Japan - 2012/2013 Women's Premier V- League

Matchday 22, March 3, 2013
Pioneer Red Wings 2-3 Toyota Auto Body Queenseis (23-25, 25-22, 19-25, 25-16, 13-15), Yuuko Asazu (Pioneer) 22 points
Hisamitsu Springs 3-0 Toray Arrows (25-20, 25-22, 25-14), Saori Sakoda (Toray) 16 points
Okayama Seagulls 0-3 JT Marvelous (18-25, 16-25, 20-25), Moe Sasaki (Okayama) 14 points
Denso Airybees 0-3 NEC Red Rockets (15-25, 14-25, 19-25), Yeliz Basa (NEC) 17 points

Standings, wins, sets won-lost
1. NEC Red Rockets, 18, 59-32 (clinched Semifinal Round berth)
2. Hisamitsu Springs, 16, 56-35
3. Toray Arrows, 14, 50-41
4. Okayama Seagulls, 13, 51-37
------- Top 4 Teams Advance to Semifinal Round -------
5. Toyota Auto Body Queenseis, 10, 42-50
6. JT Marvelous, 7, 36-51
7. Denso Airybees, 6, 32-57
8. Pioneer Red Wings, 4, 34-57

Matchday 23, March 9, 2013
Toray Arrows 3-0 NEC Red Rockets (25-19, 25-22, 25-20), Saori Sakoda (Toray) 22 points
Pioneer Red Wings 1-3 Okayama Seagulls (25-17, 17-25, 12-25, 21-25), Mai Yamaguchi (Okayama) 20 points
JT Marvelous 3-0 Denso Airybees (25-18, 25-22, 25-14), Ai (Yuu) Ohtomo (JT) 17 points
Toyota Auto Body Queenseis 0-3 Hisamitsu Springs (20-25, 16-25, 16-25), Mizuho Ishida (Hisamitsu) 28 points

Standings, wins, sets won-lost
1. NEC Red Rockets, 18, 59-35 (clinched Semifinal Round berth)
2. Hisamitsu Springs, 17, 59-35 (clinched Semifinal Round berth)
3. Toray Arrows, 15, 53-41
4. Okayama Seagulls, 14, 54-38
------- Top 4 Teams Advance to Semifinal Round -------
5. Toyota Auto Body Queenseis, 10, 42-53
6. JT Marvelous, 8, 39-51
7. Denso Airybees, 6, 32-60
8. Pioneer Red Wings, 4, 35-60

brahmin, why Megumi Kurihara isn't playing? Is she injured?

Quote from NobodyKnows

brahmin, why Megumi Kurihara isn't playing? Is she injured?

Kurihara's right knee is hurt and she's been out since the game on March 2nd. Seeing as that she had surgery on the left previous, this may not be a good sign for her future.

I hope that it is not a major injury and has been a good player for Okayama this year. She leads the V-League in Serving Efficiency and is 9th in points scored.

Oh my God...
Princess Megu was major player in Japanese NT in 2003-2009 years
I had a hope, that she will return in this season, and she maybe return to NT in 2013.
I wish her back to full health, she had too many injuries in her career
Ganbare Megu!

Matchday 24, March 10, 2013
Pioneer Red Wings 1-3 Toray Arrows (18-25, 25-23, 13-25, 15-25), Saori Sakoda (Toray) 20 points
Okayama Seagulls 2-3 NEC Red Rockets (25-21, 22-25, 25-17, 19-25, 10-15), Natsumi Murata (Okayama) 24 points and Risa Shiragaki (NEC) 23 points
Denso Airybees 1-3 Hisamitsu Springs (25-23, 19-25, 22-25, 20-25), Mizuho Ishida (Hisamitsu) and Ivana Nesovic (Denso) 19 points
Toyota Auto Body Queenseis 0-3 JT Marvelous (25-27, 23-25, 24-26), Chie Yoshizawa (JT) 19 points

