On Saturday, April 19th (local time), the second match of the Italian Serie A Women's PO Final between Conegliano (Nanami Seki) and Milan (played by Keimi Fukudome) was held, with Conegliano winning 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-18). With this, Conegliano has won two consecutive finals, and is now one win away from winning the league championship.
The match took place at the Unipol Forum, the largest arena in Milan, and over 12,000 spectators came to watch, some to cheer on their local team, and others to catch a glimpse of the Italian national team members who won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics. In the Italian League final, the Italian national anthem is sung before the match for both men and women, and on this day, the singing of the national anthem by 12,000 people was a spectacular sight (personally, I like the flow from the clapping that started halfway through to the final "Hey!").
It was their first time in the Italian League, and it was also the final, and they were playing in front of a huge crowd of over 12,000 people. However, it was striking to see that both Seki and Fukudome were warming up with smiles on their faces, as if they were enjoying the environment.
Milan's L Fukudome started the match as a starter, while Conegliano's S Seki started on the bench.
In the first set, Milano led 6-9 with consecutive blocks from MB Danesi. However, in the middle of the match, Conegliano made three consecutive breaks with spikes from OP Haak and other players to turn the game around to 14-13, and then extended the lead to 19-16 with blocks from MB Chiricella and spikes from OH Gabi. Milano scored with spikes from OP Egonu, but Conegliano maintained the lead with side-outs with spikes from OH Ju, and finally Conegliano won the set 25-22 with an attack error from OH Silla.
In the second set, Milano took a big lead at 2-7 with OP Egonu's block and S Ollo's two attacks. However, in the middle of the set, Conegliano made it 10-11 with consecutive aces from OH Gabi, and then OH Gabi and MB Chiricella's spikes turned the game around to 16-15. In the final stages, Conegliano scored four consecutive breaks from S Vołosch's serve, OH Gabi's spike, and Milano's attack mistake, widening the lead to 22-18. OP Haak scored a spike at the end, and Milano took the set 25-20.
In the third set, OH Gabi's spikes and Milan's attack mistakes from the beginning gave Conegliano a 6-2 lead. Milano continued to struggle with attacks after that, while Conegliano scored one after another with a high success rate, mainly OP Haake and OH Gabi, and greatly extended their lead to 17-9. In the final stages, Milano narrowed the gap slightly to 23-17 with MB Danesi's spikes and blocks, but in the end, OP Haake's spike was successful and Conegliano won the set 25-18, winning 3-0.
The stats for the match areHere.
The MVP was OH Gabi, who tied for the most points on both teams with 19 points and an attack efficiency rate of 481 TP3T, demonstrating her incredible scoring ability. In addition to powerful spikes from high jumps, she was unstoppable, watching the court closely and dropping soft hits. In terms of serve reception, she covered the court for OH Ju, who was weak in defense, and recorded a high success rate of 641 TP3T while receiving nearly half of the serves.
In this match, not only OH Gabi, but Conegliano as a whole had a high attack effectiveness rate of 381 TP 3 T. This is probably due to the high ability of each attacker, as well as the playmaking of S. Vołosz, who is famous as the world's number one.
S. Seki came in as a relief server towards the end of the first set, but was unable to contribute to the break.
Milan played very well in the first and second sets, but lost focus towards the end. Then, in the third set, they allowed Conegliano to take the lead from the beginning. The attack efficiency of OP Egonu, the team's absolute source of points, did not improve, and the performance of the outside hitters was unstable, and even after substituting players, they could not find a way to turn the game around. The total of 11 attack mistakes was too much for Conegliano. On the other hand, they had 9 block points in the third set, and they would like to use their strong blocks and serves to defeat the queen in the third match.
L. Fukudome played in the starting lineup and showed stable performance with a serve reception success rate of 601 TP 3 T. However, in the whole game, Conegliano intentionally avoided his serves and spikes, and he had a hard time doing his job. However, when he picked up the opponent's powerful spike, the DJ introduced him as "Satomi Dyson Fukudome!" after the vacuum cleaner that never loses suction power, and the venue was greatly excited.
However, when I actually went to the venue, I realized once again how amazing it is that each team competing in the Italian League final has a Japanese player. This is the first time in history that such an opportunity will come again, whether for men or women, and whether such an opportunity will ever come again.
Unfortunately, the match was dominated by Conegliano, but after the match, Seki and Fukudome talked until the end of the game. Ishikawa Mayu, who was already a member of Novara, has already finished the season and returned to Japan, so these two are the only ones left in Italy. Even after both teams finish the Italian League, there is still the European Champions League Final Four to be held in Turkey, so it is certain that the season will continue for another two weeks. I hope that both players will continue to grow as much as possible here until the very end.
The first team to win three games will be the winner in the finals, but Conegliano has won two games in a row, and if they win the match tonight, the 22nd (Tuesday) at 27:30 Japan time, they will be the winners. Milan has not yet beaten Conegliano this season, and looking at the results of the two matches so far, Conegliano is overwhelmingly dominant. Will the reigning champion Conegliano continue on as the winner, or will Milan be able to pull off a surprise? Let's pay attention to tonight's match.
Photo: TOSHIKI, legavolleyfemminile.it
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