Japan Women's NT 2021

    2021 Japan Women's National Team

    Hinotori Nippon




    Head Coach: Kumi Nakada • Director: Keita Watanabe • Coach: Noboru Aihara


    SettersLiberosMiddle Blockers
    		Wings
    Haruka Miyashita • Okayama 177cm
    Kanami Tashiro • Denso 173cm
    Miya Sato • Hitachi 175cm
    Nanami Seki • Toray 170cm
    Aki Momii • JT 176cm





    		Mako Kobata • JT 164cm
    Kotoe Inoue • Denso 163cm
    Rena Mizusugi • Toray 165cm







    		Haruyo Shimamura • NEC 182cm
    Erika Araki (C) • Toyota 186cm
    Aika Akutagawa • JT 180cm
    Mai Okumura • Denso 177cm
    Aya Watanabe • Toyota 176cm
    Nichika Yamada • NEC 184cm




    		Ai Kurogo • Toray 180cm
    Sarina Koga • NEC 180cm
    Miyu Nagaoka (OP) • Hisamitsu 179cm
    Yuki Ishii • Hisamitsu 180cm
    Mayu Ishikawa • Toray 173cm
    Yurie Nabeya • Denso 176cm
    Arisa Inoue • Hisamitsu 178cm
    Reina Tokoku • Denso 177cm
    Kotona Hayashi • JT 173cm
    Yuri Yoshino • Saitama 173cm


    2021 Women's Japan National Team Schedule

    Updated: February 22, 2021

    Training camp / tournament namePlacePeriod
    1st domestic training campAjinomoto Training Center1
    		3/1 ～ 4/28
    Friendly Match-Tokyo Challenge 2021Ariake Arena5/1 (Sat)
    2nd domestic training campAjinomoto Training CenterUndecided
    FIVB VNL Qualifying RoundUndecidedUndecided
    FIVB VNL Final Round2
    		UndecidedUndecided
    Last minute training campUndecidedUndecided
    32nd Olympic GamesAriake Arena7/25 (Sun) – 8/8 (Sun)
    Last minute training campUndecidedUndecided
    21st Asian Women's ChampionshipGuangdong Province, China8/29 (Sun) – 9/5 (Sun)

    * 1 Ajinomoto National Training Center (Practice is not open to the public)

    * 2 Participation only if you get the right to participate


    JVA Source

    VBM

    getsu

    This was last year's roster that time forgot for reference:


    Setter:

    Haruka Miyashita, Kanami Tashiro, Miya Sato, Nanami Seki, Tamaki Matsui


    Libero:

    Mako Kobata, Kotoe Inoue, Akane Yamagishi, Rena Mizusugi


    Middle Blockers:

    Eika Araki, Aika Akutagawa, Mai Okumura, Nana Iwasaka, Aya Watanabe, Mai Irisawa, Mayu Oikawa, Nichika Yamada


    Swingers:

    Sarina Koga, Riss Shinnabe, Yuki Ishii, Yurie Nabeya, Ai Kurogo, Mayu Ishikawa, Miwako Osanai, Yuri Yoshino, Arisa Inoue, Rei Kudo, Kotona Hayashi, Haruna Soga, Miyu Nagaoka



    I don't think it will change much but:


    Setter:

    Miya Sato is on the injured list at this time.


    Libero:

    No Change


    Middle Blocker:

    Aya Watanabe and Mai Irisawa won't make the cut. Denso's Mami Yokota replaces one of them. And WTF Shimamura! you beast!


    Swingers:

    Will she or won't she?


    That's for the wide roster, Cutting it to 12 will be painful and fun

    Quote from serdar

    Erika Aralık will be 37 during OG. Do you think she still has it?🤔

    Compared to other Japan MBs absolutely. She looks great to me, not slowing down at all. She leads the league in blocks/set

    Quote from werka

    i wonder why Nakada shows no love to Momii? A lefty setter who can kill the ball on 2 is a prizes possession.

