Japan - V.League V1 (Division 1, Women) 2018-2019

    Quote from brahmin

    It is not a fake lineup. That is the rotation from the starting lineup. They then shift into their attacking or offensive/defensive positions.

    I had the same question as blue1234 after watching Sarina Koga receive serve in the back court and then proceed to kill the ball from Position 4 and not get called for a back court violation, and then on the next two plays she'd kill the ball from Position 4, and then she'd go back to serve! I imagine he's been watching Chatchu-on do the same thing. It sort of makes a mockery of a 'rotation'. That's why I call what they do before the serve goes off a 'fake lineup'.


    To flesh it out a bit, if blue1234 is still wondering, a player doesn't have to physically be in position 2 on the court if the rotation says she's in rotation 2. She just has to be in front of whoever is in rotation 1, and to the right of whoever is in rotation #3. The players in rotation 2 and 3 could be back in position 5 if they wanted to be. Maybe.


    I don't know if the rules specifically state that rotation 2 player has to also be in front of rotation 6 player but critical mass makes it happen because 3 has to be in front of 6 and to the right of 4, 4 to the left of 3 and in front of 5, and so on.


    It's goofy ?(

    432 front

    561 back


    4 must be to the left of three and in front of 5 to start play (at time of serve)

    3 must be in between 4 (left) and 2 (right) and in front of 6

    2 must be to the right of 3 and in front of 1.

    5 must be to the left of 6 and behind 4.

    6 must be in between 5 (left) and 1 (right) and behind 3

    1 must be to the right of 6 and behind 2.

    I just watched the opening day match of JT Marvelous v Okayama Seagulls in glorious High Definition over at V.League TV. It's a whole different ballgame watching in HD rather than the out of focus blobs of color filling my screen like a bleeding Etch-a-Sketch from the betting site.


    Set 2, the only set Okayama won, is worth watching five more times. I think I have a new team to be in love with. Other teams don't mind my polygamy.


    I don't have a firm grasp on what kind of crazy substitutions Okayama does but Miyashita and Ugajin shared court time, setting, and while I didn't see Miyashita kill one Ugajin certainly did, and Miyashita did the run up for a kill in position 2 on occasion. She just didn't get the set.


    Miyashita has an uncanny intuition to where the ball is going to go and super quickness in getting after it. And through either osmosis or scrimmaging it seems to have rubbed off on her team mates. Love their floor defense.


    Beyond Miyashita, #18 Syuuka Kaneda is the only other play I was familiar with, having seen her in some U-tournaments. I didn't like her there but she's growing on me. Oh, and Mai Yamaguchi (C). She's 35 years old!


    This game was before Miyashita's attempt at a ponytail. I would never be able to get to know these players without HD, as they are all the same size with the same hairstyle malfunction--except for a middle blocker's malfeasance in wearing one of her shoelaces as a headband. Stop that!


    Southpaw #6 Sanae Watanabe still looks like she's swinging with her off arm, but it's growing on me.


    I hope the V.League keeps posting these HD streams. It's a great gift for me.


    Show me great floor defense and I will love you unconditionally.

    As soon as the ball is served, none of the rotation matters except for libero (always a back row player), setter (if player is in back row) and any player attacking from the back row.

    The rules prohibit a back row player from blocking at the net, libero from hand setting in front of the 3 meter line for a kill, or a player from the back row attacking above the net when jumping in front of the 3 meter line.

    Libero in back row is usually 5-6 zone, as the setter would play in zone 1 in back row. With a spiker in the back row, the libero may shift more to 5 or 1 depending on team.

    Don’t forget that crazy save plays can put players out of position so even players switch a zone in the middle of play as well, just for court coverage.

    Quote from brahmin

    As soon as the ball is served, none of the rotation matters except for libero

    Don’t forget that crazy save plays can put players out of position so even players switch a zone in the middle of play as well, just for court coverage.

    ok, thanks, that makes it much more clearer now about what I initially was asking about. Guess that also gives advantage as well for an OP who is left hand hitter and then after the serve or out of position saves suddenly starts hitting from zone 4 instead of zone 2. Anyway, I think if PFU did that every once in a while with their left OP Uda and Chatchu-On or their other OHs, they might have better chances to score more. Thanks again to sitenose and brahmin for explaining things out.

    Last weekend before the break.


    JST = UTC +9

    12:00 Denso Airybees v PFU BlueCats

    12:00 Hisamitsu Springs v Toyota Body Queens

    13:00 Saitama Ageo Medics v NEC Red Rockets --- V.TV

    15:00 Hitachi Rivale v Kurobe AquaFairies

    15:00 JT Marvelous v Okayama Seagulls


    You Nana Iwasaka haters out there should have another look. She's playing very well this year. Erika Araki has missed her 4th game now. #15 Ayaka Sugi is not bad in her place


    Yuri Nabeya may have been recovering from an injury at the beginning of this season. She's jumping higher now and hitting harder.

    Foluke receiving serve and then running up for the kill. That's not fair!

    Foluke showed up late for class this year, suited up and started playing. She's the only one of these foreign middle blockers that looks like they 'got it'. Not that the others are bad, but Foluke's rhythm is so on the beat it's crazy. Of course, with her centuries long hang time she offers a very wide margin for error to the setter.


    The only chance Toyota has in this match is that Yuka Imamura is having an off night. Neriman might be the most beautifully athletic person I've ever seen. She's taken to some pretty urgent looking pep talks during time outs this year. She's serious about wanting to win.

    Hisamitsu are closers.


    NEC changing things up tonight. Besides starting Yamaguchi and Shimamura, Aratani's at OP instead of Yamauchi, and Yanagita for Hirose, AND Manami Kojima starting at libero. I don't approve of that last one.


