In the fifth round of the second half of the Italian men's volleyball league Serie A, Milan, where Ishikawa Yuki plays and is in sixth place in the league, played away against Verona, who are in ninth place, on Sunday, January 22nd (local time) and lost 0-3 (23-25, 25-27, 21-25).
Ishikawa Yuki started in this match and scored 11 points, second highest on the team.
First set starting lineup
Milan
OH: Melgarejo (Cuba), Ishikawa
MB: Vitelli (Italy), Rosell (Argentina)
OP: Patry (France)
S: Porro (Italy)
L: Pesaresi (Italy)
Verona
OH: Keita (Mali), Mojic (Slovenia)
MB: Cortesia (Italy), Grozdanov (Bulgaria)
OP: Sapodhukov (Russia)
S: Spirito (Italy)
L: Gaggini (Italy)
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
The stats for this match areHere
Match Report
Milan started with MB Vitelli in the starting lineup for the first time in three games, replacing MB Piano (Italy), who had been in the starting lineup for the last two games.
In the first set, Verona's OH Keita's serves attacked the Milan receivers from the beginning, and they scored four consecutive breaks with service aces and blocks from OP Sapozukov, quickly extending their lead to 3-8.
Milan then succeeded in consecutive breaks with blocks from MB Vitelli, but Verona also prevented them from closing the gap to 7-12 with MB Cortesia stopping OH Ishikawa.
However, OP Patri scored with a direct spike and block from OH Ishikawa's serve, narrowing the gap to two points at 11-13. From there, Milan continued to score points mainly from the three side players, including OH Ishikawa, while Verona scored with tall spikes from OP Sapozukov and OH Keita.
In the final stages, Milan tied the score at 23-23 due to an OP Sapozhukov spike error, but immediately afterwards O Sapozhukov scored a spike, and then OH Keita smashed the ball that was returned directly from S Spirito's serve into the Milan court, giving Verona the lead in the set 23-25.
In the second set, Milano consistently broke serve with aces from MB Rosell and attacks and aces from OH Melgarejo in the early stages to take a lead of 8-5, and then OH Ishikawa scored consecutive attacks to extend their lead to 11-7.
However, with an attack from OH Mozic and a block from MB Cortesia off an OP Sapozukov serve, Verona closed the gap to just one point at 12-11, and then OH Ishikawa was caught in turn by a block from MB Grozdanov to tie the score at 18-18.
MB Cortesia then scored consecutive quick goals, and immediately afterwards he hit OP Patri with a block, giving Verona the lead at 22-23.
From there, both teams scored a break each and the match went into deuce with Verona in the lead, and finally OH Mozic made a powerful attack from a turnaround to give Verona the set, 25-27.
In the third set, Milan, with no other options, started with OH Ebadipour, who had been brought on to replace OH Melgarejo in the first and second sets.
In the early stages, Milan got side outs with spikes from OH Ishikawa and MB Vitelli, but they continued to make serve errors and were unable to break, keeping the score at 7-7.
However, Verona consistently broke the lead with MB Grozdanov scoring a direct spike from S. Spirito's serve, followed by spikes from OP Sapozhukov and blocks from MB Cortesia, widening the gap to 12-17 in the middle of the game.
Shortly after, Milan also got two consecutive breaks, including what was essentially a service ace, from OH Ishikawa's serve to close the gap to just two points at 15-17. Even in the final stages, OH Ebadipoule scored a service ace, but they were unable to stop Verona's momentum. In the end, OP Sapozukov's high spike was successful, and Verona took the set 21-25, defeating Milan 0-3.
MVP: OH Normolly Keita (15 points (1 serve, 1 block), attack success rate 72%)
Ishikawa Yuki scored 11 points, with an attack success rate of 581 TP3T and a serve receive success rate of 271 TP3T.
Milano now sits in 7th place with a record of 8 wins, 8 losses and 23 points.
Their next match will be against league leaders Perugia at home on Saturday, January 28th at 16:00 local time (midnight Japan time).
The report for the first half is here:
Comment from Yuki Ishikawa
We were often led by the opponents in the first half, and as a team we were often caught in the block, so I think that we gave the rhythm to the opponents at those points and that's what we need to reflect on today.
Perugia also has a high block and is a team with very good serves, so serve reception and serving will be important, as we also made a lot of mistakes.
Photo: PowervolleyMilano
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Read Ishikawa's full comment here:
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