    We don't know yet for sure. I would certainly call her. In addition to what you mention, Momii is confident and un-rattle-able. I just read her interview at the JT web site and she confirms this :thumbup:


    That's my only worry with Seki. She seems rattle-able.

    Quote from sitenoise

    We don't know yet for sure. I would certainly call her. In addition to what you mention, Momii is confident and un-rattle-able. I just read her interview at the JT web site and she confirms this :thumbup:


    That's my only worry with Seki. She seems rattle-able.

    i’d call her too. She may seem a bit inconsistent now but proper coaching will be able to hone her talent which I believe is the best rn in the Vleague.

    I was going to say that if JT wins another championship Momii would be hard to deny, but I'm sure the decisions have already been made. I read about the teams of psycho-social analysts that gang up on these girls for qualification. I'm sure that's done.


    • Miyashita will be a dangling :?: again
    • Sato is a :?: on the injury front. She's the one who's shown improvement the past few years, and after Nakada figured out some timing issues the team improved. Sad she's in street clothes these days
    • Tashiro is a fine professional setter but uninspiring and not very good at defense. I think Nakada feels safe with her
    • Seki is a lock and I think she deserves it. Nakada likes her and QPL says she's money
    • Matsui is an unknown unless you watch college ball or all the U-squad tournaments she's been on the podium for. She has super uplifting energy, too
    • Momii is young, gifted, smart, un-rattle-able, tall-ish, lefty, and a great defensive player. No excuse for not taking her to wide roster
    • Inoue seemed like she was moving closer to NT by transferring to SAGA but hasn't provided results there. I'd take her over Tashiro though

    BTW - For those who don't surf the League thread and might be interested, Koyomi Tominaga is pregnant. So she's out of the setter equation.

    Quote from Shinya

    And The New Japan National Team Uniform and New Shoe Collection from Mizuno for 2021 is READY!!!

    Yuki front and center =O That's Nakada's team right there. Yuki is going to play 2nd MB this year :rolll:


    To be clear, I like Yuki, I love Yuki, but there seems to be some backlash on her recently .

    Liberos


    Nothing new here. Will be Kobata, Inoue, Yamagishi, and ... probably Mizusugi.


    I don't think Yamagishi is up to Kobata/Inoue but she has become very good over the past couple years. Kobata is the best receiver, Inoue the best defender, Yamagishi might be the best passer in transition play, and she's become very quick and intuitive on defense. New nickname for her is The Blue Hornet.


    Mizusugi is fine but I don't think I've ever dropped a "WoW! on her. NoSmiler Yoshie Narasaki delivers WoWs every time she plays.


    When it comes to OG , Kobata goes for sure.

    The most significant thing to happen or not happen for the NT this year will be or not be Nagaoka.


    The most exciting thing is whether or not Sarina Koga fully blooms. It's remarkable, and unmistakable, the change in her face, her body, her jump, and her swing. Only reservation at this point is her reception. She's good but needs to be better than good.


    Excited for Mayu Ishikawa. In my short tenure watching Japanese volleyball I haven't seen a player work so hard to improve her game. She knows she needed to improve her reception and she has. She's got better numbers than Kurogo with Toray. And she knows how important a good serve is these days. It's still a work in progress, with too many errors, but when it's on it's on. I didn't know until watching those "analyst view" matches how much curve and sink it has.


    Two noobs who will show their stuff at VNL are Kotona Hayashi and Rei Kudou.


    Hayashi is like a bird the way she flies around court, has to be careful not to touch the net when she attacks from back court. Her reception looks confident and she's weirdly pretty good at blocking. She's also smart at what to do when a play is broken. Give Brankica Mihajlović all credit for teaching her that.


    Kudou doesn't really stand out at any particular skill but has a toughness that's uncommon in Japan. Denso's tragic demise last year helped her grow. She's the only swinger besides YOLO who lives for the right side of the court, which should give her a lift.