Standings, wins, sets won-lost
1. NEC Red Rockets, 19, 62-37 (clinched Semifinal Round berth)
2. Hisamitsu Springs, 18, 62-36 (clinched Semifinal Round berth)
3. Toray Arrows, 16, 56-42 (clinched Semifinal Round berth)
4. Okayama Seagulls, 14, 56-41 (clinched Semifinal Round berth)
------- Top 4 Teams Advance to Semifinal Round -------
5. Toyota Auto Body Queenseis, 10, 42-56
6. JT Marvelous, 9, 42-51
7. Denso Airybees, 6, 33-63
8. Pioneer Red Wings, 4, 36-63

Quote from brahmin

Kurihara's right knee is hurt and she's been out since the game on March 2nd. Seeing as that she had surgery on the left previous, this may not be a good sign for her future.

I hope that it is not a major injury and has been a good player for Okayama this year. She leads the V-League in Serving Efficiency and is 9th in points scored.

I hope too. Knee injuries sucks... Bad luck! She is probably the most useful Okayama's player.

Matchday 25, March 16, 2013
NEC Red Rockets 3-0 Toyota Auto Body Queenseis (25-17, 25-20, 25-19), Haruyo Shimamura (NEC) 15 points
JT Marvelous 2-3 Toray Arrows (25-14, 16-25, 21-25, 25-20, 11-15), Saori Sakoda (Toray) 28 points
Okayama Seagulls 2-3 Hisamitsu Springs (25-22, 23-25, 25-23, 19-25, 7-15), Risa Shinnabe (Hisamitsu) and Miyu Nagaoka (Hisamitsu) 23 points, Mizuho Ishida (Hisamitsu) 20 points, Okayama had 6 players over 10 points, Rika Seki with 16 points (7 blocks)
Denso Airybees 3-1 Pioneer Red Wings (25-21, 29-27, 22-25, 25-17), Yuuko Asazu (Pioneer), Satoe Mitsuhashi (Pioneer) and Ivana Nesovic (Denso) 17 points

Standings, wins, sets won-lost
1. NEC Red Rockets, 20, 65-37 (clinched Semifinal Round berth)
2. Hisamitsu Springs, 19, 65-38 (clinched Semifinal Round berth)
3. Toray Arrows, 17, 59-44 (clinched Semifinal Round berth)
4. Okayama Seagulls, 14, 58-44 (clinched Semifinal Round berth)
------- Top 4 Teams Advance to Semifinal Round -------
5. Toyota Auto Body Queenseis, 10, 42-59
6. JT Marvelous, 9, 44-54
----- Bottom 2 Teams in Promotion/Relegation Round -----
7. Denso Airybees, 7, 36-64
8. Pioneer Red Wings, 4, 37-66

Go NEC Red Rockets!! Go Yeliz!

Hi Brahmin I would like to ask you couple of questions,
Are there any way to watch matches online? There might be some streaming website but I assume they would be probably in japanese.or what is the best way to watch replay videos of matches?
Secondly, which team is your favorite and which team do you think has the biggest succes rate at the end of the season(finals)?
Btw, Thanks for keeping us up to date so far

Matchday 26, March 17, 2013
JT Marvelous 0-3 NEC Red Rockets (26-28, 22-25, 21-25), Akiko Uchida (NEC) 15 points
Okayama Seagulls 3-1 Denso Airybees (25-21, 25-22, 22-25, 25-21), Aki Kawabata (Okayama) 17 points
Pioneer Red Wings 1-3 Hisamitsu Springs (21-25, 29-27, 19-25, 13-25), Miyu Nagaoka (Hisamitsu) 23 points
Toray Arrows 3-1 Toyota Auto Body Queenseis (27-29, 25-20, 25-23, 25-16), Arisa Takada (Toray) 20 points

Standings, wins, sets won-lost
1. NEC Red Rockets, 21, 68-37 (clinched Semifinal Round berth)
2. Hisamitsu Springs, 20, 68-39 (clinched Semifinal Round berth)
3. Toray Arrows, 18, 62-45 (clinched Semifinal Round berth)
4. Okayama Seagulls, 15, 61-45 (clinched Semifinal Round berth and #4 seed)
------- Top 4 Teams Advance to Semifinal Round -------
5. Toyota Auto Body Queenseis, 10, 43-62
6. JT Marvelous, 9, 44-57
----- Bottom 2 Teams in Promotion/Relegation Round -----
7. Denso Airybees, 7, 37-67
8. Pioneer Red Wings, 4, 38-69

