In the sixth match of the second half of the Italian men's volleyball league Serie A, Takahashi Ai's 10th-placed Padova played away against 12th-placed Siena on Sunday, January 29th local time, and lost 2-3 (25-21, 25-21, 14-25, 14-25, 13-15).
Japan's Takahashi Ai started the game and scored a team-high 20 points (including 3 blocks).
First set starting lineup
Padua
OH: Takahashi, Asparuhov (Bulgaria)
MB: Volpato (Italy), Crosato (Italy)
OP: Petkovic (Serbia)
S: Saitta (Italy)
L: Zenger (Germany)
Siena
OH: Van Halderen (Netherlands), Petrić (Serbia)
MB: Ricci (Italy), Mazzone (Italy)
OP: Pereira (Argentina)
S: Finoli (Argentina)
L: Bonami (Italy)
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
The stats for this match areHere
Match Report
In the first set, OH Takahashi started off with skillful soft hits to score consecutive points to make it 2-0, and OH Asparuhov also got a block point, putting Padua ahead at 4-3 early on.
In the middle of the game, OP Petkovic's serve got going, and with a service ace and a block from OH Takahashi, Padua broke four times in a row to take a five-point lead at 13-8.
Siena also scored points with OH Petrić and others, but Padua also steadily got side outs centered around OP Petkovic and OH Asparuhov, not allowing them to follow up, and finally OP Petkovic scored a spike to give Padua a 25-21 first set win.
In the second set, Siena started with OP Waldman (Poland).
In the early stages, Siena made a series of mistakes, taking the score to 6-3, and then more mistakes followed, putting Padua in a big lead at 10-5 as the match progressed.
After that, Padova continued to trade off with spikes from OH Asparuhov and blocks from OH Takahashi, while Siena got a spike from OP Waltman and an ace from OH Petrić, with each team taking one break, but Padova continued to lead 20-15 going into the final stages.
From there, Siena narrowed the gap to three points at 23-20 with consecutive blocks from MB Ricci, but then OH Asparuhov made two solid side outs and Padua took the set 25-21.
In the third set, Siena's OH van Halderen scored consecutive points with spikes and serves early on to make the score 3-5.
Furthermore, OP Petkovic lost three consecutive points due to an opponent's block and his own mistake, making the score 5-10, and shortly after that OH van Halderen made two consecutive blocks to make the score 7-15, widening the gap for Siena.
Padua also scored points with spikes from OH Takahashi, but Siena's momentum continued, and they continued to score breaks with a service ace from MB Ricci, a spike from MB Mazzone, and a service ace from OH Petric, to make it 12-24.
Finally, OP Baltman's spike was successful and Siena took the set 14-25.
In the fourth set, Padua started with MB Canella.
Siena continued their momentum from the beginning, scoring points with MB Mazzone's serve, OH Petrić's pipe attack, and Siena's own service aces, quickly extending their lead to 0-5.
Shortly after, Padua's OH Asparuhov scored a spike from OH Takahashi's serve to make it 3-5, but Siena continued to break through in the middle of the match with a spike from OH van Halderen and a service ace from OP Waltmann to widen the gap to 9-15.
After that, OH Asparuhov was caught in a block by MB Ricci, and then Siena made four consecutive breaks, including two aces, from S Finoli's serve, and advanced to set point at 12-24.Finally, MB Mazzone's spike was successful, and Siena took the set 14-25.
In the early stages of the fifth set, Padua took the lead 6-3 with a spike from OH Takahashi, followed by a block from MB Canella and a spike from OH Asparuhov from Takahashi's good serve.
However, Siena's S Finoli stopped OP Petkovic with a block, and then OH van Halderen took two consecutive aces from OH Asparuhof to turn the game around to 7-8, and the court changed hands with Siena in the lead.
From there, Padova's MB Volpado blocked OH Petrić, and then OH Takahashi scored two attacks to take the lead again at 10-9.
After that, Padua continued to pass the ball to OH Takahashi and made side outs, and the serve was handed to Takahashi when the score was 13-12.
Padova got a break chance thanks to a good serve from Takahashi, but OH Asparuhof, who was entrusted with the ball, was caught in a block by OH van Halderen, making the score 13-13.In the following rally, Padova made a mistake, giving Siena a match point at 13-14.
