Display MoreJapan Week 3 ... 14 players again. oh my god
Setters:
12 Miya Sato (Hitachi), 25 Nanami Seki (Toray)
Middle Blockers:
3 Nana Iwasaka (captain, Hisamitsu), 13 Mai Okumura (JT), 20 Aya Watanabe (Toyota), 24 Aika Akutagawa (JT)
Outside Hitters:
2 Sarina Koga (NEC), 7 Yuki Ishii (Hisamitsu), 11 Yuri Nabeya (Denso), 16 Ai Kurogo (Toray), 21 Miwako Osanai (Hitachi), 27
Opposite:
4 Risa Shinnabe (Hisamitsu)
Liberos:
14 Mako Kobata (JT), 18 Akane Yamagishi (Saitama)
Miyashita out and Seki back in. Miya Sato is doing a good job. Hitachi won the Entertainment Value Index for the 2017-18 club season. I watched every one of their matches, but I didn't really notice Sato that much. I noticed the heck out of her the 2018-19 season even though Hitachi didn't win the Entertainment Value Index. Because. Okayama.
The Setter situation is fascinating. Is Coach Nakata resting Tominaga and Tashiro? Or hiding them? What's the dang deal with Miyashita? Miya Sato has improved. She'd improve more if Japan's middles could conjure up a desire to HULK SMASH from the middle (like her Hitachi teammate Mai Irasawa). It would give her more ability to be deceptive if she had that as a threat. Nana Iwasaka kinda does it, but she's Iwasaka. The others are sliders. Okumura is a little slower than last year. Maybe too much good Thai food. Watanabe and Akutagawa are doing great offensively. Blocking is weird, though. Yuki Ishii is having more success than the MBs (except Okumura), but she's also had a lot more court time.
Nanami Seki's come out of nowhere (except High School). Her sets are more accurate when she's running after the ball than when it's delivered to her in a standing position. She's a great story. I love kid success
Sarina Koga.
I hope this is Miwako Osanai's Transformational Tournament™. She's got a better swing than all the other attackers but she's not as smart or as confident yet. She's not dumb, the others are very smart. Come on, Miwako. Make your biggest fan proud
4 weeks together plus Montreux