Japan - V.League V1 (Division 1, Women) 2019-2020

    Mai Okumura


    Okayama showed Saitama what's what. They lost the first set and won 3–1. That's what good teams do.


    Okayama is team first in reception. Their Libero is individual first. Kaneda and Sasaki are 7th and 9th. Where did this come from? :rolll::dance6:


    Speaking of camera time: remember 22 y/old teen idol Mayu Oikawa and her Cinderella entrance last year mid season? She's 6th best killer right now. Sanae Watanabe is 7th. I wish I knew how Sanae pronounces her name. She's like a lefty YOLO, killing up the middle

    PFU takes set 2 from Denso. PFU is a better team than their W-L indicates.

    PFU 10–2 Denso, Set 3


    #hashtag #GoGoPFU :super:

    PFU 25–11, Set 3. Holy Cow!


    I'm not terribly confident they will win the match yet, but it's cool as heck. Crazy to think Yukiko Ebata is a bench player now. Way down the bench. Tiny, Spunky OH Ayaka Horiguchi is strutting her stuff. Lefty OP Tough Cookie Nao Tsuga is enjoying a little beast mode.


    Yui Asahi getting some court time for Denso. Nice to see her again, except for the headband

    Quote from werka

    I didn’t like JT’s game today. Annie only hit 33.3% 🙄

    Everybody else except Tanaka hit over 50%, though :P So that's cool

    Aw Schucks. Denso wins the Tie Break 15–13. Fun match.


    Himeji contributed some Premier Pride over Kurobe 3–0

    Denso and Toray clinched Final 8 spots today.

    Kurobe is locked into the bottom 2 in the Star Conference.

    A win by Ageo and a loss by PFU will clinch Ageo’s spot in the Final 8 in the Star Conference.

    Toyota will drop to third in the Star if matched on wins with Toray.

    Okayama will clinch a Final 8 spot in the Premier with a win and loss by Hitachi.

    Hitachi is now 2 wins behind Hisamitsu and with 2 fewer matches to play. Could pass them on points, but the lack of wins will kill Hitachi.

    Hisamitsu beat Toyota. I jumped off the Arisa Inoue train a while ago because she doesn't play defense, but she's a good hitter. I thought Hisamitsu might take this opportunity (their collapse) to go B-team for a while. It's not full throttle, but:


    Arisa Inoue 18/34 @52.9%, 1 error

    Miyu Nakagawa 10/20 @50%, no errors


    Nakagawa is still a teenager. U20 Gold alum at 182cm, may have a bright future.


    Edit: and those kids did that against the best blocking duo (arguably) in the league--Araki and Watanabe

    This VTV is bullshit. Their streams aren't broadcast quality to begin with and now they won't even stream at 720. I have to bump it down to 480 in order to get a mostly reliable stream. Might as well watch the betting sites :cursing:

    This whole Denso thing is weird. They are built rock solid at Setter, Libero, and MB, but their attackers are not bringing it. This new OH, Minami Nakamoto, is the most reliable. Rei Kudou shows signs of her potential, and then fails miserably. And Nabeya, great receiver, isn't a consistent scorer. I want The Denso Bomber and 4T out there.


    Tie Break with Toray underway. That shouldn't happen.

    Quote from haru_12

    Okayama vs Queenseis

    3-0

    No surprise there.


    Watanabe was a little off at 7/20 but Kaneda brought it with 23/45 (21 receptions 56%). I feel like I need to point this out every time now that the high scorer is also a main, talented, practiced receiver :heart:


    I know it's unlikely but I so so so so wish Okayama would win the title and show everybody you don't need a foreigner to do it, nor do you need a New York Yankees style team of NT members :super:

    JT is virtually unstoppable at this point, barring injuries. Tanaka and Hayashi are so good and Akutagawa/Ogawa duo is just formidable. Momii is magical in setting and knows when to put the ball to whom. Setting is evenly distributed and not loading up on a particular player. Annie is Annie. Mako is Mako.


    JT FTW!!!

    Quote from sitenoise

    No surprise there.


    Watanabe was a little off at 7/20 but Kaneda brought it with 23/45 (21 receptions 56%). I feel like I need to point this out every time now that the high scorer is also a main, talented, practiced receiver :heart:


    I know it's unlikely but I so so so so wish Okayama would win the title and show everybody you don't need a foreigner to do it, nor do you need a New York Yankees style team of NT members :super:

    this is actually my 1st time following vleague, and happy that okayama is doing great :cheesy:

    I just wish to see miyashita to play as main setter again for NT :dance6:

    "you don't need a foreigner" agreed hehe

    Quote from werka

    JT is virtually unstoppable at this point, barring injuries. Tanaka and Hayashi are so good and Akutagawa/Ogawa duo is just formidable. Momii is magical in setting and knows when to put the ball to whom. Setting is evenly distributed and not loading up on a particular player. Annie is Annie. Mako is Mako.


    JT FTW!!!

    They look pretty dominant --I mean, they probably look dominant if we could see them play. I think Momii is key to this success.


    Quote from werka

    also what is happening to Queenseis and Toray? 😭😭😭😭

    Toyota needs a setter. Toray has to figure out the Kurogo/Ishikawa thing :rolll: It might get worked out. Kurogo is just back from injury. I think they will finish strong with Saitama biting their heels

    Re: that JT win over Himeji


    Himeji just picked up an OH from the Tokai Mermaids (Bronze Medalists in the College Championship last week)

    Aikiho Matsumoto. (I think Aikiho is her given name. Not sure) She wore #1 for her team. Looks like she came in for Kanasugi after Kanasugi went 1/10. Aikiho went 10/22 in her V.League debut. I was able to see a few of those College games. This could be a big boost for Himeji. Aikiho looks tough. Too bad she's a whoppin' 170cm :heart:



    I honestly feel that NEC loss was really out of nowhere. JT could have swept the exchange games had they won that one.


    Well, now time to focus on beating all the other Star teams for the last round. Hoping for the best! 💚