LEGENDARY MATCH | JAPAN vs ITALY | Men's VNL 2023. The first confrontation between Italy and Japan happened during the 3rd Week of the Preliminary Round in the Philippines. Italy showed the capability of a World Champion by destroying Japan’s undefeated record. The situation for both teams has changed since then. How will both teams achieve the goal of getting their first-ever podium finish in the Volleyball Nations League (VNL)
Japan beat the world champions and make it to the VNL podium
Captain Ishikawa led the Asians in a dramatic five-set victory over Italy in Gdańsk and helped them secure their first medal in the event.
Japan’s most talented generation in decades gave the country’s men’s national team its first medal in the Volleyball Nations League on Sunday in Gdańsk, Poland.
With an outstanding performance, the Asians triumphed in a dramatic five-set (25-18, 25-23, 17-25, 17-25, 15-9) battle against reigning world champions Italy in the bronze medal match of the 2023 edition of the tournament, at the Ergo Arena.
As if refreshed, Japan started strong with a service ace from Miyaura for their first point in the 5th set. Galassi counterattacks with a quick for 1-all. They go point-for-point until Miyaura blocks Lavia for their breakpoint at 5-3. Then, Ishikawa for pipe attack at 8-4. Japan made a complete turnaround in their game. They get their 3rd block point in this set at 9-4. Then, an overpass from Balaso to Ran’s kill expanded their lead to 10-4. Italy closed the gap by four points at 11-7 after Galassi’s block to Ran, but they could not get past the distance. Giannelli served an error for Japan’s match point at 14-9. Onodera targeted Michieletto in the service line for their last point then his float serve caused Italy to go out of their system. It was a wasted opportunity at side out. Sekita found Ishikawa on the left for the deciding point, and with that, Japan won the match 15-9.
The victory in the bronze medal match in Gdańsk brought Japan back to the podium in a world-level men's international volleyball event for the first time since 2009, when the Asians claimed bronze in the FIVB Grand Champions Cup.
The Japanese were a powerhouse in the 1960s and 1970s, having won three Olympic medals (one gold, one silver, one bronze) and two bronzes in the FIVB Volleyball World Championship in the period, and may have given the first step to becoming protagonists in the international scene again with their podium appearance in the VNL 2023.
The most popular face in the Japanese team, iconic outside hitter Yuki Ishikawa was phenomenal in the bronze medal match against the Italians. The team captain had a spectacular 21-point performance facing the world champions, getting all his points in kills, including the game-winner.
“We’re so happy with this victory,” an elated Ishikawa remarked. “I’m very proud of my team because we trusted each other the entire time, we’re all very good teammates and I thanked them for that after the match. We played very well in the first two sets, but Italy were serving very tough after that and we had problems. It was a very difficult match for us, but we won it.”
Kento Miyaura stepped up to the task of replacing the injured star opposite Yuji Nishida and also had a tremendous performance, firing an incredible seven aces to go with 12 kills and one block in his 20-point display. Outside hitter Ran Takahashi contributed 12 points (11 kills, one block) in the Asian triumph.
Italy were very competitive and demanded a lot from the Japanese, especially thanks to the strong match of their high-scoring trio of outside hitter Alessandro Michieletto, who got 16 points (11 kills, four aces, one block), opposite Yuri Romanò, who tallied 15 (14 kills, one block), and outside hitter Daniele Lavia, who added 14 (11 kills, three blocks).
The Italians dominated the blocking game, getting 13 stuffs to Japan’s four, but the Asians did a very good job of leading their opponents in kills (54 to 53) and aces (nine to seven) - they also benefited from more opponent errors (32 to 27) to come out on top.
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