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

    Quote from sean1

    Can't wait to see the Fukuzawa twins in action they're coming

    You should try to check them out next week in the HS Championships. They are reigning Champions and most of the meat to the team. So you get to see them really play

    Question will be who will join Hisamitsu? Springs need young blood for the rest of the decade.


    Right now JT could kind of not choose for a year or two and still be fine. Toray are kind of in the same boat.


    NEC need MB to replace Shimamura. I like Shimamura, but she is getting injured and less dependable because of it. Still one of the better MB in Japan right now. Of course MB in Japan is not a specialty.


    Victorina will probably be aggressive and looking to move up the standings.


    Okayama did their penny pinching already.


    Hitachi need help at MB if Tapp leaves.


    Saitama is probably too veteran focused and needs more youth.


    Toyota needs to be hyper aggressive right now as they are in deep need of help to stay in V1. Kelsey might be on a two year deal (cannot confirm), but team needs more from its domestic core. The level has dropped pretty fast in the last two years.


    PFU is kind of quirky, good veteran core with decent kids. Could use another good youngster to possibly push higher.


    Kurobe is probably picking up scraps at this point as they probably will not pay as much as others. Plus they are not in the most attractive location.

    It's too bad Hitachi and Himeji missed out on the first round here. The cream of the crop has already gone to SAGA JT and Denso. Surprise surprise. Gangsters


    There is one good Uni MB left, Hiroyo Yamanaka. And one OH with a big question mark Kurumi Takama


    SAGA claimed the most promising HS kid Megumi Fukazawa. It's hard to guess the other HS pins that might splash because there hasn't been any U-Squad action in a couple years, but that one Seitoku kid Yui Hamamura might help someone


    NEC is okay with MBs. Nojima kicked ass in Shimamura's absence


    Toyota grabbed the best Uni MB


    Poor Kurobe. Lutz was a mistake move. She's not going to help them win now and she's holding back the dev of others and the team. I think they are going down

    V.League should really let me decide who goes where each year 8o

    I have to go off on this new Denso player Miumi Yoshida :)


    She was a one man wrecking crew with her Uni Team, ie., the only really good player, so she knows how to ride pressure. Tezukayama wasn't a bad team at all but Miumi was the star. Her beautiful thing is: she played receiving OP with the Uni All Stars over the summer but played middle blocker with Tezukayama in the Empress Cup matches. I didn't see much else from her. They only played one match in the Uni Championships (she played OP). She's a lefty, so ... wait for it ... she does slides from 3 to 4** :dance6: ... which are weirder looking than a lefty doing a slide from 3 to 2 :rose:


    Denso could be my new Dream Team:


    Matsui / Yoshida

    Kudou / Hyodo

    Yokota Sisters (I hope they are sisters. No on else has mentioned it :/ )

    Satomi Fukudome (who's really upping her game lately


    Two Card with Yamaguchi and Nakamoto ... who will hit left and let Kudou hit right for a spell.

    Use the import when someone is having a bad day


    **maybe 2 to 3.5 is more accurate but it's still weird

    Here's the Uni Girls from the Summer Selection who are Seniors. The ones with √ are taken. Only 1 MB and 1.5 OH are left who might make V1. Three already went V2


    √ Saki Nakajima OH NIFS -> SAGA (not as good as Hikari Kato, so ...)

    √ Aika Hayashida MB Fukuoka-> Toyota

    √ Miumi Yoshida OP Tezukayama -> Denso

    √ Sayaka Yokota MB Tokai -> Denso

    √ Hitomi Shiode S NSSU -> JT Marvelous

    √ Mina Higashi S NIFS-> -> JT Marvelous

    √ Yuka Yamaguchi S Tokai -> Denso (wasn't in Summer Squad tho, because East (Kanto) has a bunch of good setters)


    Hiroyo Yamanaka MB Aoyama (she will be a catch, the remaining two are nothing special, probably V2)

    Miku Yachi MB Tsukuba

    Ayuku Fukuda MB Aichi Gakuin


    Kurumi Takama OH Tsukuba (tall enough with a fan base but big Q how the big pants would fit)

    Rino Furuichi OH Juntendo (short but good, might make V1)

    Nozomi Hattori OH Aichi Gakuin

    Kaho Wakaizumi OP Chukyo


    Kaede Miyake S Ashiya -> JA Gifu Rioreina

    Anna Hamasaki OH Shiseikan -> Forest Leaves Kumamoto

    Kaede Noge L Tenri -> JA Gifu Rioreina


    -----------------------------------------------------------------


    Here's the Uni girls who have been selected for the 2022 Universiade training camp (NSSU Coach is Head)