V-League Challenge League for Women Final Results
Team, Wins, Sets Won-Sets Lost
1. Ageo Medical Group Medics, 17, 52-7
2. Hitachi Rivale, 17, 51-8
-----Top 2 Teams Advance to Promotion/Relegation Round-----
3. Ohno Sekiyo Hiroshima Oilers, 13, 43-20
4. PFU Blue Cats, 10, 37-27
5. Kurobe Aqua Fairies, 9, 35-35
6. Sendai Belle Fille, 8, 28-36
7. JA Gifu Rioreina, 6, 28-39
8. Kashiwa Angel Cross, 6, 21-42
9. Kumamoto Forest Leaves, 4, 18-45
10. GSS Sunbeams, 0, 0-54

Quote from kralemn

Hi Brahmin I would like to ask you couple of questions,
Are there any way to watch matches online? There might be some streaming website but I assume they would be probably in japanese.or what is the best way to watch replay videos of matches?
Secondly, which team is your favorite and which team do you think has the biggest success rate at the end of the season(finals)?
Btw, Thanks for keeping us up to date so far

Japan in very notorious with intellectual property rights. Even if you want live scoreboard stream, the V-League wants you to subscribe. I am in the States, so they look at you strange, "Why would you be interested in this outside of Japan?"

I would say go to the regular streaming sites and see if you find something.

This has some videos just after the matches.
www.inside-volley.com/wbb/inde…page=Thread&threadID=5153

I wish I had more to say about it, but I don't.

As for my favorite team, I don't have one. Its been almost 20 years since I lived there as a college student, so a number of the teams do not exist anymore.
Toray is always strong with many national team players, so they are a dark horse.
Okayama is a plucky team, but the injury to Meg has hurt them.
Hisamitsu has been steady all year. Probably my favorite to win.
NEC had done a great deal this year, from playing in the relegation matches to winning the regular season title (almost there). And that is without a ton of help from Basa.

Thanks for answering my questions honestly, really appreciate it.
For watching matches live via online seems out of question from outside of japan. Thanks for suggestion, I checked it and they look satisfying for now to have an impression on teams. I hope we can have more frequent videos at semifinals-final`s time.

To tell you truth I just become interested in japanese league recently so basically my knowledge on teams is really poor you can say, that`s why I asked your opinion to have more proper ideas about teams.
As far as I observed NEC has done good job for this year. Even managing to qualified for semifinals can be consired a huge success for them after last year, yet they have the top spot in the league so far. So its only natural for me to curios about what have changed for them? As you mentioned Basa is not the leading factor in this run, then what else it could be?
Although they may not win it all at the end due to lack of experince I guess, but I will still cheer for them as they chase the title as an underdog

Matchday 27, March 23, 2013
NEC Red Rockets 3-2 Hisamitsu Springs (20-25, 28-26, 25-18, 19-25, 26-24), Yuki Ishi (Hisamitsu) 27 points, Yeliz Basa (NEC) 25 points and Risa Shinnabe (Hisamitsu) 24 points
Pioneer Red Wings 3-2 JT Marvelous (25-18, 23-25, 22-25, 25-21, 17-15), Satoe Mitsuhashi (Pioneer) 25 points and Miki Ishii (JT) 20 points
Toyota Auto Body Queenseis 3-1 Denso Airybees (20-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-23), Kanani Danielson (Toyota) 21 points
Okayama Seagulls 1-3 Toray Arrows (29-27, 19-25, 19-25, 17-25), Saori Sakoda (Toray) 33 points

