The third match of the final of the Polish men's volleyball second division league was held on Thursday, May 18th local time, with Częstochowa winning 3-1 (25-20, 24-26, 25-23, 25-12), clinching the league championship and promotion to the first division, Przlyga.
Match Report
The finals were between Benzin, who finished first in the regular season, and Czestochowa, who finished second and has Japanese player Sho Takahashi (formerly Saitama Azalea) on their team. The finals were a 1-1 record up until this point, and the team that won would win the league championship and be promoted to the first division, making this an important match.
The match took place at Będzin's home arena, and the 2,500-seat venue was nearly full. Naturally, the majority of the seats were made up of Będzin supporters, but supporters who had come from Częstochowa also filled a corner of the seating area to cheer on their team.
Takahashi played as a starting libero for Częstochowa again that day.
In the match, Takahashi's stable serve reception allowed opposite Sobinski (Poland) to score multiple spikes, giving Czestochowa the lead 25-20 in the first set, but in the second set, Benzin's effective serve and blocks gave her a close win 24-26.
The third set was also a close match, but point getter OH Kogut (Poland) scored with a high success rate, and Czestochowa took it 25-23. In the fourth set, Czestochowa overwhelmed the opponent with service aces from OH Gibec (Poland) and blocks from S Kowalski (Poland), taking the set 25-12 and defeating Będzin 3-1.
MVP: OP Rafał Sobainski (22 points (2 on serve), 56% attack success rate)
Takahashi Sho had a serve reception success rate of 76% and made seven digs.
The stats for this match areHere.
As a result, Częstochowa won the second division and was promoted to Przliga.
Norvid Częstochowa have been promoted to the first division for the first time in the club's 20 years of existence, and this is the first time a club based in the city has returned to the top division since the 2016/17 season, seven years ago.
Comment from Sho Takahashi
Congratulations on your promotion to Przliga (Polish first division). How do you feel now?
Takahashi: Thank you. I can only say that I am really happy. Personally, I was playing for Lublin (Poland, then in the second division) three years ago, and just as we were aiming to be promoted to Przlieger, the coronavirus broke out and all matches, including the promotion/relegation matches, were canceled. To be honest, we were already confident that we could go (to Przlieger), as was the team. It was gone just when we thought we could go, so I came to this club this season to clear up that humiliation, or rather, to get rid of that regretful feeling, and to participate in a project to aim for promotion. I am just so happy.
-How do you feel looking back on today's game?
Takahashi: As for how the game unfolded...ah, how can I put it, it's difficult (laughs). Personally, in the second and third sets, I wanted to give more instructions to the blockers in terms of blocking and defense, limiting the area I could take, and attacking with more transitions from digs, but the opponents were good at hitting the ball close to the line, so I just tried to pick it up somehow. Everyone was very calm in receiving the ball, and even if they made a mistake, they would just move on to the next thing, and if it was a strong ball, they would leave it in the middle and move it to the side, or if it looked like they could use the middle, they would use it from there to get another rebound and cut back, and I called out reasonable attacks like that,
I would say things like, "I'm going to follow through on the block, so I'll do it again." But the spikers really worked hard and got side-outs, and I got block-outs in tough situations in the second and third sets, so that really helped me as a libero.
-Looking back on the season as a whole, what kind of season do you think it was?
Takahashi: At first, I was confident that we could really go to Przlyga, but the first coach, Piotr Gruszka, was also a famous player (former Polish national team player, 2006 World Championship silver medalist), and I wondered if we could really go there, but we stumbled a bit at the beginning and lost sets to inferior opponents. But then the coach changed, and the players thought they had no choice but to do it, and became independent, and from there we gradually started winning consecutive games, and after finishing second in the regular season, we have now been promoted to Przlyga, so I think we have never had a better season than this.
-Finally, please give a message to your fans.
Takahashi: I was really happy that Japanese people who work in my hometown of Częstochowa came to watch the game. I'm not in a position where I get much attention, but as a Japanese person, I think it's something to be really proud of that we were able to achieve such results and be promoted to Przliga in this high-level Polish league, even though it's the second division. I'll keep that in mind and do my best again next season in Europe.
Tweets from the author
Congratulations to Takahashi Sho!!!
This season I have been mainly on-site interviewing the Italian players Ishikawa and Takahashi (who are both from Hajigodaka), as well as Miyaura of the Polish first division, so I was not able to watch many of Czestochowa's games in person, but I have always supported him as another Polish league player alongside Miyaura.
I met and spoke with him three years ago when he was playing for Lublin, which was then in the second division in Poland, and just after that, the league was canceled due to COVID-19 just as they were on the verge of promotion, so I was hoping that this year would be the year that he could make up for his disappointment (in fact, Lublin was promoted the following year and is still a member of the Przliga).
He was the only Asian player in Czestochowa and stood out from the crowd. He was very much loved by the fans, and after matches many of them would ask him for fan service such as photos. Takahashi's photos were also often used on the team's social media accounts to advertise matches.
He also reigns as one of the league's best liberos in terms of skill, with the second-highest serve reception success rate in the league, and despite being a libero, he has been selected as the match MVP twice.
However, even if the team has been promoted, it is unclear whether the player will be able to remain with the team in the world-class Polish league. Takahashi has not yet made any clear statement about his plans for next season, but considering his contribution to the team this season, I personally believe that he will be able to play for Czestochowa next season.
If that happens, he will become the fifth Japanese player to become a first-team player, following Koga Taichiro, Yanagida, Sekita and Miyaura, and will also be the first player to play in a top European league without having played for the Japanese national team, let alone in Japan's top league.
Wow, this really is a dream come true!!!
I'm really looking forward to seeing what he does next season!!!
Photo: PZPL, author
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