2014-2015 Japan V.League Premier League

  • Matchday 18, February 14, 2015
    FC Tokyo 2-3 JT Thunders (22-25, 22-25, 25-23, 25-21, 11-15), Danail Milushev (FC Tokyo) 30, Dai Tezuka (FC Tokyo) 22 & Leandro Vissotto Neves (JT) 25
    JTEKT Stings 1-3 Toray Arrows (25-20, 27-29, 23-25, 20-25), Hiroaki Asano (JTEKT) 19 & Dejan Bojovic (Toray) 25
    Suntory Sunbirds 3-0 Sakai Blazers (25-14, 25-23, 25-22), Evandro M Guerra (Suntory) 28 & Milan Pepic (Sakai) 26
    Toyota Gosei Trefuerza 2-3 Panasonic Panthers (25-21, 31-33, 25-19, 17-25, 14-16), Igor Omrcen (Toyota Gosei) 34 & Tatsuya Fukuzawa (Panasonic) 18


    Standings
    Position, Team, Match Points, Match Wins, Set Won-Set Lost
    1. JT Thunders, 43, 14, 48-19 *
    2. Suntory Sunbirds, 40, 14, 45-21 *
    3. Panasonic Panthers, 30, 11, 39-34 *
    4. Toyota Gosei Trefuerza, 28, 10, 39-37 *
    5. Toray Arrows, 25, 8, 35-38
    6. JTEKT Stings, 21, 8, 28-38
    ------Top 6 Teams Make V.Final Stage------
    7. Sakai Blazers, 19, 5, 28-43
    8. FC Tokyo, 10, 2, 17-49
    * Clinched berth in V.Final Stage
    First Tiebreaker is win percentage, then sets ratio, then points ratio

  • Matchday 19, February 15, 2015
    Panasonic Panthers 3-0 FC Tokyo (25-18, 25-20, 25-23), Tatsuya Fukuzawa (Panasonic) 19 & Shohei Yamamoto (FC Tokyo) 16
    Toyota Gosei Trefuerza 3-1 JT Thunders (21-25, 30-28, 25-20, 25-21), Igor Omrcen (Toyota Gosei) 35 & Leandro Vissotto Neves (JT) 20
    Suntory Sunbirds 3-0 Toray Arrows (25-15, 25-17, 25-22), Evandro M Guerra (Suntory) 30 & Dejan Bojovic (Toray) 19
    Sakai Blazers 3-2 JTEKT Stings (27-25, 25-22, 19-25, 21-25, 15-9), Milan Pepic (Sakai) 31, Fernando Hernandez Ramos (JTEKT) 21 & Kazuto Takahashi (JTEKT) 20


    Standings
    Position, Team, Match Points, Match Wins, Set Won-Set Lost
    1. Suntory Sunbirds, 43, 14, 48-21 *
    2. JT Thunders, 43, 14, 49-22 *
    3. Panasonic Panthers, 33, 12, 42-34 *
    4. Toyota Gosei Trefuerza, 31, 11, 42-38 *
    5. Toray Arrows, 25, 8, 35-41
    6. JTEKT Stings, 22, 8, 30-41
    ------Top 6 Teams Make V.Final Stage------
    7. Sakai Blazers, 21, 6, 31-45
    8. FC Tokyo, 10, 2, 17-52
    * Clinched berth in V.Final Stage
    First Tiebreaker is win percentage, then sets ratio, then points ratio


    2 matches left in the regular season. Toray, JTEKT and Sakai are the teams remaining for the final 2 spots in the playoffs. Sakai will play FC Tokyo and Panasonic, which should give them 3 points for a max of 24. JTEKT also plays FC Tokyo and Panasonic, again they should get 3 points for a max of 25. JTEKT would have the first tie breaker of win percentage over Sakai with one match win (9-8 max for Sakai). Toray will play Toyota Gosei and JT in their final two matches and they've split matches against both teams. Any loss by Sakai gets Toray into the playoffs due to the first tie breaker on win percentage with one Sakai loss (8-7 max for Sakai in that scenario).
    Suntory and JT will play each other on Sunday to determine the #1 seed for the playoffs.

