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

    sitenoise you mentioned about Kaewkalaya Kamulthala little soccer kick last time, then you might enjoy this clip


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    What their doing is called sepak takraw and is an actual sport played in mainly south east Asian countries, but have been slowly introduce in other parts of the world as well. Check out some vids on youtube about it. You'll love it. It's like a combo of soccer x volleyball. lol

    Haha, that clip has the one she recently did while playing Toray.


    I've watched some Sepaktakraw youtubes. It's amazing.

    Quote from theloneracer

    News Update:

    The "Transferred Published Players List" has Ayaka Matsumoto as retired as well (but beware of my Google Translation abilities)


    Also ... and this may be what happens sometimes/often with High School recruits but it appears that Kanon Sonoda, that awesome setter from Higashi Kyushu Ryukoku High School, wants out of Okayama:

    "Sonoda wind noise Okayama Seagulls transfer hope 2019/4/3" ( 園田 風音 岡山シーガルズ 移籍希望 )


    And, whoa:

    Saki Goya,, also from the awesome Higashi Kyushu Ryukoku High School, is going to hang up her jersey and quit playing volleyball

    "Soya Okayama Seagulls retired 2019/4/5" ( 合屋 咲希 岡山シーガルズ 退団 )


    Sonoda may want to find a team where she'll get more playing time. Okayama has Miyashita and Wonder Woman Mizuki Ugajin as setters already, but I don't know where she might go. JT Marvelous, Kurobe, PFU are the only teams that seem lacking in the setter department. Maybe she plays a long game and goes to (or hopes to go to) Himeji. Study under the master. Or even better yet (for me), NEC! I've grown disillusioned with Yamaguchi (will always love her to death for her frumpy good times at all cost personality, and taking the team to glory in every way in 2016, but ...) and Tsukada never floated my boat. If NEC could pick up a good setter and libero they'd kick the crap out of Hisamitsu and be V.League Champs for sure :rose:


    I liked what I saw of Saki Goya. Wish her the best!

    Wow! Both Kanon Sonoda (園田 風音) and Saki Goya (合屋 咲希) only just joined Okayama toward the end of January and now they are both gone. I only just realised this, but both players were just at the training camp for the U-20 about a week prior to their deregistrations from the team. I hope both players continue to play volleyball. Hopefully, we might get some news in May as there is another training camp then.


    With regards to Goya and Matsumoto, from my understanding "退団" doesn't necessarily mean retirement from volleyball per se, it only means that they are leaving the team/organisation.


    Personally, I think the list that you have linked is just a list of outgoing players. The reasons for a player been on this list could vary from a player just want to quit their team or it could be that the team want to let a player go or the player could actually be retiring.


    From the auto-translation of Matsumoto's farewell message, she was quoted as saying.


    Thank you very much for playing at Saitama Ageo Medix for 5 years. I am indebted to many people. Thank you so much for your support. I will do my best in the next team. I look forward to working with you!


    Her saying "I will do my best in the next team" make me think that she is not retiring yet.

    Quote from theloneracer

    Her saying "I will do my best in the next team" make me think that she is not retiring yet.

    Me too, but the Funny thing is, of the players mentioned here, Matsumoto is the one who should be retiring. "Next Team" could refer to a group of Amway Associates she's gathered around for her new career


    Maybe Sanoda and Goya didn't like the No Smiling rule at Okayama :)


    I certainly don't know what 退団 means, but that Transfers List thing has been accurate in the months I've been checking it in distinguishing between who wants a transfer "I want a transfer" and who isn't going to play volleyball any more "retiring". From say: Kanasugi, Arisa Sato, Okumura, Kotoe Inoue, Yuka Sato, Tominaga, Tashiro, etc, to those who ended their careers: Risa Ishii, Miku Torigoe and a couple other NEC players I don't remember, Miku Benoki, Yumi Terai, Shiho Kondo, and a few more I can't think of at the moment.**


    Players like Okumura, Kotoe, Tominaga, and Tashiro were listed as "I want a transfer" and I'm all, like ... WTF? ... and then it turns out that they were just gearing up to go abroad. I don't remember any announcement re: Nana Sakamoto.


    Here's a hardcore completely uninformed opinion based on complete ignorance that I believe is true: Japanese Teams never decide to "want to let a player go" :rolll: :rolll: Damn, that's worth two <rolls>! "I want a transfer" means "I have something else already lined up".


    Megumi Kurihara might be the exception. Either she just likes to move around or she's a pain in the butt and teams "want to let [her] go".


    **[Edit] I may be conflating what I read on Team pages with what the transfers docs had to say. theloneracer , you may be correct that the transfer docs merely mean 'gone from here' and leave it to the player and the team to describe their futures.

    Highlights from Final Final Game 1 Hisamitsu v Toray



    Check out the lighting

    The characters mean leave and organization in that order. So the team has released the player they are a free agent. Last year Megumi Kurihara had been released before the All-Star but had been selected by the fans to play in it.

