In the 9th round of the Italian men's volleyball league Serie A, Milan, where Ishikawa Yuki plays and is currently in 8th place, played against 2nd place Trento away on Saturday, November 26th local time, and Milan won 3-1 (25-20, 21-25, 25-15, 25-22).
Yuki Ishikawa played in the starting lineup and contributed greatly to the team's victory with 15 points, the second highest on the team.
First set starting lineup
Milan
OH: Ishikawa,
MB: Vitelli (Italy)
OH/MB: Melgarejo (Cuba), Ebadipour (Iran)
OP/MB: Patry (France)
S: Porro (Italy)
L: Pesaresi (Italy)
Torrent
OH: Micheletto (Italy), Lavia (Italy)
MB: Podrascanin (Serbia), Lisinac (Serbia)
OP: Kaziski (Bulgaria)
S: Sbertori (Italy)
L: Laurenzano (Italy)
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
The stats for this match areHere
Match Report
Milan continued to play in this match with an unconventional formation, as they did last week, with OH Ebadipoour positioned diagonally opposite MB Vitelli.
In addition, since November 25th was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, players and staff wore red paint on their left cheeks as a sign of support for the day.
In the first set, after a battle for side outs early on, the serve came to OH Ishikawa, who made consecutive blocks on Ishikawa's good serves to give Milan a 6-4 lead.
After that, setter Porro's serve was blocked by OP Patri and then Porro hit an ace, further widening Milan's lead to 10-6.
Trento continued to score points mainly from OP Kaziski and OH Micheletto, closing the gap to just one point at 14-15 in the middle of the game, but Milano immediately prevented Trento from catching up with two consecutive breaks, including an ace, on Porro's serve.
After that, Ebadipoour and others scored side outs, and finally Trent's serve went wrong, giving Milan the set 25-20.
In the second set, Trent started the game with OH Jaworonok, who had replaced OH Ravia in the middle of the first set.
Right from the start, Milan's Pollo again got a service ace, followed by a spike from Ishikawa from a good serve from Ebadipoul, and then three consecutive breaks, including an ace, from Ishikawa's serve, as Milan continued to serve well and extended their lead to 9-5 early on.
However, Trento also managed to break down the Milan receivers with the serve of setter Sbertoli, and Kazijski and MB Lisinac scored points, leading to five consecutive breaks and a successful comeback to 10-13.
After that, Milan's Ishikawa scored consecutive spikes, looking for a chance to counterattack, and with an ace from OP Patri and a block from MB Vitelli, they closed the gap to just one point at 17-18, but were soon followed by a two from Sbertoli and an ace from OH Jaworonok, and were quickly left behind at 17-20.
From there, Trent steadily got side outs with quick plays from MB Lisinac.
Finally, Kaziski scored a spike to give Trent the set back at 21-25.
In the third set, Milan consistently broke the ball thanks to quick plays from MB Vitelli, spikes from OP Patri, and missed attacks from the opponent, and they took a large lead of 7-2 early on.
From there, Milano pulled away from Trento with three consecutive breaks, including an ace, on Pollo's serve to take a 12-4 lead.
Trent brought OH Ravia back to the court from OH Jaworonok, and MB Lisinac made consecutive blocks to make it 12-7, but Trent made several mistakes shortly afterwards and Milan quickly made it 15-7.
Milano continued to receive serves steadily and got side-outs with spikes from Ebadipoule and Patry, while Trent made a series of mistakes and instead of breaking, the gap widened even further.
Finally, Ishikawa scored a spirited spike from the left, and Milano took the set with ease, 25-15.
In the fourth set, Milan scored points mainly through Ishikawa, while Trento scored points mainly through Lisinac, but Trento was ahead at 2-4 in the early stages.
Milan then managed to turn the game around to 14-12 with a spike and a service ace from Ishikawa, but Trent quickly took the lead again at 15-16 with a block that stopped MB Podrascanin's OP Patrij.
However, at 18-19, Ishikawa scored a spike to tie the score, and then after some good serves from Ebadipoul, Ishikawa scored a series of sharp spikes to put Milan back in front at 21-19 in the final minutes.
Milan then extended the lead to 23-20 with Patri's serve, which was effectively their ace, and finally Melgarejo's powerful spike made it 25-22, winning 3-1 against the strong Trento.
MVP: OH/MB Milad Ebadipour (17 points (2 blocks), attack success rate 501 TP 3 T)
Ishikawa Yuki had a great match, scoring 15 points (2 of which were on serves), second only to Ebadipoul, with an attack success rate of 57% and a serve receive success rate of 471 TP and 3T.
Milan is now in provisional 6th place with a total of 5 wins, 4 losses and 14 points.
Next week, they will face 5th-placed Roubaix Civitanova at home on Monday, December 5th at 7:30pm local time (3:30am Japan time).
Thoughts etc.
We beat Trent!!!
Trento is one of Italy's big clubs known as the "BIG4," and is a powerful club with many star players.
Ishikawa had beaten Trento when he was with Padua and also at Milan two seasons ago, so I was thinking that he might be coming soon, and then he did (laughs).
What's more, it was amazing that they managed to win with the same unconventional formation as last week!!
Or rather, maybe it was the unconventional formation that led to the win...?
Anyway, it was a great game.
I wanted to see it in person!!! (lol)
I think we played ideal volleyball, attacking aggressively with our serves and then countering with total defense of blocks and digs.
In particular, Ebadipoour, who was named MVP, was a joy to watch as he took on the unfamiliar middle position but was able to quickly launch attacks from the side and into the pipes from anywhere.
Ishikawa's serves continued to be powerful, just like last week, and when I interviewed him last week he said that he wanted to reduce the number of points he conceded with his spikes. He made good on his word in this match, conceding only two points in four sets (compared to seven in five sets last week), and he also posted impressive numbers with a success rate of 571 TP3T.
In particular, the three consecutive spikes at the end of the fourth set were so sharp it was electrifying.
Pollo's serve was also amazing.
How many aces is she going to get with that cute face? (lol)
Also, all five spikers scored double digits in this match, so in that sense I think the MVP award should have gone to Porro.
However, I'm sure I wasn't the only one who felt a bit anxious at 23-20 in the fourth set, when it looked like we had already won.
The Verona match and the recent match against Piacenza saw the situation turn around like that...
But this time, Patry got the side out and we were able to get the 25th point!
Anyway, this one win and three points are huge!
The first half of the season still has Roubaix and Taranto remaining, and it is still not safe to expect a place of 8th or higher at the end of the first half, which is the requirement for qualifying for the Coppa Italia, so I hope they will do their best in the remaining two games!
And it's fun to watch the irregular formations, but I want Piano and Rosel to come back soon!! (laughs)
On the other hand, I'm a bit worried about Trent.
It was a rare game with many noticeable mistakes.
There is no doubt that the players are exhausted from the hectic schedule that includes not only the league but also the Supercoppa and Champions League.
I'm particularly concerned that Kaziski hasn't been in good form since last week's match against Perugia.
I hope for Emperor Kaji's return.
Photo: Lega Pallovolo Serie A
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