And finally, OH van Halderen, who had been in great form since the third set, spiked the ball from a powerful serve by substitute OP Pereira, and Siena took the set 13-15 and won the match 2-3 in a comeback victory.
MVP: OH Maarten van Halderen (28 points (3 serves, 3 blocks), attack success rate 481 TP3T, serve reception success rate 701 TP3T)
Takahashi Ai had the most points on the team with 20 points (including 3 blocks), an attack success rate of 491 TP3T, and a serve receive success rate of 521 TP3T.
This keeps Padua in 10th place with a record of 6 wins, 11 losses and 15 points.
The team's next match will be against Milan, who are in 8th place and where Ishikawa Yuki plays, on Sunday, February 5th at 17:00 local time (1:00 am Japan time), away from home.
The previous match report is here:
Thoughts etc.
First of all, when I watched VBTV, I saw that Saitta was wearing a neck warmer and coach Cuttini was also wearing a tracksuit instead of his usual suit, so I wondered if it was cold in the arena (lol).
But no, I never thought Masa would end up losing in a comeback.
Siena had been the bottom team until this match, and Padova had won the first half 3-0. Since Padova's number one goal was to stay in the league, Siena were an opponent they absolutely could not afford to lose to. In fact, they were doing well in the match, winning the first or second sets in a row, so it was a truly unexpected turn of events.
In the first and second sets, Padua was in an alert state, looking like Petko's hits would score, and their serves were really powerful. S. Saitta often used the middle to spread out the tosses, and his dig reactions to the opponent's soft hits were also great. From there, OH Takahashi carefully set up the balls, and both Petko and Aspa were able to score most of the times.
On the other hand, Siena made a lot of mistakes.
But...
From the third set onwards, OH van Halderen started to wake up and Petko started to lose points one after another...
I think it would have been a good idea to replace the opposite with Guzzo when Petko lost three consecutive points in the third set.
It worked well in last week's match against Taranto.
However, Petko's performance had been so good up to that point that they probably chose to let him recover rather than making a substitution.
What's more, Aspa's serve reception was also disrupted.
Aspa was stable not only in their spiking but also in their serve reception, with few points conceded in the matches against Cisterna and Taranto, so I am worried that they will have problems with serve reception again in the future.
There were times in this game when I was substituted for De Smet at the back, but he's not that consistent either (laughs).
Well, that's how I ended up with 3 or 4 completely worn out sets.
However, our Ran Takahashi remained stable throughout the match, and considering the blocks he received in the first half, his performance actually improved as the match progressed.
In the fifth set, Takahashi was able to take the lead thanks to his outstanding performance in a wide range of areas, including spiking, serving, serving reception, and digging, but after Aspa was shut down at 13-12, they lost two consecutive points, making the score 13-15.
I think the weight of that one point was really big.
As Mr. Ishikawa said, "the power to see it through to the end" was lacking for Aspa on this day.
However, this match once again allowed us to see the amazingness of Takahashi Ai as a player.
I wonder how far this player will develop.
As for the opposing team, Siena, OH van Halderen played incredibly well, but personally I thought it was their opposite, Waltman (Poland), who performed better than I expected.
Siena's starting opposite, Pinali (Italy), was forced to leave the game due to injury in the previous week's match, so Baltman was suddenly transferred.
So it had only been about three days since he joined the team, and it was his first time in the Italian league since playing for Modena in the 2013/14 season, but he continued to play in the middle of the game and finished with 18 points, tied for second on the team.
I also think that it wasn't just his performance that sparked the team from the third set onwards, but also his passionate character.
Waltman is a 35-year-old veteran player who was a key player for the Polish national team from 2010 to 2012. He was one of the players I particularly supported, so that made me very happy.
Well, it was a bit disappointing that my hair was thinning (laughs).
I also wondered what kind of player Takahashi would be when he turns 35.
Anyway, since we lost to Siena, the relegation battle between Padua, Siena and Taranto has become much more severe.
If we don't win at least one of the remaining five games, our survival will be in grave danger.
For now, I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of performance they'll show in the next match against Milan.
Milan won the last match, so I hope Padua wins this time!!
Photo: Lega Pallavolo Series A
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