Standings, wins, sets won-lost
1. NEC Red Rockets, 22, 71-39 (clinched Semifinal Round berth and #1 seed)
2. Hisamitsu Springs, 20, 70-42 (clinched Semifinal Round berth)
3. Toray Arrows, 19, 65-46 (clinched Semifinal Round berth)
4. Okayama Seagulls, 15, 62-48 (clinched Semifinal Round berth and #4 seed)
------- Top 4 Teams Advance to Semifinal Round -------
5. Toyota Auto Body Queenseis, 11, 46-63
6. JT Marvelous, 9, 46-60
----- Bottom 2 Teams in Promotion/Relegation Round -----
7. Denso Airybees, 7, 38-70
8. Pioneer Red Wings, 5, 41-71

V. Challenge Match Schedule

April 6-7 at Hadano City Gymnasium, Hadano City, Kanagawa Prefecture

(V-League Premier Pioneer Red Wings vs. (V-League Challenge 1) Ageo Medical Group Medics
(V-League Premier 7) Denso Airybees vs. (V-League Challenge 2) Hitachi Rivale

Rules:
1. Matches Won
2. Sets Ratio
3. Points Ratio
4. If 1, 2 & 3 are the same, the Premier League team remains in the Premier League

Matchday 28, March 24, 2013
Toray Arrows 3-1 Denso Airybees (22-25, 25-21, 25-17, 25-14), Saori Sakoda (Toray) 22 points, Kaori Kodaira (Toray) and Arisa Takada (Toray) 20 points
JT Marvelous 1-3 Hisamitsu Springs (19-25, 24-26, 25-23, 20-25), Yuki Ishi (Hisamitsu) and Masami Taniguchi (JT) 20 points
Okayama Seagulls 2-3 Toyota Auto Body Queenseis (23-25, 25-20, 25-18, 18-25, 18-20), Kanani Danielson (Toyota) 34 points and Mai Fukuda (Okayama) 28 points
NEC Red Rockets 3-1 Pioneer Red Wings (25-23, 25-21, 24-26, 25-16), Akika Hattori (Pioneer) 21 points

Standings, wins, sets won-lost
1. NEC Red Rockets, 23, 74-40
2. Hisamitsu Springs, 21, 73-43
3. Toray Arrows, 20, 68-47
4. Okayama Seagulls, 15, 64-51
------- Top 4 Teams Advance to Semifinal Round -------
5. Toyota Auto Body Queenseis, 12, 49-65
6. JT Marvelous, 9, 47-63
----- Bottom 2 Teams in Promotion/Relegation Round -----
7. Denso Airybees, 7, 39-73
8. Pioneer Red Wings, 5, 42-74

END OF THE REGULAR SEASON

Semifinal Round Schedule

Funabashi Arena, Funabashi City, Chiba Prefecture

Matchday 1, April 5
(1) NEC Red Rockets vs. (4) Okayama Seagulls
(2) Hisamitsu Springs vs. (3) Toray Arrows
Matchday 2, April 6
(1) NEC Red Rockets vs. (2) Hisamitsu Springs
(3) Toray Arrows vs. (4) Okayama Seagulls
Matchday 3, April 7
(1) NEC Red Rockets vs.(3) Toray Arrows
(2) Hisamitsu Springs vs. (4) Okayama Seagulls

Rules, Round Robin Play
Teams are ranked by:
1. Matches won
2. Sets ratio
3. Points ratio

Top 2 teams advance to 1st Place match, Bottom 2 teams advance to 3rd Place match on April 13th.

Player Awards at the end of the Season

Most Points
Kanani Danielson (Toyota), 550

Kill Rate (Spikes/Attempts (errors not included))
Erika Araki (Toray), 50.2%

Blocking
Erika Araki (Toray), 0.95 per set

Serving Efficiency [(No-Touch Aces x 100) + (Aces (off player) x 80) + (Effective x 25)/Attempts
Erika Araki (Toray), 15.5%

Serve Receiver
Kotoki Zayasu (Hisamitsu), 75.0%

Quote from brahmin

Toray Arrows 3-1 Denso Airybees (22-25, 25-21, 25-17, 25-14), Saori Sakoda (Toray) 22 points

Oh, Saori Sakoda! Always her...
She scored in all rudiments.

Ps: Would you like to play in Brazil?