On the sixth day of the third week of the Nations League, the Japan men's volleyball team played against Poland and lost 1-3 (17-25, 19-25, 18-25).
First set starting lineup
Japan
OH: Otsuka, Ishikawa
MB: Onodera, Takahashi Kentaro
OP: Nishida
S: Yongro
L: Ogawa
Poland
OH: Leon, Silifka
MB: Kochanowski, Huber
OP: Kaczmarek
S: Janusz
L: Zatorski
*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, Japan scored points mainly from OH Ishikawa and OP Nishida, while Poland scored points mainly from OP Kaczmarek, and the match continued with no clear difference in points from the beginning. However, from a 15-15 situation, OP Kaczmarek scored three consecutive spikes to give Poland a 15-18 lead. After that, MB Kochanowski scored more points from OP Kaczmarek's serve with attacks and blocks, and finally OP Kaczmarek scored five consecutive breaks with a service ace, making the score 17-25 for Poland to take the set.
In the second set, Japan replaced MB Onodera with MB Eva De Dan from the start. In the early stages, Japan took the lead 8-6 with OP Nishida's spikes. However, Poland turned the game around with three consecutive service aces from MB Huber to take the lead 8-10, and then OH Leon's service aces and MB Huber's blocks widened the gap to 12-19. Poland continued to score with OH Leon's spikes and blocks, and in the end, OP Nishida's spike made an error, and Poland won the set 19-25.
In the third set, Japan replaced OP Nishida with OP Miyaura from the start. Poland took a 4-8 lead early on with spikes from OH Leon and OH Silivka. Japan also scored points mainly from OH Otsuka's spikes, but Poland widened the gap to 11-19 with spikes from MB Kochanowski and OH Leon. After that, OP Miyaura and OH Tomita continued to get side-outs with spikes, but in the end OH Tomita's spike made an error and Poland took the set 18-25. As a result, Japan lost to Poland 0-3.
Japan finished second in the VNL qualifying round (10 wins, 2 losses, 27 points). As a result, they will face Slovenia in the quarterfinals of the final round to be held in Gdansk (Poland) at 0:00 on Friday, July 21st (Japan time).
personal MVP
Poland: OP Łukasz Kaczmarek
12 points (1 on serve), attack effectiveness rate 65%
She was selected as a starter in this match in place of the mainstay Krek, and she responded well to that selection. In particular, she was outstanding in the first set, with her spikes and serves that determined the flow of the match. She is a former beach volleyball player and started her indoor career as an outside hitter, so she is a very skillful player, and this time she made the most of her many skills in attack to toy with Japan's defense. As a club team, she won the European Champions League three times in a row with Poland's Saksa. However, she is not even guaranteed a place on the bench for the Polish national team, so I think today's match was a good opportunity to show her strength.
Japan: L. Tomohiro Ogawa
Serve receive success rate 60%
Even when Japan was in a difficult situation, he supported the team with stable serve reception and digs. It is impressive that he has performed so well despite having few opportunities to play and not having enough match sense. If the opposing player had been his teammate Krek from the Wolfdogs Nagoya, we might have seen even more amazing digs, but we will have to wait for that this time.
Thoughts etc.
It was a complete defeat, but at least I think the selection of players was the right choice.
This time we played mainly with our reserves until the end, but as I wrote in yesterday's report, Japan has already secured second place or higher in the qualifying round, and Poland is a country ranked higher than Japan, so even if we lost we would lose fewer points, so today's match was not something we had to win.
Rather, it was probably necessary to rest the starters who had been playing in every game up to that point, and there was also a need to give experience to players who had not had many opportunities to play, which is why I think the players were selected in this way for the Poland match.
This is something I can agree with as well.
However, this match also highlighted the difference between the starting players we had played against up until now. Especially the setter. The quality of Nagatsuyu's set (toss) was simply not good.
The sets to the middle, such as the middle and pipe, were low, and the sets to the side did not reach the antenna, narrowing the options for the attacker's shot. It simply seemed difficult for the attacker to hit, and it did not seem like the attacker's strengths were being brought out.
I think the same is true for setters and liberos, but I think you only realize how amazing they were after they're gone, and I realized once again that the things that Sekita had taken for granted up until then were not so much, but were actually truly amazing.
Certainly, Nagatsuyu's first time in the Nations League was in the Philippines, and I think he had little time to coordinate with the attackers. Still, I think he destroyed today's game to be strict. With this performance, Fukatsu will probably come back for the final round.
However, I think there were some positive results. We saw good plays from players who had not had many opportunities to play until now, such as Ogawa mentioned above, Tomita, and Eva De Dan, and Otsuka, who was in the starting lineup following the Italy match, struggled with serve reception but showed good performance with his spikes. However, I would like Otsuka to work harder on his serve and blocks.
As for blocks, they really didn't work in this match. Poland's attack success rate was high at 62%, and Japan's block points were only 1 and block touches were only 4, so that's what you can see. Japan was able to break down the opponents' serves relatively well, but even when they did, they couldn't defend against the opponents' high ball attacks. And even more than that, Japan was beaten by Poland's serves. The outside hitters' serve reception was tough.
Poland really did whatever they wanted today, and whatever they did went well. Opposite Krek and middle blocker Bieniek were not there, but they played with almost their best lineup. Kaczmarek was unstoppable, Leon, who was not doing well in the first set, gradually improved and was unstoppable before we knew it, Silivka was skilled, Huber was a serving demon, Kochanowski was a blocking demon, and Janusz's distribution was good. Libero Zatorski's serve reception numbers were questionable, but his digs were good. With a performance like that against an already strong opponent, it's no wonder Japan couldn't win.
But the important thing is to learn from this and win the VNL Finals next week, or at least make it to the top four and play until the final day.
I'm worried about Ai's injury, but I want to believe that he'll be okay.
We are still waiting for the results of the US match to determine the final rankings of the preliminary round, but I predict that Japan will advance in second place and Poland in third place. If both teams win their first match in the final, they will face each other in the second round. I am looking forward to seeing the two teams go head to head in the second round!!!
To all members of Ryujin Nippon, we look forward to seeing you in Poland!!!
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Photo: FIVB
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