  • Matchday 20, February 21, 2015
    Sakai Blazers 3-1 Panasonic Panthers (30-28, 25-23, 32-34, 25-23), Milan Pepic (Sakai) 35, Yusuke “GOTTSU” Ishijima (Sakai) 21, Tatsuya Fukuzawa (Panasonic) 30 & Kunihiro Shimizu (Panasonic) 24
    JTEKT Stings 3-0 FC Tokyo (25-16, 25-21, 25-17), Hiroaki Asano (JTEKT) 16 & Dai Tezuka (FC Tokyo) 9
    JT Thunders 3-0 Toray Arrows (25-20, 25-17, 25-22), Leandro Vissotto Neves (JT) 22 & Dejan Bojovic (Toray) 15
    Suntory Sunbirds 1-3 Toyota Gosei Trefuerza (18-25, 25-21, 20-25, 17-25), Evandro M Guerra (Suntory) 28 & Igor Omrcen (Toyota Gosei) 40


    Standings
    Position, Team, Match Points, Match Wins, Set Won-Set Lost
    1. JT Thunders, 46, 15, 52-22 *
    2. Suntory Sunbirds, 43, 15, 49-24 *
    3. Toyota Gosei Trefuerza, 34, 12, 45-39 *
    4. Panasonic Panthers, 33, 12, 43-37 *
    5. JTEKT Stings, 25, 9, 33-41
    6. Toray Arrows, 25, 8, 35-44
    ------Top 6 Teams Make V.Final Stage------
    7. Sakai Blazers, 24, 7, 34-46
    8. FC Tokyo, 10, 2, 17-55
    * Clinched berth in V.Final Stage
    First Tiebreaker is win percentage, then sets ratio, then points ratio


    Going into the final day tomorrow
    JT vs. Suntory
    Toyota vs. Toray
    Panasonic vs. JTEKT
    Sakai vs. FC Tokyo


    JT must win 1 set to be the number 1 seed, would win sets ratio (53/25 to 52/25)
    Suntory must win in 3 sets to be the number 1 seed
    Toyota must win in 3 or 4 sets to be the number 3 seed, will not win sets ratio against Panasonic if tied on points
    Panasonic must win and have a Toyota lose or go 5 sets to be the number 3 seed
    JTEKT must win (3, 4 or 5 sets) to guarantee making the playoffs
    Toray must win (3, 4 or 5 sets) to guarantee making the playoffs
    Sakai must win in 3 or 4 sets and have Toray or JTEKT lose to make the playoffs
    If JTEKT, Toray and Sakai tie on points, JTEKT will take a tiebreaker with Toray and Sakai due to wins. Toray would take the tie breaker on wins as well (if both win), but also sets ratio if tied on wins

  • Matchday 21, February 22, 2015
    Panasonic Panthers 3-0 JTEKT Stings (25-15, 25-21, 25-22), Kunihiro Shimizu (Panasonic) 18 & Tomoaki Wakayama (JTEKT) 16
    FC Tokyo 1-3 Sakai Blazers (26-24, 22-25, 21-25, 16-25), Dai Tezuka (FC Tokyo) 21 & Milan Pepic (Sakai) 23
    JT Thunders 2-3 Suntory Sunbirds (22-25, 25-20, 19-25, 25-15, 13-15), Leandro Vissotto Neves (JT) 33, Yu Kohsikawa (JT) 20 & Evandro M Guerra (Suntory) 25
    Toray Arrows 1-3 Toyota Gosei Trefuerza (19-25, 13-25, 25-18, 20-25), Dejan Bojovic (Toray) 18 & Igor Omrcen (Toyota Gosei) 30


    Standings
    Position, Team, Match Points, Match Wins, Set Won-Set Lost
    1. JT Thunders, 47, 15, 54-25
    2. Suntory Sunbirds, 45, 16, 52-26
    3. Toyota Gosei Trefuerza, 37, 13, 48-40
    4. Panasonic Panthers, 36, 13, 46-37
    5. Sakai Blazers, 27, 8, 37-47
    6. JTEKT Stings, 25, 9, 33-44
    ------Top 6 Teams Make V.Final Stage------
    7. Toray Arrows, 25, 8, 36-47
    8. FC Tokyo, 10, 2, 18-58
    End of Regular Season
    First Tiebreaker is win percentage, then sets ratio, then points ratio
    Toray and FC Tokyo will play in V. Challenge Match (promotion/relegation)

  • Final 6 Schedule


    March 1 at the Osaka Central Gymnasium
    Panasonic vs. JTEKT
    JT vs. Toyota Gosei
    Suntory vs. Sakai


    March 7 at the Gifu Memorial Arena (Deai Dome)
    Suntory vs. Toyota Gosei
    Panasonic vs. Sakai


    March 8 at the Gifu Memorial Arena (Deai Dome)
    JT vs. Sakai
    Suntory vs. JTEKT


    March 14 at the Matsumoto General Gymnasium in Nagano prefecture
    Suntory vs. Panasonic
    Toyota Gosei vs. JTEKT


