Happy birthday, Yuki Ishikawa!

Yuki Ishikawa has a lot to thank for when he blows the candles of his 28^th birthday cake tonight as several of the most memorable moments of the Japanese superstar’s career happened over the last 365 days.

Last season, at this time of the year, the Japanese star was on the court on his birthday, helping his team Allianz Milano secure a 3-1 road win over Gioiella Prisma Taranto in the Italian League with five points scored.

That victory was one of the many earned by Milano in the 2022-2023 season of the Italian League, which marked the best campaign of the club in the country’s elite since they earned promotion, in 2014-2015.

With Ishikawa as one of their key players, Milano finished eighth in the regular season and were the clear underdogs in their quarterfinal series Sir Safety Susa Perugia, who had gone undefeated in all their 22 matches in the first stage of the tournament.

The teams battled in five exciting duels held over the course of 20 days and, having Ishikawa as their top scorer in three of those encounters, Milano did what seemed impossible, downing world champions Perugia to make their first semifinal appearance in the SuperLega – their campaign would end in fourth place after they got on the wrong side of another five-match series, this one against Cucine Lube Civitanova, in the semifinals.

Just over a month after ending his season with Milano, Ishikawa was back on the court, captaining Japan in the Volleyball Nations League 2023 and just like his club, his national team was set for a historic campaign.

With Ishikawa on fire, Japan were the second-best team in the VNL Preliminary Phase, winning ten of their 12 matches ahead of the Finals. The outside hitter appeared in all of these encounters and produced 16 or more points in ten of them, playing a major role in the team’s success.

The Japanese star was even more productive in the Finals, scoring 70 points in three matches and guiding Japan to take bronze after a dramatic five-set victory over world champions Italy that gave them not only their first VNL medal, but also their first podium appearance since 2009.

“We’re so happy with this victory,” an elated Ishikawa remarked on the occasion. “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.”

Ishikawa ended the VNL as the event’s top scorer with 275 points, while also leading in kills (237) and ranking second in passes (84) and third in aces (21). His extraordinary performance was rewarded both on the court, with him making it to the VNL Dream Team, and off of it, as his Instagram account reached the mark of one million followers during the event.

Shortly after the end of the VNL, Japan entered the 2023 edition of the Asian Championship trying to return to the top of the podium for the first time since 2017. They got the job done in Iran and secured their tenth continental title with Ishikiwa taking home the MVP award.

The VNL medal was truly remarkable for him and the Ryujin Nippon, but the biggest goal of the season was still ahead of them – securing a spot at the Paris 2024 Games through the FIVB Road to Paris Volleyball Qualifiers.

The Japanese hosted Pool B in Tokyo, but had to navigate a tough pool, with traditional national teams, such as the United States and Serbia, and emerging ones, like Slovenia and Türkiye. The Asians succeeded in the task, getting five victories in seven matches to claim one of the two spots in play and set up their tenth Olympic appearance.

What a year it has been, Yuki! Here’s to another one!