    Kurumi Takama University of Tsukuba 4th student 178 OH
    Saki Nakajima 4th grade student at NIFS 173 OH
    Haruko Sasaki 2nd year student at Tokai University 171 OH
    Ameze Miyabe 2nd year student at Tokai University 173 OH
    The Real Yoshino Sato, 2nd year student at University of Tsukuba 176 OH (watch her)
    Saki Ishikura 2nd year student at NSSU 174 OH
    Mine Hirose, 1st year student at NSSU 173 OH
    Sayoka Yokota, 4th year student at Tokai University 178 MB
    Hiroyo Yamanaka 4th year student at Aoyama Gakuin University 180 MB
    Aika Hayashida 4th year student at Fukuoka University 178 MB
    Aya Mano, 3rd year student at Tohoku Fukushi University 182 MB
    Ayaka Eto, 3rd year student at NSSU 180 MB
    Ryo Oyama, University of Tsukuba, second-year student 176 MB
    Yuka Iwashima 1st year student at TWCPE 176 MB
    Miumi Yoshida, 4th year student at Tezukayama University 176 OP
    Kisairo Omura, NSSU, third-year student 170 OP
    Suzuna Kawasaki 2nd year student at Kokushikan University 177 OP (watch her)
    Misuzu Takahashi 1st year student at Aoyama Gakuin University 172 OP
    Hitomi Shiode, 4th year student at Nippon Sport Science University 173 S
    Tsukasa Nakagawa 3rd year student at Tokai University 159 S
    Shuri Kurata, 3rd year student at University of Tsukuba 169 S
    Haruna Kawabata 3rd year student at Tokai University 162 L
    Ayaka Carpenter, 3rd year student at National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya 163 L
    Ruri Haruka, , Juntendo University, second-year student 159 L

    I just realized one of my favorites from the recent Uni Championships, Miyu Kawazoe, didn't make the Universiade training camp. How can that be? There must be some mistake. Fukuoka gets no love


    I'm depressed

    Amaze Miyabe about playing in Haruko (all in Japanese).


    Opening day is January 5th. The ending of the video, is kind of showing all of the people supporting the player, classmates, mom and dad, and a local citizen.


    Kind Affiliated team Distinguish Full name Registration valid date
    addition Toyota Body Queens player Nao Muranaga 2022-01-14


    Hey! Calling back in reinforcements


    It's for reals

    Quote from sitenoise

    Rino Furuichi OH Juntendo (short but good, might make V1)

    Welp ... -> Himeji :)

    Tsukuba's MB Miku Taniuchi has joined PFU. Probably pretty good for PFU. She's not a dominant MB but she's tall - 185cm. Will be good to have on hand in case 4T doesn't stick around. Personally, I hope 4T becomes just as much of a PFU fixture as Jaja is for Saitama. It's a good match and fills a needed puzzle piece


    For those keeping score at home here's the Uni Seniors from Summer Selection:

    V1

    √ Saki Nakajima OH NIFS -> SAGA (not as good as Hikari Kato, so ...)

    √ Aika Hayashida MB Fukuoka-> Toyota

    √ Miumi Yoshida OP Tezukayama -> Denso

    √ Sayaka Yokota MB Tokai -> Denso

    √ Hitomi Shiode S NSSU -> JT Marvelous

    √ Mina Higashi S NIFS-> -> JT Marvelous

    √ Yuka Yamaguchi S Tokai -> Denso (wasn't in Summer Squad tho, because East (Kanto) has a bunch of good setters)

    √ Miku Taniuchi MB Tsukuba -> PFU

    √ Rino Furuichi OH Juntendo -> Himeji


    V2

    √Kaede Miyake S Ashiya -> JA Gifu Rioreina

    √Anna Hamasaki OH Shiseikan -> Forest Leaves Kumamoto

    √Kaede Noge L Tenri -> JA Gifu Rioreina

    √Kaho Wakaizumi OP Chukyo -> Breath Hamamatsu



    Here's who's left:

    • Hiroyo Yamanaka MB Aoyama (She will be a catch) hopefully Hitachi or Himeji
    • Kurumi Takama OH Tsukuba (Surprising she hasn't been picked yet. She was Captain and would have been MVP if Tsukuba had won. She will get the biggest tweetbox response when she signs, FWIW to you tweetboxers)
    • Ayuku Fukuda MB Aichi Gakuin (probably V2)
    • Nozomi Hattori OH Aichi Gakuin (She's pretty good, but hopefully not Himeji, if you know what I mean)

    The JT/Hitachi match tonight is "on-site" sound, which I don't mind at all if it's mixed properly, which is rarely ever is, but it's these little things that V.League fucks up on. This is first match after a month. Would be nice to celebrate it a bit and pretend to be interested in promoting the sport they say highfalutin bullshit about wanting to be the biggest and best in the world


    I see they're sporting the baby poop floor

    I'm sick of this


    It's a pity this JT/Hitachi match isn't just best of 3 sets like the HS matches

    Everybody copying NEC and Himeji with the cheerleaders. JT's got a walking logo now too for their fake home game in Hiroshima


    Yes, I'm in a cranky mood

    Quote from staccato lightning

    manabe's about to recruit hs stars into the nt. didn't even bother with the collegiate and empress cup lol


    I'll bet he likes the Fukasawa Twins. They play "no mistakes" volleyball. Megumi is more the star with the MVPs and whatnot but Tsugumi might be a better all-arounder. She hits middle, right, back, and she's a pretty good floor defender