    March 15 at the Matsumoto General Gymnasium in Nagano prefecture
    JT vs. Panasonic
    Toyota Gosei vs. Sakai


    March 21 at the Ota Ward General Gymnasium in Tokyo
    JT vs. Suntory
    Sakai vs. JTEKT


    March 22 at the Ota Ward General Gymnasium in Tokyo
    JT vs. JTEKT
    Toyota Gosei vs. Panasonic

  • Regular Season Award Winners


    Leading Scorer
    Igor Omrcen (Toyota Gosei) 583 points


    Spike Percentage (Kills/Attempts)
    Yoshihito Matsumoto (Sakai) 57.8%


    Blocking (Blocks per Set)
    Yoshifumi Suzuki (Suntory) 0.82 blocks per set


    Serve Efficiency [(No touch serve x100) + (Ace x80) + (Effective x25)]/Number of Serves
    Leandro Vissotto Neves (JT) 19.8% =[(14x100)+(27x80)+(135x25)]/354


    Serve Receive Efficiency
    Daisuke Sakai (JT) 74.6%

  • Final 6 Matchday 1, March 1, 2015
    Suntory Sunbirds 0-3 Sakai Blazers (23-25, 21-25, 24-26), Evandro M Guerra (Suntory) 12 & Milan Pepic (Sakai) 21
    Toyota Gosei Trefuerza 2-3 JT Thunders (28-26, 20-25, 25-19, 28-30, 15-17), Igor Omrcen (Toyota Gosei) 45, Yu Kohsikawa (JT) 24 & Leandro Vissotto Neves (JT) 25
    JTEKT Stings 3-2 Panasonic Panthers (20-25, 28-26, 21-25, 29-27, 15-11), Fernando Hernandez Ramos (JTEKT) 43, Kunihiro Shimizu (Panasonic) 22 & Tatsuya Fukuzawa (Panasonic) 27


    Standings
    Position, Team, Match Points, Match Wins, Set Won-Set Lost
    1. JT Thunders, 7, 1, 3-2
    ----- Advance Directly to Final -----
    2. Sakai Blazers, 4, 1, 3-0
    3. Toyota Gosei Trefuerza, 4, 0, 2-3
    ----- Advance to Final 3-----
    4. Suntory Sunbirds, 4, 0, 0-3
    5. Panasonic Panthers, 3, 0, 2-3
    6. JTEKT Stings, 2, 1, 3-2

  • Final 6 Matchday 2, March 7, 2015
    Panasonic Panthers 1-3 Sakai Blazers (22-25, 22-25, 26-24, 22-25), Tatsuya Fukuzawa (Panasonic) 22 & Yoshihito Matsumoto (Sakai) 20 (8 blocks)
    Toyota Gosei Trefuerza 0-3 Suntory Sunbirds (16-25, 20-25, 23-25), Igor Omrcen (Toyota Gosei) 20 & Evandro M Guerra (Suntory) 27
    Final 6 Matchday 3, March 8, 2015
    JTEKT Stings 1-3 Suntory Sunbirds (21-25, 19-25, 26-24, 22-25), Fernando Hernandez Ramos (JTEKT) 33 & Evandro M Guerra (Suntory) 30
    JT Thunders 3-0 Sakai Blazers (28-26, 25-23, 26-24), Leandro Vissotto Neves (JT) 22 & Milan Pepic (Sakai) 19


    Standings
    Position, Team, Match Points, Match Wins, Set Won-Set Lost
    1. JT Thunders, 10, 2, 6-2
    ----- Advance Directly to Final -----
    2. Suntory Sunbirds, 10, 2, 6-4
    3. Sakai Blazers, 7, 2, 6-4
    ----- Advance to Final 3-----
    4. Toyota Gosei Trefuerza, 4, 0, 2-6
    5. Panasonic Panthers, 3, 0, 3-6
    6. JTEKT Stings, 2, 1, 4-5

  • Final 6 Matchday 4, March 14, 2015
    JTEKT Stings 2-3 Toyota Gosei Trefuerza (25-18, 22-25, 17-25, 25-21, 11-15), Hiroaki Asano (JTEKT) 21, Fernando Hernandez Ramos (JTEKT) 20 & Igor Omrcen (Toyota Gosei) 35
    Panasonic Panthers 1-3 Suntory Sunbirds (21-25, 20-25, 25-22, 13-25), Kunihiro Shimizu (Panasonic) 12 & Evandro M Guerra (Suntory) 32


