On Saturday, February 22nd local time, in the 10th round of the second half of the Italian Superlegaga, the "Rakunan Quartet Showdown" between Otsuka Tatsunobu of Milan and Tarumi Yume of Cisterna finally took place.
Otsuka and Tarumi were classmates at Rakunan High School in Kyoto, and the four of them, Ryu Yamamoto (who played for Milon, Greece) and Akiyoshi Nakajima, gained attention as the "Rakunan Quartet" and won the Spring High Volleyball Tournament when they were third-year students.
Although the two teams played against each other in the first half of the league, Tarumi did not have a chance to play, and the two teams did not meet on the court. However, in the second half of this game, that finally happened.
Both Otsuka and Tarumi started on the bench.
The first set was a close match from the beginning, with Milan scoring mainly through OH Kaziyski and Cisterna scoring mainly through OH Ramon. OH Ruati's block gave Milan a 2-point lead at 9-7, but MB Nedeljkovic's service ace quickly put Cisterna at 12-13. The score remained close after that, but in the final stages, OH Kaziyski's spike put Milan ahead again at 22-20. OH Regers scored a spike at the end, giving Milan a 25-22 lead.
In the second set, Cisterna took the lead at 1-4 from the beginning with an ace from S. Baranovic. Milano closed the gap to 8-9 with a block from OH Ruati, but another ace from S. Baranovic put Cisterna in the lead at 9-12. At this point, OH Otsuka came on to the court to replace OH Kaziyski, whose serve reception was poor. From there, OH Otsuka's spike tied the score at 15-15 for Milano, and then OH Otsuka's good serve allowed Milano to score consecutive breaks and take the lead to 19-17. In the final stages, Milano's mistake put Cisterna at 22-22, but in the end, OH Ruati's ace and MB Schnitzer's quick finish gave Milano the lead at 25-23.
In the third set, OH Otsuka played from the start. Cisterna took the lead at 5-7 early on with an OP Fall spike and a block by MB Mazzone. Cisterna's block defense continued to work well, and he broke with an OP Fall spike and other attacks to widen the gap to 9-13. From there, Milano narrowed the gap to 11-13 with an attack mistake by OH Ramon, and OH Tarumi came on the court. After that, Cisterna widened the gap again to 14-19 with a block and spike by OH Byram. In the final stages, OH Tarumi blocked OP Regels to make it 19-23, and finally Cisterna took the set back with a 20-25 mistake by Milano.
In the fourth set, OH Tarumi also participated from the start. MB Nedeljkovic's spikes and blocks put Cisterna ahead at 3-5, and OH Byram's service ace widened the gap to 9-12. However, OH Otsuka's feint allowed Milano to catch up at 13-13, and the two teams continued to trade points from there. In the final stages, OH Ruati scored a service ace and a difficult back attack to put Milano ahead at 23-20. Finally, OP Regels scored a spectacular back attack to win the set 25-23, and Milano won 3-1 against Cisterna.
Otsuka played two and a half sets and scored eight points. His attack effectiveness rate was 361 TP3T, his serve reception success rate was 601 TP3T, and he contributed to the team's victory on both offense and defense with no lost points. Although he did not have an ace on the serve, his effective serves led to a break.
Tarumi played one and a half sets and scored two points. Unfortunately, he was caught by Milano's block and his attack efficiency rate was -331 TP3T, but his block to stop the opponent's ace OP Regels in the third set accelerated Cisterna's momentum. He also contributed greatly to the defense, with a serve reception success rate of 751 TP3T with no points lost.
Neither of them were in the starting lineup, so I thought we might not be able to face off again this time. But luckily the starting outside hitter collapsed (lol), so it was nice to see both of them on the court at the same time.
I think they both enjoyed it. They may have played against each other in college, but after graduating, both of them belonged to Panasonic (now Osaka Bulleteon), so it was not only their first match in Italy, but also their first match after becoming professionals, so I think it was all the more fun.
The MVP was OP Regels, who led Milan with 20 points, the most for both teams. In the third set, there were more attacking mistakes, but in the fourth set, he quickly corrected them and made a lot of decisions for his team. After all, Milan is his team this season.
Milan also benefited from the return of S. Pollo, who had been absent due to influenza. Although he did not play in this match, we will likely see his sharp service aces again in the playoffs.
Except for the third set, which Cisterna won, it was a game in which either player could have won, but Cisterna made many small mistakes. OP Fall did his best with 17 points, but it was not enough. S. Baranovic also did well, scoring aces and using a lot of quick shots, but it was a close call.
However, Cisterna will reach the playoffs for the first time in their second season as a new club in 2023. Depending on the result of the final match of the regular season, they will face either Perugia or Trento in the quarterfinals.
Milan have also secured a place in the playoffs, with their place and opponent also to be decided by the result of the final match, and they will face either Civitanova, Verona or Piacenza in the quarter-finals.
To be honest, it's not realistic to see these two teams face off in the playoffs, but I hope we can see them face off again next season, this time with their starting lineups facing each other.
Detailed match stats here:
https://www.legavolley.it/match/38327
Photo: Powervolley Milano, legavolley.it
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