    YOLO is still nursing an injury and has been sporadic at best with the big club pants on. I was delighted she got the starting call for NEC in their first two games (JT & NoSmilers) which they won, but errors (and injury?) have sidelined her since then.


    Coach Nakada has called out Yuri Yoshino as one of her "Power players". Oh no.


    Yuki Ishii and Ai Kurogo are preexisting conditions.


    Yurie Nabeya, Miwako Osanai, and Arisa Inoue round out the leftovers. Osanai is going to be part of the next cycle for sure, so she goes to VNL if it happens.


    The only new names I can muster are Syuka Kaneda and ... hold your breath ... Cute Rookie Alert Girl Rui Nonaka.


    I was going to write that if Okayama repeated their performance from last year it would raise Kaneda's capital but I forgot the roster has already been chosen. I think Kaneda doesn't pass the psycho-social tests or something. She's one of the top OHs in V.League, clearly the best defensive player.


    Nonaka's got game. Sorry, but it's true. She is ohh so young, though. I think Nakada and Coach Lovebunny will pick a couple surprises to begin training. Not that they are going to the Olympics or getting more than a serve sub at VNL, but just to get the ball rolling.

    Where the hell is Phoenix clearly he slept on this article


    Nagaoka has a new interview (published 12/23) for Real Sports which is part of Nikkan Sports and boy is it gloomier than ever. I was pretty gutted to read this. It doesn't sound like she's motivated or possibly just ...fearful.


    What I google translated is that she's not sure she'll reach a certain point where she can be great again. Her movements are very limited and she always fears that the ball could hit her left knee.


    During the Hinotori remote match she was at 50% then during V.League 1st Leg she was at 70% (except she wavers on this). There's also a part about how expectations have become unbearable for her. The whole Olympics thing is still up in the air and she diverts to a topic about being satisfied just playing VB in front of her family again especially her older sister who was the reason she started playing VB.


    Let's not forget how Ebata said that people kept telling her to just go with the flow and enjoy volleyball but Ebata says once you're at a certain caliber, you can't just have "fun" because people will always have their expectations and reputation is everything. It's similar to what Nagaoka says in this interview.


    sidenote: I couldn't access this on my pc, it took forever to load so I suggest viewing it on your phone

    https://real-sports.jp/page/articles/471510286004651049


    It could be her way of telling everyone not to pressure her too much but I find it very hard to believe that Nagaoka isn't aiming for the Olympics. The sole purpose of her revival is for the Olympics. She said it herself, she had to undergo another surgery last year to correct her knees and that was already part of her preparation.


    I really don't see Nakada appointing either Kurogo or Ishikawa as the main ace as they still have miles to go, but as key players like Nishida.


    So far the only ones with extensive interviews and features relating to the Olympics are Araki obviously as captain and Nagaoka. The focus is on them.


    During the 2018 World Cup it was Nagaoka, Koga, Kurogo as the main 3. It's likely to be a repeat

    Yeah that's probably it.


    I'm more gutted by the fact that she might not get more action due to so many physical restrictions. Fear can warp the mind, once it sets in, it's hard to go further which I feel is what Miyu is feeling. She barely played on the start of the 2nd leg. She basically goes in, scores for the team, get that sweet 49-50% attack rate and that's it. Is that the kind of satisfaction she wants because I mean....

    Is no one else excited for Kotona Hayashi? she doesn't have that much of a presence now but I think there's a good chance for her to outshine Mayu. I see improvements in every game (the ones I've watched lol) especially in her defense.

    is sato's injury major? if they add seki and sato won't be able to play that's gonna be weird af


    iwasaka isn't at a good enough spot where she can be reserved for the nt. and if she gets in, okayama fans are gonna be mad as hell again.


    nagaoka is gonna make the NT no matter what percent she's at even at 0% she already made nakada's list. nakada would rather sacrifice ishii I can bet my whole existence on it. not that it would happen but it should