    Standings
    Position, Team, Match Points, Matches Played, Match Wins, Set Won-Set Lost
    1. Suntory Sunbirds, 13, 4, 3, 9-5 *
    ----- Advance Directly to Final -----
    2. JT Thunders, 10, 2, 2, 6-2
    3. Sakai Blazers, 7, 3, 2, 6-4
    ----- Advance to Final 3-----
    4. Toyota Gosei Trefuerza, 6, 3, 1, 5-8
    5. Panasonic Panthers, 3, 3, 0, 4-9
    6. JTEKT Stings, 3, 3, 1, 6-8
    * Clinched Final 3 spot
    If tied on match points, regular season position is the tie breaker

  • Final 6 Matchday 5, March 15, 2015
    Sakai Blazers 1-3 Toyota Gosei Trefuerza (25-19, 19-25, 20-25, 20-25), Milan Pepic (Sakai) 18 & Igor Omrcen (Toyota Gosei) 32
    Panasonic Panthers 1-3 JT Thunders (21-25, 25-22, 16-25, 18-25), Kunihiro Shimizu (Panasonic) 25, Yu Kohsikawa (JT) 21 & Leandro Vissotto Neves (JT) 27


    Standings
    Position, Team, Match Points, Matches Played, Match Wins, Set Won-Set Lost
    1. JT Thunders, 13, 3, 3, 9-3 *
    ----- Advance Directly to Final -----
    2. Suntory Sunbirds, 13, 4, 3, 9-5 *
    3. Toyota Gosei Trefuerza, 9, 4, 2, 8-9
    ----- Advance to Final 3-----
    4. Sakai Blazers, 7, 4, 2, 7-7
    5. Panasonic Panthers, 3, 4, 0, 5-12
    6. JTEKT Stings, 3, 3, 1, 6-8
    * Clinched Final 3 spot
    If tied on match points, regular season position is the tie breaker

  • Final Results for the V.League Challenge League (will be renamed Challenge League 1 next season)


    1. Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler 57 points, 19-3
    2. Fujitsu Kawasaki Red Spirits 54 points, 17-5
    ----- Advance to V.Challenge Matches -----
    3. Tokyo Metropolitan Police Foot Fighters 52 points, 18-4
    4. Daido Steel Red Star 41 points, 15-7
    5. Tsukuba United SunGAIA 41 points, 13-9
    6. Toyota Motor Sun Hawks 39 points, 13-9
    7. Tokyo Verdy 32 points, 11-11
    8. Saitama Azalea 31 points, 10-12
    ----- Relegated to V. Challenge League 2 (starts its first season next year) -----
    9. Kinden Trinity Blitzs 25 points, 8-14
    10. Hyogo Delfino 17 points, 6-16
    11. Kinki Club Sfida 7 points, 2-20
    12. Tokyo Toyopet 0 points, 0-22

  • V. Challenge Matches at the Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium
    Matchday 1, March 28
    FC Tokyo vs. Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler
    Toray Arrows vs. Fujitsu Kawasaki Red Spirits


    Matchday 2, March 29
    FC Tokyo vs. Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler
    Toray Arrows vs. Fujitsu Kawasaki Red Spirits


    3,2,1,0 win match points system used
    Tiebreaker after match points, sets ratio, points ratio, if all are tied then the Premier League team wins

  • Final 6 Matchday 6, March 21, 2015
    Sakai Blazers 2-3 JTEKT Stings (25-22, 25-21, 23-25, 21-25, 13-15), Milan Pepic (Sakai) 23, Shunsuke Chijiki (Sakai) 21 & Fernando Hernandez Ramos (JTEKT) 30
    Suntory Sunbirds 0-3 JT Thunders (23-25, 25-27, 20-25), Evandro M Guerra (Suntory) 26 & Leandro Vissotto Neves (JT) 21


    Standings (0 or 1 match remaining)
    Position, Team, Match Points, Matches Played, Match Wins, Set Won-Set Lost
    1. JT Thunders, 16, 4, 4, 12-3 *
    ----- Advance Directly to Final -----
    2. Suntory Sunbirds, 13, 5, 3, 9-8 *
    3. Toyota Gosei Trefuerza, 9, 4, 2, 8-9 *
    ----- Advance to Final 3-----
    4. Sakai Blazers, 8, 5, 2, 9-10
    5. JTEKT Stings, 5, 4, 2, 9-10
    6. Panasonic Panthers, 3, 4, 0, 5-12
    * Clinched Final 3 spot
    If tied on match points, regular season position is the tie breaker