    That leaves Koga as the only preexisting condition.

    Sat 8 Dec 2018 Day 11 Results

    Home Team Away Team
    		 Set 1
    		 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5 Total Stats
    Denso Airybees 3-0 PFU BlueCats 25-21 25-21 25-16 75-58 Stats
    Hisamitsu Springs 3-0 Toyota Body Queens 25-21 25-23 32-30 82-74 Stats
    Saitama Ageo Medics 3-0 NEC Red Rockets 27-25 25-17 25-19 77-61 Stats
    Hitachi Rivale 3-0 Kurobe AquaFairies 26-24 25-21 25-19 76-64 Stats
    JT Marvelous 3-0 Okayama Seagulls 25-22 25-22 25-18 75-62 Stats


    Toyota on the big screen, Denso on the small screen.


    A walk in the park for Denso. Nabeya is coming alive (14/33 with a couple aces). Sinéad had a quiet night again (9/18 with 5 blocks).

    PFU just doesn't have much going on.



    Hisamitsu had their hands full. They play well with their hands full. Yuka Imamura (12/45) and Yuki (8/29) were off, but Risa (13/21) and Foluke (16/21!) picked up the slack. Toyota played well, but Hisamitsu is who they are. Sans Araki, Toyota's MBs are bringing it: Watanabe (6/9 w/4 blocks); Sugi (6/8 w/2 blocks). Neriman was her usual overachieving self (24/57--9/16 from downtown).



    Ageo brought their traveling "Keti" show (26/42--8/19 from downtown). I like her style or it would be boring. Upstart frowning rookie Yuri Yoshino (10/27) lead the rest of the offense.

    NEC. Inexplicable. Sad. Sarina Koga (6/36) is just phoning it in. She needs to spend a little time with Mr. Bench.



    Hitachi is on fire. Clodhopper Mai Irasawa (9/20 with 7 blocks) continues to deliver. She's the highlight of the league. Miwako Osanai (19/34) finally put up decent numbers and received well. Newcomer Miyu Kubota (12/27) continues to impress. Watanabe (10/36) was quiet, but at least she is playing full time now. She's an emotional girl.

    Kurobe did the Kurobe thing. They came out fighting, controlling the first set until it got near 20. It was all downhill after that. Still fun to watch.



    JT beat Okayama. I didn't watch it because Hitachi/Kurobe is gold. Mizuki Tanaka (18/44) had more swings than Brankica (19/40) and more points 21 to 20. Wow.

    Okayama threw everyone on their roster onto the court to no avail.

    Quote from MfG

    Laura Heyrman hopes to join her team in January according to this:

    Thanks for the update!

    Ebata was at least on the roster for PFU today. Still not in the match though.


    Just looked at the East standings and Hitachi could be second if they did not have 5 5-set wins.


    NEC's coach is looking really smart (sarcastically saying) for signing Rhamat. Reaching the halfway point in the season, has not played her once. And a 5-5 record. Lost to Ageo today, which should have been an NEC win. The team is not as good as advertised.


    The Springs took advantage of no Araki. If Erika is in there, maybe it is a different story. Still the top 3 in the West all have fewer losses than everyone in the East.


    Okayama, PFU and Kurobe are a combined 0-21 against last year's Premier League teams, the gap is big between those levels.

    Hitachi and those 5-5 setters. At least they won them.


    I'm giving a shout out to Hitachi setter Miya Sato, who I have ragged on the last couple years because I don't think she plays well at the NT level. Her defense isn't up to it. But watching the way she is working with MB Mai Irasawa is amazing. She'll set one to a sliding Irasawa and Irasawa will hit it long. So Miya will set her the next ball. In tight, and Mai will kill it. That's how you work with someone who's got something going on but lacks experience and is fragile to confidence lost. Miya Sato might single-handedly turn Irasawa into something. At this point, Irasawa doesn't look like anything close to NT material, but she's 19 years old and 189cm and she's delivering numbers.

    Ebata is online for PFU :woohoo:

    Kurobe's libero Yurika Banba is excellent, except she has trouble passing a free ball some times. What an odd limitation :rolll:

    Hisamitsu are closers.


    They had their match point challenged, a questionable Foluke Block Touch. Toray serves, Hisamitsu's setter says: "Here, Foluke, touch this".


    Kurobe are closers against PFU 8o


    NEC's back at Denso with the lineup that lost to Ageo last night.

    Quote from sitenoise

    Hitachi and those 5-5 setters. At least they won them.


    I'm giving a shout out to Hitachi setter Miya Sato, who I have ragged on the last couple years because I don't think she plays well at the NT level. Her defense isn't up to it. But watching the way she is working with MB Mai Irasawa is amazing. She'll set one to a sliding Irasawa and Irasawa will hit it long. So Miya will set her the next ball. In tight, and Mai will kill it. That's how you work with someone who's got something going on but lacks experience and is fragile to confidence lost. Miya Sato might single-handedly turn Irasawa into something. At this point, Irasawa doesn't look like anything close to NT material, but she's 19 years old and 189cm and she's delivering numbers.

    I’ve always rooted for Miya Sato in NT team. I like her setting style a lot. I think the only problem with her is that she sometimes lost her stability during big games or decisive moments, and eventually hard to recover after some mistakes. But undoubtedly she’s the soul of Hitachi, who is full of young faces this year. Irisawa and others are in good hand.

    Speaking of favorite setters, let me also mention Ms. Tahara Airi and Ms. Miyashita Haruka :win:

    It looks like the V.League is going to offer matches in HD on-demand thirty days after they were live. If that keeps up I'll get the first Okayama Seagulls v Hitachi Rivale match for Christmas :cheesy:

    Toyota Body Queens v Okayama Seagulls . Toyota takes the first set 28-26. This is super volleyball

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