Another team that had already qualified for the semi-finals was Perugia, the team that Yuki Ishikawa plays for. They finished second in the regular season and faced Modena, who finished seventh in the quarter-finals. They had already won two straight games and were one win away from advancing to the semi-finals.
In the first set, Perugia took the lead 25-17 with the powerful attacks of OH Semeniuk and OH Plotnicki. In the second set, Perugia continued to take the lead, scoring points with quick plays from MB Rosell and MB Sole and blocks from S Gianelli to make it 25-22. In the third set, Modena's serves were strong, with OH Daviskiba hitting three aces, and Modena took it back with a nearly one-sided game of 18-25. However, in the fourth set, Perugia's serve reception became more stable, and from there S Gianelli launched a variety of attacks to take the game 25-22, winning 3-1 and advancing to the semi-finals.
The MVP was MB Rosell, who scored 12 points, the second highest on the team, despite being a middle-range player. He made a strong presence with two blocks, an attacking efficiency rate of 67%, and no points conceded. OH Ishikawa came on as a substitute in the third set only, scoring one point in an attack.
Modena faced Perugia, who averaged two aces per set, with a solid serve reception that limited them to just two in four sets, and the high offensive power of their three side attackers, but they were unable to win. If they had been able to attack more with their serves in the other sets, as they did in the third set, they would have had a chance to win, but Perugia was also a team with a relatively stable serve reception, so it was difficult to consistently break them down.
With three straight wins in the quarterfinals, the shortest possible time, and no Champions League matches until the end of the domestic league, Perugia will have a break until the first weekend of April. After playing a hectic schedule up to this point, they will want to be fully refreshed and ready for the semifinals.
Perugia's opponent in the semi-finals will be either Civitanova, who finished third in the regular season, or Milan, who finished sixth and is played by Tatsunori Otsuka, whoever wins. The third match came with one win and one loss. Milan started OH Otsuka in the starting lineup for the first time in a playoff match. The first set was a close one, but Civitanova won the match with points from both outside hits by OH Nikolov and OH Bottolo and service aces from S Bonifante, taking the lead 25-23. In the second set, Civitanova took the lead with a total of six block points, including three from OH Nikolov, and won consecutive sets with a score of 25-22. In the third set, OP Regels scored a total of eight points with spikes, blocks, and serves, and OH Ruati also improved his form and scored points, leading Milan to take the set back with a score of 21-25. However, in the fourth set, Civitanova, with points mainly from substitute OP Dirlich, won 25-19 to win 3-1 and put themselves in a position to advance to the semi-finals.
The MVP was OH Nikolov, who scored the most points on the team with 22 points. Although he struggled with serve reception as usual, his offensive power more than made up for it and contributed to the victory. In particular, he contributed greatly to blocking Milan's point getter OP Regels. OP Regels scored the most points of both teams with 25 points, but the other side attackers were slow to get going. OH Otsuka was no exception, scoring 8 points with an attack effectiveness rate of 19%, which was a somewhat disappointing figure. In the next game, the 4th game, I hope to see Otsuka help the team win with the same performance as he did in the 1st game.
The fourth quarter-final matches, Cisterna vs. Trentino and Milan vs. Civitanova, will kick off at 8:30pm local time on Wednesday 26 March.
Photo: legavolley.it, Sir safety Perugia, Powervolley Milano, CIsterna volley
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