    With the Japanese players overseas, they may still be “owned” by the Japanese team and only a on loan to the foreign team. This may not be mentioned but like with Nagaoka and her injury in Italy, she came back to Hisamitsu to have their doctor look at her second injury.

    All I can say is I hope Kanon Sonoda transfers to NEC. I can't believe how good this Higashi Kyushu Ryukoku team is. They are my NEC and Rino Murooka is my Yanagita. I think they could beat Serbia--the fact that they can't win a High School Championship notwithstanding :rolll:


    Is it against the rules for middle-blockers to do slide attacks in H.S.? I've watched several matches and don't think I've seen one slide attack. The MBs drift out to the wing and attack like opposites. Both Sion Hirayama and Ayaka Araki do it. And what's up with Ayaka Araki? Second year and 184cm. She is solidly built and skates around the court like Hisae Watanabe. She's gonna make some team happy next year if she doesn't just graduate to Hisamitsu's bench. I think Hirayama is a better player but Araki's a year younger and already has 4cms on her.


    Higashi's coach is a big brutish barking looking dude but the love and admiration, and sheer fanboyism he has for his players is palpable. It's touching to watch. <3

    Looks like the Hisamitsu v Toray match is being streamed on SMMTV. Pretty good quality video but I'll miss my Japanese commentary



    The live365 site is also streaming it ... in silence :(. I could be listening to it and watching the SMMTV stream.


    It's a different broadcast stream.

    Jana Kulan is having a funky mental game and Toray brain-farted to lose the first set 29–31. I'm going to look at that as a positive for Toray. Wake up, and win the match. SMMTV will broadcast a Golden Set for me if you do :rose:

    This is not quality volleyball so far :(

    Rena Mizusugi is a major upgrade for Toray at libero. She was just receiving libero, but she's playing both sides now. Quite the coup for a kid who just graduated HS and joined the team 3 months ago. Good for her.

    I watched the first set live last night. But then I was like oh well i already know how this will end. So when I woke up I went back to the game but kept spiking trough ....but when I saw the time I realized Hisamtisu would win as if they played a Golden Set it would have been there.


    I`m glad Toray at least won Game 2. And I was able to watch the whole Golden Set...Oh well...At least Toray fought ...they played better than JT did last year. Kulan did some stupid mistakes for sure. Kurogo was afraid to hit the balls at times.

    My god. I only watched 2 1/2 sets before losing interest and eventually falling asleep. That was some of the worst volleyball I’ve ever seen. I’ll watch that high school championship final for the third time before I‘ll watch the Golden Set.


    There was one point, in the second set I believe, that Nanami Seki, from a standing set, actually set the ball across the net to a Hisamitsu player.

    Individual awards: Link


    MVP: Foluke Akinradewo

    Fighting-Spirit award: Jana Kulan


    Best Scorer: Jana Kulan

    Best Spiker: Foluke Akinradewo (3rd)

    Best Blocker: Foluke Akinradewo

    Best Server: Jana Kulan

    Best Receiver: Risa Shinnabe (5th)


    Best 6:

    Risa Shinnabe (3rd)

    Jana Kulan

    Brankica Mihajlovic (2nd)

    Foluke Akinradewo (2nd)

    Sinead Jack

    Nanami Seki


    Best Libero: Mako Kobata (2nd)

    Receiving award: Risa Shinnabe (5th)

    Best Newcomer award: Nanami Seki

    Not to knock Foluke, whom I adore, but Jana Kulan was way more valuable to Toray than Foluke was to Hisamitsu. And Risa Shinnabe was more valuable to Hisamitsu than Foluke was.


    Risa had the best kill % of all non-MBs, she's the best receiver in the league, top ten in serve (whatever that means), and at 173cm had the most blocks per set of all non-MBs besides Jana--who's 8 feet tall. And Risa plays unstatistically documented defense as well as anyone. A player who does all that is Most Valuable.

      2019 FINAL FINAL Results

    Home Team Away Team
    		 Set 1
    		 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5 Total Stats
    April 6, 2019 Leg 1:
    Hisamitsu Springs 3–0 Toray Arrows
    		 25-21 25-13 27-25

    		77–59 Stats
    April 13, 2019 Leg 2:
    Hisamitsu Springs 2–3 Toray Arrows 31-29 19-25 23-25 25-23 13-15 111–117 Stats
    April 13, 2019 - Golden Set:
    Hisamitsu Springs 1–0 Toray Arrows 25–18 25–18 Stats


    Congrats to Hisamitsu and, really big congrats to Toray.


    N K youtuber is uploading the match (turns out one of the sugar-to-my-ears girls called the match--I wonder, had I been able to watch it live hearing her call it, if it would've made me enjoy it more):

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    [Edit] fixed the Total column scores