tosses and OP. Schwartz's stable attacks, they took the lead 1-3 in the early stages. Milan caught up to 10-10 with a service ace from OH Ruati and a spike from OH Kaziyski, but in the middle of the set, MB Di Martino's service ace gave Monza a 16-19 lead. Monza was again at set point at 22-24, but S. Pollo's service ace brought Milan to deuce again. And in the end, OH Kaziyski attacked against the tenacious Monza, and Milan won the set 28-26.
In the third set, Monza made a series of mistakes from the beginning, and Milan started with a 3-0 lead. After that, Monza caught up with 5-5 with a service ace from OH Roers, and then went ahead with a spike from OP Schwartz and an ace from OH Martilla to take the lead 8-10. However, Milan quickly turned the game around with an ace from MB Kaneschi to take the lead 11-10, and then OP Regels scored an attack from a good defense by OH Otsuka, who came in as a substitute, to extend Milan's lead to 19-17. From there, OP Regels was caught by a block from OH Roers, and Monza caught up at 23-23 at the last minute, but Monza made consecutive mistakes in the end, and Milan won the set 25-23, winning 3-0.
OH Otsuka played in the middle of every set. In the first and second sets, he played defensively in the middle, and in the third set, he was on the court from the beginning to the end, supporting the team. In particular, in terms of serve reception, although he conceded one point, he contributed greatly to Milan's side-out with a stable success rate of 73%. In attack, he scored one point each from the front and back. It was great that he conceded zero points.
There were some rallies where the attacks were hard to decide, but S. Pollo persistently kept tossing the ball to OH Otsuka. S. Pollo is a sadistic setter who, like S. Sekita of the Japanese national team, will repeat the toss to the same attacker even if the attack doesn't decide (lol).
In any case, Otsuka was a fantastic worker that day.
As a team, Milan did not rely too much on OP Regels in this match, and five attackers scored in a well-balanced manner, which was also good. It was great to see the reliable OH Kaziyski in the game.
Monza was the first match since OH Zaitsev left the team. However, OH Juan Torena had not yet returned to the team, and the team was faced with limited player availability due to the foreign player quota. Although they lost, OH Martilla's good performance was a good sign for the future. However, this loss has pushed Monza back to 12th place, the lowest position. Compared to last season's 2nd place, they have literally fallen to the bottom, but I hope they can climb back up from here.
Milan-Monza
3-0(42-40, 28-26, 25-23)
Milan
Starting line-up: MB Kaneschi (9), S Porro (1), OH Ruati (14), MB Schnitzer (8), OP Regers (20), OH Kaziski (16), L Catania
Substitutes: S Zonta, OP Ballot, OH Otsuka (2)
Monza
Starting line-up: OH Martilla (15), MB Di Martino (6), OP Schwartz (20), OH Roers (12), MB Beretta (5), S Krölling (1), L Gazzini
Substitutes: S. Mancini, M.B. Avril
MVP: OH Yassine Louati
14 points (2 serves, 2 blocks), attack efficiency rate 301 TP 3T
OH Tatsunobu Otsuka
2 goals, attack efficiency rate 331 TP 3T
Detailed match stats here:
https://www.legavolley.it/match/38291
Next Round
Italian League
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January 12th (Sun) 26:00~ vs Verona
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Group Match 5
January 16th (Thursday) 28:30 ~ vs Roeselare (Belgium)
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