HAS Alessandro Lodi called his last game for Farm Fresh?
With rumors swirling about some imminent coaching exits or two in the league, the Italian mentor could find himself on the chopping block after the top-seeded Foxies became the first No. 1 seed to bow out in a PVL quarterfinals.
Eight-seeded Akari showed Farm Fresh the door with a 28-26, 30-28, 25-21 sweep in Monday’s knockout duel.
READ: Akari takes out top seed Farm Fresh in historic PVL playoff upset
But when pressed about his future, Lodi refused to entertain the topic.
“I cannot speak [about that],” he said.
While far from confirming anything, Lodi did “thank [the media] for everything” as he left the press room following his final postgame interview of the year.
Instead, he spoke at length about the Foxies’ stunning tumble from winning seven of eight in the preliminaries to crashing out in straight sets when it mattered most.
Lodi insisted the loss had nothing to do with complacency or lacking preparation.
It was simply how the cards fell.
“We won a lot of games, but we knew that what we got so far was earned and was not to be taken for granted,” he said.
“We were prepared to play a tough game, but we were not able to execute some things as well as we would have wanted. But it's part of the competition and we give credit to Akari for a good game.”
In the end, the unforgiving winner-take-all format, one that offers no real advantage to top seeds, proved costly.
“One game decides everything. If you win it, good for you. It is what it is. One quarterfinal game and we came up short,” he said.
Lodi even admitted the Foxies didn’t do enough to deserve advancing.
“We came up short. We did not deserve to win today. Akari deserved to win, and we take the lessons and move on,” he added.
“I don't think we should have regrets. We should just appreciate the past, appreciate the development we’ve had, all the good that we've done in this conference.”
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