Japan - V.Premier League 2016-2017

  • I'm watching Hisamitsu Springs vs Hitachi - 18 Feb 2017 right now. What's with the betting odds, I think, on constant display? I've seen that a lot

  • The youtube channel is getting the stream from the 1xBet, which is a betting website. So the people were betting while watching it live. ( users from USA are not allowed to create a account on 1xBet).

  • The reason for the betting odds are that in the United States, gambling online is illegal, but it is not in Europe and other places. So if you are desperate to gamble and then on volleyball, they've got odds for you.

  • Hisamitsu Springs vs Hitachi - 18 Feb 2017 .... that was fun!


    Hisamitsu has five starters with NT experience and a 6'4" foreigner. I wondered how they could possibly lose. Then they lost the first two sets! wtf? I had kept a blind eye to the posted outcomes here, so it was exciting.


    On the Hisamitsu side, I thought Risa played with more energy, and played better than I ever saw her play with the NT. Nagaoka looks like she's building/feeling some leadership qualities. Nakaoji (?) seems like a serviceable setter.


    On Hitachi, now I know who Watanabe is. I liked what I saw. I love Arisa Sato and wonder if she and the setter are sisters. Poor video didn't give me a good look. A couple other players looked pretty good but since most of them all have the same body type and little bob haircuts it was hard to keep track of who's who.


    I could enjoy watching the V.Premier league more, a lot more, if the video was better. I assumed it would feel like watching the minor leagues. It's not. If Japan is on some big plan to make their Volleyball the loveliest thing in the world, let us get a good look at it, I say. I enjoyed listening to the announcers even though I didn't understand a word. Seemed like they were having fun, and their emotional responses mirrored mine.


    I've tried to share my new passion for the team with friends, but it comes down to "Here .. Watch them" and if there isn't something good to show, well .... I hope the Japanese Volleyball people consider that. I don't expect them to provide English commentary. I don't need it.


  • On Hitachi, now I know who Watanabe is.
    I enjoyed listening to the announcers even though I didn't understand a word. Seemed like they were having fun, and their emotional responses mirrored mine.

    And Watanabe is coming back from a injury, she is not even 100%, but she is still great. She is my favorite Japanese player at the moment.


    And I don`t understand Japanese either, but I love listening to the announcers also.... :D .


    The games in Japan are fun because they are really high energy.

  • I watched a couple more V.Premier games, despite my whining about the video quality because, gosh, they're fun. What could be more fun than Japan vs Japan? One thing that seemed interesting to me, probably obvious to the more seasoned folks around here unless I'm wrong about this, is that it is on these league teams where the women have their volleyball identity. I assumed it was everyone's goal to make the NT and play in the Olympics. Maybe that's there, for some more than others, but it really felt like it's on these teams where they feel at home.

    Hisamitsu Springs 3-2 Toray Arrows
    . Great match! Another five setter. Now I know who Horikawa is. I'm impressed. Even with my favorite Saori sisters on the court (and Wopat), Horikawa seemed like the dominant hitter. It was a lefty vs lefty game, and at least in this game I think Horikawa's got everything Nagaoka's got. Saori Sakoda made a few mistakes, but she still looks the coolest flying in from the back court. That's why she's my #1 favorite. I didn't notice Misato Kimura much, but maybe Liberos are a little invisible in their work (except Arisa Sato who I think kicks ass). Enjoyed the commentary once again.


    Toray Arrows 0-3 NEC Red Rockets. This stream didn't have any commentary nor did it even show the score. It didn't look to me like a 3-0 match, but what do I know. I enjoyed it. Koga looked pretty good, and a couple of her team mates that got my attention were Mizuki Yanagita, but a 5'5" attacker can't be that scary, and Akari Oumi. I don't think Oumi scored many points but she has a confident swagger I like and seemed pretty good on defense. And it was good to see Shimamura. I like her on the slide and smash.


    Good stuff. I will begrudgingly probably work my way through most of these matches. I just went back in this thread and looked at some standings. Hisamitsu crawled to the top right at the end, eh? And Toray is on the bottom? Wow, that surprises me. I was wondering if maybe I just picked a few matches with the best teams and as I got further in they might not be as good. I know I'll recognize fewer players. Seems the NT is made up of players from these few I've watched. Still got Araki and Miyashita somewhere coming up.


    JT Marvelous vs Body Queenseis is next in line. If anyone here watched a bunch of these matches already and found one to be particularly entertaining, let me know.

  • Making to the NT is usually the ultimate goal for mostly volleyball players, but not all, a lot of players choose not to play for the NT, because it takes a lot of sacrifice.

    What you not watched Polina Rahimova yet? She plays for Toyota.


    You should watch the games live tonight.
    Hisamitisu vs JT at 8:00pm Pacific time and after at 10pm Hitachi vs Toray.


    tomorrow 7:30pm Rocketes vs JT and at 9:30 Toyota vs Hitachi.


    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2nTb2BPvAsPOjVBnGF8HRQ

  • What you not watched Polina Rahimova yet? She plays for Toyota.


    You should watch the games live tonight.


