The third week of the VNL2021 men's tournament has come to an end. The Japanese national team competed against Australia, Italy, and Argentina in an attempt to achieve their second three-game winning streak.
Japan's battle in Week 3
⑦ vs Australia 3-1 (25-18, 21-25, 28-26, 26-24)
Ishikawa spiking the ball Photo by FIVB
Starting lineup for the first set (serving order)
Japan
S Fujii, OH Ishikawa, MB Lee, OP Shimizu, OH Takahashi Ai, MB Onodera, L Yamamoto
Australia
OH Smith, MB O'Dea, OP Graham, OH Taylor, MB Morte, S Dosanjh, L Perry
To be honest, I thought I could win more easily. It's true that from the middle of the first set onwards, I was able to pull away with my aggressive serves and take the set easily, but from the second set onwards, it was a tough game.
In the second set, we were leading 8-4 at the first technical timeout, but we were caught up by our own combination mistakes, and then we lost the set by allowing the opponent OH Smith to take the lead with a spectacular spike from his form. Ai Takahashi struggled a lot on the offensive side of this set.
Australia's top scorer Smith Photo by FIVB
Australia was in control of the third set from the beginning. Japan's Takahashi Ai and Shimizu's success rate did not improve. Shimizu even crossed the center line twice (the Australian coach was watching closely). But Ishikawa was still amazing. Ishikawa was injured and had a set point, but he played well and we managed to win the set 28-26. The hot line between Lee and Fujii was also good. They were so fast!
In the fourth set, Takanashi, who has strong offensive power, was used instead of Takahashi Ai. But Australia was in high spirits. Japan made many mistakes in serving and attacking and was unable to score consecutive points. Fujii's oversteps were also challenged. Otake, who replaced Shimizu, was the usual Otake after the match against Russia, so Shimizu was replaced in the middle of the match. At the time of the second technical timeout, the score was 3 points behind at 13-16, and I felt like "Please don't play a full set with Australia~" (lol). After that, the score difference was narrowed, but they were given the set point first at 23-24. After Lee's quick side out, it was Ishikawa. In the end, the only one who could toss the ball was Ishikawa. Even in such a situation, Ishikawa calmly and surely took the points by mixing feints and rebounds, living up to the team's expectations, and Japan won the fourth set 26-24 and won the match.
Japan managed to get three points, but they should have made it a bit easier for themselves against Australia, who are the bottom of the tournament. While this match once again showed us how amazing Ishikawa is, it also highlighted the lack of scoring power of the side attackers other than Ishikawa (and Nishida).
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