Japan - V.Premier League 2016-2017

    -Block gave the win in both matches
    -Kaori Mabashi is a good attacker but she must improve her reception
    -Arisa Sato is the best libero in Japan
    -When you are the coach of the NT you dont express your feelings for a team...unfair from Kumi Nakada

    Quote from Gomez4

    When you are the coach of the NT you dont express your feelings for a team...unfair from Kumi Nakada


    She coached this team for 4 years, best team in Japan during that time. Still is general manager of Hisamitsu at this time. She will not take over as national team coach until April per announcements in October.

    Quote from Gomez4

    -Arisa Sato is the best libero in Japan


    Allow me to expand on that. Arisa was fantastic last night. The swan dive out of bounds for the save in the first set. Hello? I'll say more about this if we ever start a Japanese NT thread, but one thing about Arisa that I love is that she is serious. I want my Libero (and setter) to be all business. Anchor the team and lead by example in terms of hustle. Did you see the palm-up super-dig she pulled off? OMG. And correct me if I'm wrong, but with a couple over-hand (I think that's the term) sets, she seemed to be channeling Yoshie Takeshita and her jump twist move. Absolutely beautiful.

    Quote from Ryu Takamiya

    Okayama :aww:
    They lost 2nd relegation match against Ageo Medics by 0-3, and they will play V-challenge league next season...


    Miyashita ;(


    I'm new to this stuff, but beyond being sad, isn't this also kind of bad for the NT to send Haruka to the minors? I mean in terms of getting better by being in better competitions.


    Is there anything like "Free Agency" in volleyball where she could ask for a trade to a better performing team?

    Quote from brahmin

    Uchiseto was the serving target today for Hisamitsu and she did well with 31/40, but Mabashi and Kurihara were a combined 13/30
    Ishii was the target for Hitachi 31/46


    I'm not much of a stats guy, but this is interesting. And the Mabashi stats from Match #1 ... wow!


    Receiving is sort of an invisible skill (unless you look at stats), but I would say that of the few dozen or so Japanese NT matches I've watched it seemed like Saori Kimura (successfully) received about 75% of ALL the balls that came to their side of the net. It seemed uncanny to me. That's going to be a big hole to sew up with her retirement.

    Quote from SHAME

    BTW I disagree about Arisa Sato: I find her of the worst Japan NT liberos. :whistle:


    Is that because you think she's not that good or that others are better skilled? I'd love to hear what more seasoned watchers feel about Liberos (and more).


    On a simply superficial level she gets more camera time than others I've seen but barely know their names. And you get camera time for making plays. Is it the more 'invisible' things like how good her pass to the setter is, or how well she sneaks up under an attacker to catch a possible block that you think she is lacking?

    I wonder if Rahimova will stay in Japan?!?!.


    I hope Ebata and Myashita change clubs and stay at the V-League next season.


    Also I think they should have 12 or at least 10 teams in the V-League. For example we just saw that the 2 teams from the Challenge League won against the 2 teams from the V-League, that shows they are at the same level to play in the V-league.

    Quote from sitenoise


    I'm new to this stuff, but beyond being sad, isn't this also kind of bad for the NT to send Haruka to the minors? I mean in terms of getting better by being in better competitions.


    Is there anything like "Free Agency" in volleyball where she could ask for a trade to a better performing team?


    Contracts in general for all of volleyball are much shorter than they are in American sports. 1-2 years are the most common, 3 years in a few countries.


    As for Japan, players can be released, but usually players are stuck with a team until they are released.

    Quote from sitenoise


    I'm not much of a stats guy, but this is interesting. And the Mabashi stats from Match #1 ... wow!


    Receiving is sort of an invisible skill (unless you look at stats), but I would say that of the few dozen or so Japanese NT matches I've watched it seemed like Saori Kimura (successfully) received about 75% of ALL the balls that came to their side of the net. It seemed uncanny to me. That's going to be a big hole to sew up with her retirement.


    I am a stats guys because I post the numbers every match. But without the numbers, you can kind of see things. Add them in and it becomes more clear or surprising. In one of the Final 6 matches for some of the team stats, teams that don't block well kind of don't win, but there were a couple of matches which surprised me because the blocking numbers were so low and they still won.


    But one of the things that you do not see is the digging numbers. For some reason with DataVolley, they do not have it in the system to stat sheets. With the FIVB you'll get some digging numbers. So we can't really tell who is a good digger in the league matches, only by watching.


    Normally Japanese liberos when Manabe was coaching the national team, they do not set with their hands, always bump sets. Of course if in front of the 10 foot line, then they must bump set, but behind it, you can hand set. It drove me crazy.

    Quote from rbdfabio

    I wonder if Rahimova will stay in Japan?!?!.


    I hope Ebata and Myashita change clubs and stay at the V-League next season.


    Also I think they should have 12 or at least 10 teams in the V-League. For example we just saw that the 2 teams from the Challenge League won against the 2 teams from the V-League, that shows they are at the same level to play in the V-league.