    I haven't seen Rahimova yet. I'll grab a toyota game pronto. [update - oh, Toyota is Body Queenseis. :aww: That's what I have up next]


    I may look in live to see how it feels if convenient, but I usually Download them so I don't have buffer issues, and I can hit a quick rewind if desired.

  • February 25, 2017, Final 6 Match 3 (Day 2) & Match 4 (Day 1) of 5


    Hisamitsu Springs 1-3 JT Marvelous (29-27, 27-29, 18-25, 22-25)
    Miyu Nagaoka (Hisamitsu) 24 (2b), Risa Shinnabe (Hisamitsu) 18 (1b), Yuki Ishii (Hisamitsu) 16 (1b), Maja Tokarska (Hisamitsu) 16 (5b), Nana Iwasaka (Hisamitsu) 8 (2b), Ayano Nakaoji (Hisamitsu) 1 (1b), Sayaka Tsutsui (Hisamitsu) L, Rika Nomoto (Hisamitsu) sub 1, Erika Sakae (Hisamitsu) sub 0, Fumika Moriya (Hisamitsu) sub 0, Mana Toe (Hisamitsu) sub L
    Mizuki Tanaka (JT) 29 (1a), Yuka Kitsui (JT) 17 (1a), Mai Okumura (JT) 16 (4b), Ayumi Nakamura (JT) 12 (3b), Yumi Terai (JT) 7 (2b), Misaki Tanaka (JT) 1, Mako Kobata (JT) L, Onuma Sittirak (JT) sub 5, Kotoe Inoue (JT) sub 2 (2a), Aika Akutagawa (JT) sub 0, Mika Shibata (JT) sub 0


    Hitachi Rivale 3-2 Toray Arrows (25-19, 20-25, 28-26, 19-25, 15-11)
    Moemi Tohi (Hitachi) 15, Mami Uchiseto (Hitachi) 14 (1b), Cursty Jackson (Hitachi) 14 (2a), Megumi Kurihara (Hitachi) 9, Nanami Inoue (Hitachi) 6 (1b, 1a), Miya Satoh (Hitachi) 2 (1b, 1a), Arisa Satoh (Hitachi) L, Hisae Watanabe (Hitachi) sub 19 (1b), Maiha Haga (Hitachi) sub 2 (1b), Miwako Osanai (Hitachi) sub 0
    Saori Kimura (Toray) 23 (4b), Mari Horikawa (Toray) 17 (1a), Carly Wopat (Toray) 15 (4b), Saori Sakoda (Toray) 14 (1b, 1a), Kaho Ohno (Toray) 5, Kanami Tashiro (Toray) 3 (1b), Misato Kimura (Toray) L, Shino Nakata (Toray) sub 2 (2a), Asuka Nomura (Toray) sub 0, Nozomi Itoh (Toray) sub 0, Yumi Nakagawa (Toray) sub L


    Final 6 Standings
    Rank, Team, Match Points, Match Wins, Sets Won-Sets Lost
    1. Hisamitsu Springs 10, 3, 10-9 (4 played)
    ----- Advance Directly to Final Match -----
    2. NEC Red Rockets 8, 1, 3-3 (2 played)
    3. Toyota Auto Body Queenseis 8, 2, 8-3 (3 played)
    ----- Advance to Final 3 (Semifinal) -----
    4. Hitachi Rivale 6, 1, 5-8 (3 played)
    5. JT Marvelous 6, 1, 5-7 (3 played)
    6. Toray Arrows 4, 1, 7-8 (3 played)
    If tied on points, higher regular season position is tiebreaker


    Hisamitsu at 10 is almost locked into the Final 3. NEC with a win over JT tomorrow jumps into 1st place. If Toyota wins against Hitachi tomorrow, they would be in Final 3 with JT loss

  • JT is Marvelous


    I watched the game last night (JT v Hisamitsu) live. It's the best match I've seen yet.


    I had just watched JT vs the Body Queens, and Polina is pretty scary but I was more impressed with JT's defense. They were all over the place. It reminded me of the Russia v Japan NT matches I've seen.


    The JT v Hisamitsu match had a little Red Sox vs Yankees feel to it. Hisamitsu has a bunch of players with NT experience but they looked like they were coasting. Risa and Yuki need to up their game 'tude. I have felt that also while watching some of the NT games of the past few years. I know it's partly just personality, but I think they can push more. I like them both, they're good players, Yuki better on offense, Risa on D I think, but they don't seem like they're 100% there. Juxtaposed against someone like Horikawa, who looks like she means serious business on the court, they seem a little low-key for players playing at their level.


    The only player on JT that stood out for me was Mizuki Tanaka. I've seen her before, seems like a strong hitter. But they mostly just played like a team, everyone doing their job. I like that. I was going to say that if you set aside blocking they looked fantastic on defense, but they actually blocked a bunch of shots. I'm not sure how. As far as receiving, digging, and passing they looked rock solid. Good for them. Good for me.


    So I'm rooting for JT to win this thing, although I don't think that's how it works. I'm used to the March Madness style, where if you lose you go home. Hisamitsu should be packing their bags. However it works, it's going to be fun.

