|
|
|
I'm predicting an expansion team will win it again this year
Not as sure about it as last year.
Route Inn Hotels Brilliant Aries, never again to be referred to with the Route Inn Hotels part of their name, has 12 players at this time. Something about them smells like victory. I watched a few of their matches in the Summer League and was impressed. They were in the crummy East, yeah, but finished highest of the V2 teams competing, barely lost to Kurobe and Hitachi, took a set from NEC, and clobbered the Green Wings.
Their tallest player is 174cm OH Ami Takahashi, and their tallest middle blocker is 172cm Emi Kishimura. So: Ami and Emi. They look smart and like they want to be aggressive. Ami has three arms. That's an advantage!
Emi is an optical illusion. She appears rather tall and lanky when she's standing by herself. She's got a nice powerful swing and attacks from all over the place. With confidence. Then when she goes to the huddle she's the same size as everybody else 
Let's go girls 
Ami
&
Emi
Ami and Emi. They're called like Kevin's and Veronica's twins from Shameless. I have good vibes for them.
| Home |
Away |
Set 1 |
Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Stats | Vid | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JA Gifu | 2–3 | GSS Sunbeams | 25-21 | 24-26 | 28-26 | 13-25 | 13-15 | 103–113 | Stats | |
| Kashiwa | 1–3 | Hamamatsu | 22-25 | 25-23 | 12-25 | 18-25 | 77–98 | Stats | ||
| Brilliant Aries | 1–3 | Gunma Bank | 25-23 | 13-25 | 16-25 | 19-25 | 73–98 | Stats | ||
| Hiroshima | 2–3 | Prestige | 25-18 | 27-25 | 22-25 | 26-28 | 14-16 | 114–112 | Stats |
Hard to tell what's going on down here in the minors, but the surprising, and confounding, thing to me is that The GSS Sunbeams have beaten the top two teams from last year (excluding Himeji) both in 5 set matches. The Sunbeams did pick up a transfer player from Hiroshima, Haruka Yoshizato, who's doing well but they have a terrible terrible web site, and one of the biggest, clumsiest looking players I've ever seen on a volleyball court, so I don't want them to win anything.
JA Gifu lost 3 or 4 of their starters from last year so they're in rebuilding mode but they still have some good players --Kino Yoshii might be one of the best OHs in the league.
My team, New Kids on the Block Brilliant Aries, has at least taken a set from the two best teams from last year. Let's go Ami & Emi
| Home |
Away |
Set 1 |
Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Stats | Vid | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GSS Sunbeams | 3–0 | Hamamatsu | 25-14 | 25-19 | 25-18 | 75–51 | Stats | |||
| JA Gifu | 3–1 | Hiroshima | 25-21 | 18-25 | 25-22 | 25-19 | 93–87 | Stats | ||
| Prestige | 1–3 | Gunma Bank | 24-26 | 25-21 | 14-25 | 20-25 | 97–83 | Stats | ||
| Kashiwa | 2–3 | Brilliant Aries | 25-23 | 25-23 | 21-25 | 20-25 | 16-18 | 107–114 | Stats |
Brilliant Aries first professional V.League win 
Go Ami & Emi
| Home |
Away |
Set 1 |
Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Stats | Vid | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kashiwa | 3–1 | Hiroshima | 25-22 | 25-22 | 21-25 | 25-22 | 96–91 | Stats | ||
| Prestige | 3–1 | Hamamatsu | 24-26 | 25-18 | 25-21 | 25-21 | 99–86 | Stats |
HL |
|
| JA Gifu | 0–3 | Gunma Bank | 14-25 | 23-25 | 13-25 | 50–75 | Stats | |||
| GSS Sunbeams | 2–3 | Brilliant Aries | 25-27 | 25-20 | 20-25 | 25-23 | 7-15 | 102–110 | Stats |
Look at that. Ami & Emi took it to the Sunbeams in 5 sets.
| Home |
Away |
Set 1 |
Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Total | Stats | Vid | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kashiwa | 0–3 | JA Gifu | 29-31 | 20-25 | 20-25 | 69–81 | Stats | |||
| Hamamatsu | 0–3 | Brilliant Aries | 18-25 | 16-25 | 20-25 | 54–75 | Stats | HL | ||
| Gunma Bank | 1–3 | Hiroshima | 25-16 | 19-25 | 21-25 | 19-25 | 84–91 | Stats | ||
| GSS Sunbeams | 3–1 | Prestige | 25-21 | 13-25 | 25-21 | 25-23 | 90–88 | Stats |
Ami & Emi in three straight
Ami & Emi and their Brilliant Allies comrades just landed the MVP of the Collegiate Championship, Tsukuba setter Miho Yokota. She wore #1 for her team which means a lot on College teams. She's still technically in school, I assume, so I don't know if she will play at all this season. It's my understanding that V.League teams sweep up a lot of soon-to-be H.S. and College graduates about this time of year--basically when their school volleyball season is over.
I won't be linking to volleybox.net any more for pictures and stats because they "upgraded" the site and fucked up all the wallpaper images.
Ami & Emi move in to 3rd place with two wins this weekend. 6–3/15 over GSS Sunbeams 5–4/16. Go Ami & Emi
GSS Sunbeams MB 張心穆意 is 202cm. Their uniform design has the look of built-in pit sweat
Kashiwa surprises JA Gifu, takes the overtime Tie Break. That means Ami & Emi can move into 2nd place with a probable win against Hiroshima 
which is supposed to be broadcast on VTV but, unsurprisingly, is not. I should have saved that hit of acid for something more certain
Ami & Emi take set 1.
2nd place is two sets away
Wish I could see it
One set away
Well, Phew! They let it go 5 sets but Ami & Emi are now in 2nd place
Ami & Emi could cement their position with a win against JA Gifu tonight. And like last night it's scheduled to be broadcast on VTV but probably won't be. Thanks Japan 
Maybe I'm reading this wrong. I can't read Japanese, but numbers are numbers, a V is a V and a T is a T: