Japan - V.League V2 (Division 2, Women) 2020–2021

Very curious about a couple of the best players in V2 who have been transfer hoping since early summer. What happens to them if no one bites?

Yuki Egawa is a southpaw beast with a good serve. She'd been with Prestige since 2016. She had some downtime last season that prevented Prestige from likely finishing in 2nd place. Best Scorer 2018-19

Haruka Yoshizato has 'tude to spare. A few years with Hiroshima and one with GSS Sunbeams. Best Scorer 2019-20

All of the V2 matches will be broadcast on VTV

The GSS Tokyo Sunbeams are going all Okayama. They've signed 11 new players for the season for a total of 26. This is a team that can't get an S1 license. They had a chance to compete in the Challenge match last season against PFU for a shot at V1 but without an S1 license, they didn't play the match.

They lost one of their best players over the summer, Haruka Yoshizato, who is inexplicably still looking for a team. They also sacked their Coach, who was probably just an HR dude in charge of electric razors at the parent company, and promoted Tomomi Shikama to player coach. She's a long time vet who's gained a lot of weight in recent years.

What caught my eye was today's signing of MB Rika Sakagaito. I happened to see one of her Uni matches (JF Oberlin) and thought she looked great. MB is a tough spot to crack on GSS due to their 202cm Chinese/Japanese player who's got a lock on one spot.

Good luck, Rika

My beautiful friends the Brilliant Aries, with Ami & Emi, win their Home opener 3–1. Payback on Prestige.

2020.10.31 Week 1 Day 1

2020.11.01 Week 1 Day 2

The Aries weren't as Brilliant as Day 1, and Forest Leaves appear to be not as Legendary as they once were

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Forest Leaves Kumamoto is a shadow of its former self. Two blowouts, one by last year's last place team, Hamamatsu, and one by a good team, JA Gifu. At least their new setter does the double clutch 9-ball jump set to hilarious effect. Poster girl Ranna Shiraiwa is not playing well, hitting 13/66/8 errors, and her reception is no better. She's supposed to bring V1 experience to the team. Forest Leaves also has ex-NoSmiler, Rina Horinouchi.

JA Gifu looks good. They moved last year's setter, Makiko Honma, to MB and she's killing it: 26/50 in two matches. She looks better as a middle blocker at 178cm. Gifu's new setter, Airi Karakawa, who started the takeover last year, is creative, deceptive, and money with her sets. Her reverse sets to lefty OP, Yuka Yamamoto, look delicious.

Ami & Emi and their Brilliant Allies looked good in their win over Prestige and bad in their loss to Gunma Bank. I'm disappointed they are going with College Champ MVP setter, Miho Yokota, over Rina Sasaki. Miho doesn't bring the vibes Rina does. Miho is attack happy and I usually like that but it looks self-serving when Miho does it. Nana Hirano OH rounds out the core four. Still working on the rest.

Reigning Champs Gunma Bank have played only the one match against Aim & Emi. It's a fun match with commentary by two girls who sound like they are friends of Ami & Emi. They ooh and ahh and groan and giggle like they're sitting on a couch. I wasn't paying much attention to Gunma except for kingpin MB Hibiki Suzuki. 14/23. She's a good player, quick and tall. Gunma was one of the few V2 teams with a real volleyball coach. He left over the summer, and they lost a few mildly key players who transfer hoped over to GSS Sunbeams.

2020.11.07 Week 2 Day 3

I would have been okay with Ami & Emi giving Forest Leaves a set.

2020.11.08 Week 2 Day 4

Some possibly worrisome news on the Brilliant Aries front. OH Ami Takahashi (C), of Ami & Emi fame, went down near the end of the 4th set against Hiroshima. Looks like she slipped on a wet spot and collapsed. She laid there for a minute and then they brought out a wheelchair. The camera panned away so I don't know what happened after that. She did not return for the 5th set.

She's a player: 5th in attack @44.1%; 5th in reception %68.8%; 10th in overall scoring and attacks/set. Seems like a great Captain as well. Strikes me as an intelligent gym rat. She's not the best dancer, though

#goodvibes4ami

[Edit] Ami was just registered as "player-coach" today

Added to my favorites list at volleybox:

Yuka Tomizawa OH. She played one set earlier in the season but the match against Hiroshima was her debut. Four sets 15/39-1 @38.5%. She's short with jump and punch, lots of energy, but what caught my eye is her passing. She has that Akari Oumi scoop technique. Very confident and precise. 70.6% in reception on 34 touches.

2020.11.14 Week 3 Day 5

2020.11.15 Results

Ranking as 2020.11.15

2020.11.21 Results

2020.11.22 Results

Last week Brilliant Aries Captain and leading in everything, Ami Takahashi, slipped and went down:

she's on crutches now

This week their 2nd OH, Nana Hirano, went down in a spinning I-don't-know-what-happened move:

and was taken off in a wheelchair

But my new hero, Yuka Tomizawa, has stepped up:

and Brilliant Aries are still winning

One of these girls is the setter for Breath Hamamatsu:

Quote from Phoenix

My favorite from V2 is still Aranmare but I don't know what happened to Asakawa. I haven't seen her in their lineup

Asakawa retired at the end of last season I like Aranmare as well. They lost three good players over the summer, so we'll see what happens. They could have made it to Challenge V1 if Yuki Egawa hadn't been injured for half the season. I just discovered she signed with Arisa Sato's team Ligare Sendai, and they will play in V2 next season.

Quote from Phoenix

no idea who their setter is but BH's #1 and #25 are cuties

#1 Hina Kumamoto is fabulous

I think actually the setter is on the far left, a little hefty, but look at the girl's back on the far right. She's an athlete of some kind. She can even make the properly. Probably does yoga.

BH used to be the goofy (last place) team, but they are playing well this year thanks to new recruit Yuki Nakano. She's like Neriman with the back court attacks. Super athlete.

Check out Brilliant Aries some time. I them to the fullest. Nice match between them and BH last weekend. BH didn't play their best, but now that Aries have lost a couple hitters to injury, this new girl (scroll up a couple posts) Yuka Tomizawa is playing and I'm transfixed. She's a beautiful little punk.

2020.11.28 Results