    I would say 10 tops. The gap between these top 8 + 2 is huge. Denso and Ageo had been in the Premier League the year before, so they wanted to get back up. PFU had their first trip up this year. Okayama is not run by a company, so they are really a club. They are developing a ton of youth players (roster is like 25 players), but many are not ready for professional play. They try to work them in, but only so many can play week-to-week.

    Ebata has already been abroad and I can't see her going back unless she is basically given a starting position. On Cannes she was on the bench for most of the season.


    Haruka is kind of stuck. She needs a better team around her, but also she may not be willing to go overseas (Japanese are risk averse in general, so going overseas is a big risk). Plus would coaches be willing to have a non-English speaking player as the setter? If a Brazilian or Italian, no problem, but Japanese might be a stretch.

    Quote from brahmin

    But without the numbers, you can kind of see things. Add them in and it becomes more clear or surprising.


    Quote

    Serve Receive killed Hitachi, what I mean is take away Arisa Sato and Uchiseto, they were 25/29 excellents, rest of team 18/46. Mabashi played 1.5 sets and was 6/23


    Like that.


    This means on average Hitachi received a serve by hitting it out of bounds 11 out of 25 times per set? That's pretty bad, isn't it? :S I could tell something was coming up short for Hitachi that match, but didn't know the stats.

    Quote from sitenoise


    Is that because you think she's not that good or that others are better skilled? I'd love to hear what more seasoned watchers feel about Liberos (and more).


    On a simply superficial level she gets more camera time than others I've seen but barely know their names. And you get camera time for making plays. Is it the more 'invisible' things like how good her pass to the setter is, or how well she sneaks up under an attacker to catch a possible block that you think she is lacking?


    I saw her and Zayasu during a Montreux Volley Masters and there was a huge gap between the two of them. In general I found her nowhere special. In Italy for axample she wouldn't play in A1 teams. She's far behind Yuko Sano and the asian liberos standard. Just my opinion. ^^

    Quote from SHAME

    I saw her and Zayasu during a Montreux Volley Masters and there was a huge gap between the two of them. In general I found her nowhere special. In Italy for axample she wouldn't play in A1 teams. She's far behind Yuko Sano and the asian liberos standard.


    I'm brand new to all this and have to admit that when I went back and saw the 2012 OG it was Yuko Sano and Yoshie the setter that stuck out. So yeah, maybe not up to a historical standard for Japanese liberos but I'm pretty happy with Arisa and plan to keep enjoying her. :) As a "Trainee" now :dance6: I'm open to things to look for from players at different positions. At this point I'm not much wiser than style, hustle, and court energy.

    As much as i love Miyashita and think she has the potentials, I think it's better for her to stay away from the NT if she decides to stay with Okayama Seagulls.
    With the current coach(es) and old-schooled volleyball framework of Okayama Seagulls, she is not going to get any further, both tactically and technically. It's sad to see the team get relegated, but I'm not surprised based on their performance the past two seasons

    NEC Red Rockets - Hisamitsu Springs 3:2 (20:25, 25:22, 18:25, 25:23, 20:18 )

    March 17, 2017, Final Match 1 of 2


    NEC Red Rockets 3-2 Hisamitsu Springs (20-25, 25-22, 18-25, 25-23, 20-18)
    Emiliya Nikolova (NEC) 35 (2b), Kana Ohno (NEC) 16 (1b, 1a), Sarina Koga (NEC) 13 (3b), Akari Oumi (NEC) 8 (2b), Haruyo Shimamura (NEC) 8 (1b), Kaname Yamaguchi (NEC) 0, Miku Torigoe (NEC) L, Kaori Ueno (NEC) sub 5, Mizuki Yanagita (NEC) sub 2, Ayana Oyama (NEC) sub 1 (1a), Rina Sho (NEC) sub 0, Misaki Yamauchi (NEC) sub 0
    Yuki Ishii (Hisamitsu) 25 (1b), Rika Nomoto (Hisamitsu) 19 (2b), Maja Tokarska (Hisamitsu) 16 (4b), Risa Shinnabe (Hisamitsu) 13 (3b), Nana Iwasaka (Hisamitsu) 11 (2b, 1a), Chizuru Kotoh (Hisamitsu) 3 (1b), Sayaka Tsutsui (Hisamitsu) L, Yumi Mizuta (Hisamitsu) sub 3 (2b), Erika Sakae (Hisamitsu) sub 0, Risa Ishibashi (Hisamitsu) sub 0, Mana Toe (Hisamitsu) sub L


    Hisamitsu must win on Saturday to send Final into a 25-point Golden Set


    Nikolova and Ishii carried their teams today.
    Nikolova dominated from the back row with 13 kills from there and 20 and the next. Still 33/84 Nikolova was the focus of the offense for NEC today.
    Ishii was 24/64, and Nomoto was 17/75.
    NEC was 77/228 spiking, while Hisamitsu was 74/234
    Hisamitsu owned the net with 15 to 9 blocks
    Hisamitsu also 3 point advantage at the service line (-1 ace, +4 errors (fewer))


    Basically each point had 2 swings per point (non-ace or service error) 462 swings on 200 points.