  • I was rooting for JT, but they are playing without their best player Onuma, last night she actually came in at the end of the game, I don`t know what happened to her, maybe some minor injury. I hope they can still reach the final 3, But if they were playing with Onuma their changes would be way higher.

  • I'm watching Hitacti v Toray now and they seem to be playing without Watanabe. I don't like to see these young people hurt.


    The rosters at wikipedia are out of date. Are you talking about Onuma Sittirak, the Thai player? If so, I saw her come in at the end of a couple sets. Nice to see her. Reminds me that I want to learn more about the Thai team, too. They play quick and scrappy like the Japanese. Just not quite as good overall yet, I guess.

  • Yes, Onuma Sittirak, she is JT`s starter and leading score. She`s short but really strong.


    I don`t think Thai fans really like the Japanese.
    In the 2012 Olympics Qualification Tournament.


    The last game of the tournament which Japan lost to Serbia 2–3 was controversial in that it was allegedly a fixed match. The FIVB then conducted an investigation into whether the Japanese women's team deliberately lost against Serbia[url=''https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_FIVB_Women's_World_Olympic_Qualification_Tournament#cite_note-AP30052012-6''][6][/url] before concluding that there was no evidence to prove the existence of match fixing.[url=''https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_FIVB_Women's_World_Olympic_Qualification_Tournament#cite_note-FIVB28052012-7''][7][/url]



    Before the controversial match Japan had gained 11 points to put them in 5th place, while Serbia had 12 points placing them 3rd.


    For the last game, the qualification outcome could be fallen into one of these three scenarios.

    • If Japan beats Serbia, then Japan and Thailand (as the best Asian team) will qualify.
    • If Japan is beaten by 0–3 or 1–3, then Serbia and Thailand (as the best Asian team) will qualify.
    • If Japan is beaten by 2–3, then Serbia and Japan (as the best Asian team) will qualify.




    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_FIVB_Women's_World_Olympic_Qualification_Tournament


    Then, 4 years later Japan and Thailand went head to head to qualify for the 2016 Games....and it was another controversial game. Just watch the 5set and see what happens. ( I`m assuming you have not watched and don`t know what happened.)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDprWRzm0jw

  • "You should watch Thailand vs Japan at the Olympics Qualifier."



    I've watched that match several times. It's one of my favorites. Great match but that 5th set business, not that it was Japan's fault (unless you're into conspiracy theories), but it was sad for Thailand. There was funny business in the 2012 Qualifiers as well, I think, in the way the match with Serbia ended. There is this little swirl around Japan that I ignore because I like them, like how they qualify for things by virtue of Hosting--which isn't conspiratorial, but I can understand how that would sadden out folks who don't like Japan to begin with.


    I think I'd be closer to a bigger fan of Thailand if I could pronounce their names.


    Do you know why there's was no announcers for those Final Round matches last night? Or not why, but is there a stream somewhere else that might have them?


    I can't use the word spelled "bee you em" lol

  • I don`t why they were no announcers. But remember the stream that is going on youtube, I think it is illegal. Because that gambling website 1xbet is the one getting the stream coming form the Japanese channel. And sometimes these youtube channels are shut down when they get caught, but they just go ahead and create a new channel. I guess sometimes they just mute the announcers`s voice so they get in less trouble.

  • Japan's broadcasting rules are very strict (copyright laws in Japan are ridiculous), so the streams are probably as best as you can get.


    DAZN owns the league streaming rights, but they DO NOT offer the Japanese league outside of Japan on subscription.


    For the Thai players, they probably have a nickname, but those don't get on the back of uniforms.


    The Thai team was decent before the 2014 World Championships, but the did not send their best team due to the Asian Games. The team had won the 2013 Asian Championship. In my mind, they should have sent the best team to Italy, but for some reason the federation felt that the Asian Games were more important.


    Since then, they've dropped a bit, plus similar to Japan many of the players stay domestic instead of playing in tougher leagues.

  • JT v NEC is going well. Competitive. But where's my Shimamura! And Onuma isn't playing much. I'm liking Oumi (another name I don't know how to pronounce, ooh me ? ) more. She has a violent attack style like Saori Sakoda's.

  • JT is playing well even without Onuma...Nikolova is kind off tonight, she`s struggling to kill the ball.


    I checked on google and Oumi is 5`7, but she looks more like 5`2 or so...hahaha

  • I don`t think Thai fans really like the Japanese.
    In the 2012 Olympics Qualification Tournament.


    I think I looked at that message when that was all there was, and didn't see the links and explanations. I'm just getting up to speed. I wish the best for Thailand. They should, and maybe they are, get into the hosting business more. Then there's the situations brahmin mentions above about concurrent tournaments. It's complicated for me to grasp a National B Team. (The poster in the Chinese NT thread talks about BCDEF and G teams, lol )


    The JT v NEC game is going back and forth. Entertaining. I like all these teams but I'm thinking JT is a just a little more marvelous this weekend. I like their coach too. Like a den mother.

  • Here comes Onuma


    Can you tell me what's the deal with JT #10 Kotoe Inoue? She's listed as Libero, but she was wearing standard uniform when she served an ace to win the Game last night. So, Libero or not?