Japan - V.League V1 (Division 1, Women) 2022-2023

I believe this is where we stand with what we know:

Hisamitsu

A Registration

C Registration

JT

A Registration -- Karsta Lowe 194cm Opposite, former U.S. national team

C Registration -- Thatdao 185cm middle blocker, Thailand national team

Toray

A Registration -- Jana Kulan , 198cm outside hitter

Registered C

NEC

A Registration -- Sarah Wilhite, 185cm, outside hitter, U.S. national team

Registered C

Saitama

A Registration -- Sarah Lozo? ・・・・ Confused by double contract issue

C Registration -- Santiago Jaja, 195cm, middle blocker

Denso A.

A Registration -- Neriman Ozsoy, 188cm, outside hitter.

Registered C

Hitachi

A Registration -- Hanna Tapp, 191cm, middle blocker, U.S. national team

Registered C

PFU

A Registration -- Acosta Roslandi, 190cm, outside hitter

B Registration -- Valdez Melisa, 185cm outside hitter

C Registration -- 4T 193cm, middle blocker, Vietnam national team

Okayama

A Registration -- Angry Fu, 187cm, middle blocker.

C Registration -- Thanacha Sooksod, 180cm, Opposite, representing Thailand

Toyota

A Registration -- Daniel Cuttino?　194cm Opposite ・・・・ Rumor.

C Registration -- Bamrungsuk Hattaya, 180cm, middle blocker, Thailand national team

Himeji

A Registration -- Celeste Plak ?　　　　　　　　　　　Under negotiation

Register C

Kurobe

A Registration -- Tugba Ivegin 185cm Outside hitter Turkey national team

C Registration -- Pimpichaya Kokram, 176cm, outside hitter, representing Thailand

PFU Coach is moving from creepy to campy for me. This is an improvement

PFU is posting these 15 minute interviews between him and each of the new players on their youtube (Hayashi, Shimahara, and Taniuchi so far)

The Coach plays with his little twirly toys and is so inscrutable (I have no clue what he is saying tho) it seems like he is trying to make the girls uncomfortable ... or that they are both tightly bonded on some inside joke. Hard to tell which

Then they do (it seems) some kind of ritual sponsor drink. He makes a big deal out of opening the bottle and then drinks an outsized amount of it. Truly odd stuff

Quote from Phoenix

Maybe Van Hecke to Saga

oh yeah, she was the one mentioned might be headed to Himeji ... I think SAGA is more likely. I'd rather Van Hecke go to Toyota tho, way over Cuttino, if Van Hecke is indeed coming to Japan

Need to get the social media sniffers out there to see who is liking and following whom

Quote from sean1

I was wondering after Valdes, who has the 2nd and 3rd highest spike height? local players only

Valdes' SH is 325cm

Active V1 (there are a couple V2 players higher):

Hiroyo Yamanaka 314

Fuyumi Hawi Okumu Oba 310

(Ameze Miyabe 309)

Quote from sean1

Which V2 players?

Xinmuyi Zhang 315 (GSS Sunbeams)

Mesomachi Ugochinyere Okekearu 310 (Prestige)

I'm getting this info from what's input at volleybox. Haven't cross-referenced it to anything, but since I've input most of what's there for current players I'm inclined to mostly trust it

Quote from skorost

sitenoise remember that Hitachi ball challenge you posted way back when you were trying to show something Uesaka did. PFU has super short version. Only Takaso was successful

I got a kick out of those things. Several teams did it. I remember Hisae Watanabewon it and hit all of them in less than 15 seconds , IIRC , and she wasted at least 5 of them tossing the ball up to herself and then passing it to the setter

Imamura did pretty well too, I think

Quote from skorost

I'm trying to find the one from NEC where they hit the ball from above the 2nd floor I think?? instead of the other side of the net. Koga did it successfully.

I remember that. Post it if you find it

Quote from Phoenix

Momoko Ishibashi suffered an ACL tear. She had undergone surgery and is recovering.

Poor girl. Since joining Denso in 2017 as libero she has received a grand total of 10 balls