Japan - V.League V1 (Division 1, Women) 2020-2021

Quote from werka

Joseph is with Saitama. Tapp just finished her quarantine today. There's no way she ends up anywhere other than Hitachi.

Thanks for correcting my post. The "PFU" link actually goes to her Saitama page, I just wrote PFU for some late night sleepy reason.

I'm wondering if Japan is following some protocol of not announcing imports until after they finish quarantine. The Simone Lee link goes to her instagram, seemingly from O'Hare airport three days ago on her way to Japan. So she may barely finish quarantine by opening day.

I guess Shainah Joseph has been in Japan for a couple weeks? Anybody know where Foluke is?

Quote from werka

Foluke is nowhere

Foluke is official

SAGA #16

Quote from Phoenix

sitenoise did you watch the rest of the springs vs ageo sets? what happened to nagaoka, was she benched?

Where do you watch the other sets? There was only Set 1 on their Youtube and I see there that Set 4 is premiering tomorrow

Quote from Phoenix

On Volleyball Monthly's yt

2nd set

3rd set

Nagaoka isn't in any of those thumbnails so I'm assuming she didn't participate which is weird since she participated in Toray and PFU's practice matches.

Cool. Thanks. I didn't know SAGA played PFU. (or did I? ) I heard about the Toray but didn't see anything about streams.

Quote from Phoenix

Also what happened to Nomoto? I forgot about her and so did Nakada it seems. You'd think she'd be right up there with Yuki in the rankings but Hisamitsu puts her on the back burner.

Nomoto missed half the season last year for some reason. Rostered but didn't play. She's a good offensive player but SAGA is stacked with swingers, and she doesn't seem to have NT charisma. It is weird.

SAGA v Saitama was a lot of fun.

No sign of Nagaoka through three sets. But the mini-Nagaoka they got is an exciting player. Akari Shirasawa. Too bad this is probably all we'll see of her this year. Not happy with Inoue's setting . Ayaka Araki is a big girl. Quick and agile. But she can't jump or something. Not sure why she doesn't seem very good to me. Asuka Hamamatsu, 21 y/old, looks promising, though.

I'll eat some crow and say Nakada was right in grooming Yamagishi for the NT. She looks like a little laser beam out there. Delicious passing. Mako Shiina got yanked 5 points into Set2 after "killing a couple pigeons"

That won't be the Saitama we see when the season starts. Mako Shiina probably won't see much time. I just call her out because she won the Teen Idol Award last year. She comes from Shimokitazawa (Kurogo. Ishikawa, and Yamaguchi and Horie and Yamazaki, the setter, for that matter) and won Best Scorer --as a MB. Yamaguchi won't play MB (or shouldn't anyway).

Setter: Tominaga

Libero: Yamagishi

Middle Blockers: Jaja and Kyōko Aoyagi (lacking a tested 3rd mb)

Wings: Uchiseto, Yoshino, Joseph (Yamaguschi, Horie, Shiina, Yuka Sato as subs)

I don't know Joseph, but that's a solid lineup otherwise. I don't think Yoshino is improving but we'll see. Reception will be fine with Uchieto and Yamagishi. Yuka Sato is a good all around player as well.

Of course I'm just assuming Tominaga will be the setter. Yamazaki may grow into the role. The 9-baller they have on loan set the 3rd set. Verdict is still out. She plays back row in 9-ball so her defense is good. She knows the game but she's short.

Quote from Hassan Kadem

Is Araki anything like NEC's Yamada?

That southpaw sounds interesting. Isn't Mayu's bestfriend also with Hisamitsu? The one who likes to cosplay. I forgot her name. She must be feeling a little bit left out.

Araki is a little bigger than Yamada in every way but I don't see the oomph. I could tell Yamada had potential 5 minutes into seeing her play (Asian Club Champs a few years ago, I believe). I've been watching Araki for a few years because she played for my favorite HS Team (Higashi) and I still don't see it. But she's big and solid and very agile for her size. I believe she played in Italy during middle school. She won the HS Championship as captain last year.

Maybe Nagaoka will play only half time in rehab mode and Akari Shirasawa, the spunky southpaw, will get some playing time. She's only 166cm but it sure looked like she was gunning for a spot. It's crazy how many good swingers SAGA has. I don't know why Shirasawa signed with them. Time will tell. SAGA is a place where good players go to rot as far as I'm concerned.

I think this will be the year Arisa Inoue makes it or breaks it. I think she will be featured. She hits well but is a net negative because her defense is terrible (reception, okay at best).

I don't know who will be SAGA setter. I'm very high on Misaki Inoue and can't be objective. I like Ayano Kojima as well. Sakae doesn't do it for me.

So if it's Nagaoka (Shirasawa), Yuki, and Inoue, that leaves Imamura, Nomoto, Kato, and Nakagawa twiddling their thumbs. Criminal.

Quote from Hassan Kadem

Isn't Mayu's bestfriend also with Hisamitsu? The one who likes to cosplay. I forgot her name. She must be feeling a little bit left out.

who is that? cosplay seems a little racy for a japanese volleyball player i wanna know!

[Edit] and just for clarification, Mayu Who? There's too many Mayus and Miyus running around

SAGA [ 25–21 , 25–22 , 21–25 ] Saitama

Saitama could still win the match unless it's already over and you naysayers know the score

Hiromi Tagawa, who I automatically like because she is a Bluebell, maybe did a little better than Yamazaki in the third set setting to Jaja. She came in around the first TTO and went 5/8 setting to Jaja. The 3 fails were big timing set fails. That's the Bluebell way. But 5 nice kills.

Sakae set for SAGA in Set3 instead of Inoue, so there's that, too.

Saitama threw the kitchen sink at 'em. Of note, in Saitama's search for a 3rd MB (Yamaguchi ain't it), is #18 Hirona Gonda (2001.01.11). She's 186cm and seems strong enough, grading on a curve for Japanese, but she's bottom heavy. Which means she can't jump. No use being 186cm if you spike at 285cm. I guess it's useful for blocking, but Nao Horigome can spike at 285.