    March 28th Final 3 Match
    Suntory Sunbirds vs. Toyota Gosei Trefuerza


    April 5th, Final Match
    JT Thunders vs. Final 3 winner

  • Final 6 Matchday 7, March 22, 2015
    JTEKT Stings 3-1 JT Thunders (19-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-19), Hiroaki Asano (JTEKT) 25, Fernando Hernandez Ramos (JTEKT) 23 & Yusei Yasui 15
    Toyota Gosei Trefuerza 3-1 Panasonic Panthers (22-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-20), Igor Omrcen (Toyota Gosei) 21 & Kunihiro Shimizu (Panasonic) 18


    Final 6 Final Standings
    Position, Team, Match Points, Match Wins, Set Won-Set Lost
    1. JT Thunders, 16, 4, 13-6
    ----- Advance Directly to Final -----
    2. Suntory Sunbirds, 13, 3, 9-8
    3. Toyota Gosei Trefuerza, 12, 3, 11-10
    ----- Advance to Final 3-----
    4. Sakai Blazers, 8, 2, 9-10
    5. JTEKT Stings, 8, 3, 12-11
    6. Panasonic Panthers, 3, 0, 6-15
    Sakai wins regular season position tie breaker for 4th

  • Final 3 match, March 28th
    Suntory Sunbirds 3-1 Toyota Gosei Trefuerza (25-21, 25-23, 22-25, 28-26), Igor Omrcen (Toyota) 36 & Evandro M Guerra ( Suntory) 37


    Championship match, April 5th
    JT Thunders vs. Suntory Sunbirds

  • V. Challenge Matches at the Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium
    Matchday 1, March 28
    FC Tokyo 3-2 Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler (25-16, 28-30, 25-21, 25-27, 15-12), James Nyang'au Ontere (Oita) 41 & Danail Milushev (FC Tokyo) 29
    Toray Arrows 3-0 Fujitsu Kawasaki Red Spirits (25-22, 25-11, 25-18), Dejan Bojovic (Toray) 20 & Tsuyoshi Nakagawa (Fujitsu) 12


    Matchday 2, March 29
    FC Tokyo 3-1 Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler (25-18, 22-25, 26-24, 25-23), Danail Milushev (FC Tokyo) 32 & James Nyang'au Ontere (Oita) 33
    FC Tokyo wins series on match wins 2-0, FC Tokyo stays in the V.League Premier League
    Toray Arrows 3-1 Fujitsu Kawasaki Red Spirits (25-22, 23-25, 25-18, 25-19), Dejan Bojovic (Toray) 14, Takaaki Tomimatsu (Toray) 14 & Tsuyoshi Nakagawa (Fujitsu) 16
    Toray Arrows win series on match wins 2-0, Toray Arrows stays in the V.League Premier League

  • Championship match, April 5th
    JT Thunders 3-0 Suntory Sunbirds (41-39, 25-19, 25-19)
    Leandro Vissotto Neves (JT) 25, Yu Koshikawa (JT) 15, Hitoshi Machino (JT) 7, Sho Ozawa (JT) 7, Akihiro Fukatsu (JT) 2, Shogo Toimoto (JT) 9
    Evandro M Guerra (Suntory) 25, Masashi Kuriyama (Suntory) 12, Yoshifumi Suzuki (Suntory) 10, Kota Yamamura (Suntory) 7, Takayuki Kaneko (Suntory) 6, Yuta Abe (Suntory) 0, sub Tatsuya Shiota (Suntory) 1, sub Tatsuya Yoneyama (Suntory) 1


    An epic first set, that took 46 minutes. JT was down 38-39, scored two straight points to make it 40-39 and then a hitting error gave JT the set.
    JT got big leads early in the 2nd and 3rd sets and never lost them to win the championship. The is the Thunders first championship even dating back to before the V.League.
    JT owned the service line in this match with 11 aces vs. 1 for Suntory. Even more impressive was that JT had 10 errors to Suntory's 12. Vissotto had 6 aces and Koshikawa had 4 aces.
    JT also won the blocking battle 8-7.


    Best 6
    Yu Koshikawa (JT)
    Leandro Vissotto Neves (JT)
    Hitoshi Machino (JT)
    Akihiro Fukatsu (JT)
    Yoshihito Matsumoto (Sakai)
    Masashi Kuriyama (Suntory)


    MVP
    Yu Koshikawa (JT)


    Best Libero
    Koichiro Koga (Toyota Gosei)


    Best Newcomer
    Taiki Tsuruta (Suntory)


    Best GM
    Katsumi Kawano (Suntory)


    V.League Special Awards
    Koh Tanimura (Panasonic)
    Yoshifumi Suzuki (Suntory)