Japan - V.League V1 (Division 1, Women) 2021-2022

Quote from Let's go orange

Dutch interview with Plak about her first experience in Japan. Her first impression of playing in Japan is very positive! She thinks she chosen the right club with Himeji. Everyone from the club is very nice and interested in her. Very different from her experience in Europe. Club owners and trainers can be very hard on players there. That was one of the biggest reasons to take a sabbatical. Work-to-rest ratio is also different from Europe. Now she has to train and play a lot in a short amount of time. That's pretty tough on her. She wants to learn some more Japanese, so she can communicate better with her teammates on and off the court

https://www.ad.nl/andere-sport…aduw-tolk-eriko~af4db374/

I thought Plak tried to stay away from the floor. She's been diving all over the place. Not always the most graceful but I like the commitment. Can't decide if it's something to be happy or worried about

Quote from Let's go orange

Unfortunately not It's difficult to watch the matches live for me looking at the time 😅 Also there don't seem to be any replays...

Coach Dude to the rescue. They're end of court stationary Cam but full matches, decent quality

Quote from sean1

There's this Filipino OH that's so pretty. I've been trying to remember her name, really pale and wears a ponytail. She's not very good in the videos I saw but not bad either.

You don't mean Majoy Baron, the runway model, do you? She's MB, tho.

I remember during SEA Games there was an OH who seemed to have a little idol buzz . Alyssa Valdez? Maybe her buzz was just that she could score a lot. She's pretty, but no 'so pretty', I think

Quote from voly

sitenoise Majoy is pretty but not pale. I would like to see her play in Japan too.

There aren't a lot of pale Filipino vb players. Only Den Den Lazaro, Maddie Madayag and Mika Reyes comes to mind. You can search for them on IG

maybe sean1 is thinking of that Azerbaijani girl who frankensteined herself?

Quote from sean1

sitenoise  voly

It's this girl. Come to think of it I came across her cos she was teammates with that Canadian girl from Saitama last season. What do you guys think? Is she good?

I don't really know her. The 2019 SEA Games and Grand Prix was when I tried to ramp up on PHI and I haven't seen a lot more than that

I didn't notice because I was wearing Watabiki colored glasses but Hattaya went 12/15 last night

Good thing NEC's liberos are stepping up for reception because the pass hitters aren't pulling their weight

Hinano Michishita, introduced a few pages back, debuts at #2 in kill % @53.1

Plak got the post game interview last night, and at one point she stepped aside from the advert board to wave at, and thank, the people behind it. When the translator was translating her bit into Japanese, Plak (who's twice her size) sort of nudges/instructs her over to do the same thing on her side. You had to be there, but it was typical Plak: goofy and adorable jolly green giant kind of thing

Quote from Let's go orange

She is such a sweatheart

That's the first time I've heard her speak, I think. At least in a relaxed moment. She's, uhm, more soft spoken and gentle than I expected

Uni-ball update:

The Kanto University Autumn Championship goes to Tsukuba because Juntendo lost their match last night

Tsukuba is undefeated and Juntendo (and Tokai) are 8–2, with one match to go, so the Tsukuba v Juntendo match tonight can't change anything.

This is a Tier 2 Regional Tournament but hopefully a sign of what the All Japan Championship in December will bring because most of the teams from this region are the best. NIFS, last year's All Japan Champs from Kansai, will be the most difficult team to beat. They are still pretty much intact from last year

For reference, this was Tsukuba's starting lineup last December:

Manami Mandai (S) -- SAGA

Ami Yamashiro (OP) -- Kurobe

Hina Kawakami (OH) -- NEC

Kurumi Takama* (OH) -- 3rd year

Marina Takahashi (MB -- JT Marvelous

Haruka Oyama (MB) -- Freshman

Kanoha Kagamihara (L) -- PFU

They are where a lot of the goods come from

*Kurumi Takama is the captain this year and will most certainly enter V.League this winter. She's the only senior in the starting lineup. They are fielding a much younger team, with The Real Yoshino Sato (2nd year OH) and Koto Monta (freshman OP) leading the way. Look for them in the future

I can't name this face. Chizuru Koto? She was the female commentator for PFU/Toyota last night:

It's striking to me that the alb.vleague.tv domain is posted all over the internets now. And I mean like on NEC's and Saitama's web sites, on some of these commentators' tweetboxes I'm investigating, so ... like, officially. I wonder if vLeague just created that sub-domain and made it non-geoblocked because of the utter embarrassment caused them by the boy players in Europe tweetboxing they couldn't watch the v.league matches