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

    "Japanese defense is really fast! Everything is fast"



    "I'm an attacker, so I don't like Japan's defense ..."

    :rolll:

    Both Hitachi and Himeji have done that thing of playing without a setter at the end of crunchy sets


    Shout out to Himeji's Kano Miyaji OH who's filled in for the injured Aratani at MB (Nagano and Yoshioka didn't even dress, don't know why). Super shout out to Kano for being part of the serve reception line as MB! Wild to see her receive serve and then run up to the net to middle block :cheesy:


    Most of the streams were pretty good this past weekend but I'm enjoying Coach Dude's as well. You can see things in a different light

    Officially stanning:



    Cherry Blossom Girl

    Sakura Kurosu

    January 2019: Hachiojijissen loses to Kinrankai 0–3 in the All Japan Championship Semifinal



    Left to Right: #3-Aki Momii (JT), #4-Suzuna Kawasaki (Kokushikan U), #9-Cherry Blossom Girl, Big Coach Head obscuring Captain #1-Hoshino Sumida (Aoyama Gakuin), #5-Aimi Okawa (Toyota), #2-Nana Sakakibara (JT)

    It's a real shame Sportsbull put the high school matches behind a paywall. If they hadn't I could link to the match mentioned above between Hachioji-jissen and Kinrankai. Great stuff. 2019 was such a great volleyball year. And that HS Championship kicked it off. The full set Final between Kinrankai and Higashi is one for the history books


    Way to grow the game Japan!

    Quote from haru_12

    some Plak's content :rolll:

    Someone posted that somewhere a while back. She's a genre unto herself

    If any of you with vtv subscriptions want to get a pretty good look at some of the Uni girls likely to swing into V.League in a couple months, the Summer League matches are available for viewing. For some reason they didn't/haven't put them in the archive, but you can access them from:

    https://alb.vleague.tv/summer/east

    https://alb.vleague.tv/summer/west


    You might even be able to sneak in there with a free subscription. They are a much better viewing experience than the UNIVAS stuff. You can actually see their faces! And they are the cream of the crop


    For the East, I'd recommend the match against Brilliant Aries, followed by NEC or Saitama

    For the West, the match against JA Gifu was my fave, followed by Denso or Toyota (although Cherry Blossom Girl doesn't play you can admire her work on the sidelines. She's #23)


    I'll re-post the list of players here:

    University Selection Rosters

    I would have killed to have seen a match between these two teams, which I'm sure would have gone to the East. The Eastern players are the ones who just competed in the Kanto University tournament at UNIVAS. They tilt younger than the West. It's only seniors who will come to V.League


    My pick for a player who might enter and have immediate impact, if she doesn't do something stupid like sign with SAGA, is #5 Hiroyo Yamanaka (Best Blocker Award at Kanto) on the East team. 180cm with a 311cm spike (which may or may not be true), and good vibes:



    #5 Hiroyo Yamanaka

    SAT 30 Oct 2021

    12:00 JT v Kurobe -- Maruzen Intec Arena Minatoku Ward Osaka -- Yuichi Saito w/ Ken Maeda

    13:00 Toyota v SAGA -- Wing Arena Kariya City Aichi -- Kenichi Oride w/ Takeshi Tsuji

    13:00 Hitachi v Denso -- CNA Arena Akita Akita City Akita -- Atsushi Kawai w/ Zetterland Yoko Karin

    13:00 Himeji v NEC -- Wink Gymnasium Himeji City Hyogo -- on-site sound

    14:00 PFU v Saitama -- Komatsu General Gymnasium Komatsu City Ishikawa -- on-site sound

    14:00 Okayama v Toray -- Zip Arena Kita Ward Okayama -- on-site sound


    SUN 31 Oct 2021

    12:00 JT v Kurobe -- Maruzen Intec Arena Minatoku Ward Osaka -- on-site sound

    12:00 Hitachi v Denso -- CNA Arena Akita Akita City Akita -- Yu Kato w/ Ken Maeda

    13:00 Toyota v SAGA -- Wing Arena Kariya City Aichi -- Kenichi Oride w/ Takeshi Tsuji

    13:00 Himeji v NEC -- Wink Gymnasium Himeji City Hyogo -- on-site sound

    13:00 Okayama v Toray -- Zip Arena Kita Ward Okayama -- Okayama Broadcast

    14:00 PFU v Saitama -- Komatsu General Gymnasium Komatsu City Ishikawa -- on-site sound

    I'm watching a little HS ball ... Valdes' old school Furukawa Gakuen with their jerkball coach. It's interesting that these throwaway first round high school matches look better than vtv streams, with more cameras and professional commentators.


    I wish I could watch Breath Hamamatsu v JA Gifu instead of , ya know :)

    Quote from avid

    also im throwing a fit if SWP doesnt play this weekend

    Who would you bench if/when she does play?

    Quote from avid

    i dont even know who is on her team. but i want to watch her play. so anyone. or everyone :lol:

    As far as I'm concerned she is trespassing on private property. Get offa my lawn :!:

    Just when I was going to post Kurobe's middle blockers are rolling all over JT, one of them hits a free ball into the net :white:

    Quote from avid

    I'm surprised they (JT) are playing on a wood floor... is that common?


    I like the aesthetics though

    Seems most of the V.League arenas have that horribly reflective wood floor thing going on