Japan - V.League V1 (Division 1, Women) 2023-2024

    Big night for Hiroshima :drink:

    Toyota is playing so scrappy. Mami is getting all the Yokota time


    Ameze is so good but she kinda doing her choke thing now


    Arisa Nagano :rose:

    Quote from Julian Chow

    Any links to live action ?

    It's a vtv thing. Chinese team is done. Maybe some replays on the QQ or bilibili? I don't know if anything made it out into the wild, tho

    Toyota :cup:

    Quote from Julian Chow

    BLIMEY :(

    I missed everything. Anyway I'm happy Toyota won something. Iirc they didn't win anything last two years ?

    They haven't won anything in a while, ever since Erika Araki retired I think

    Last match of the night is for 4th place Between Okayama and the Uni Girls


    Sora Nagase elongates her shorts

    Quote from volleyb

    Always! there's something with Ameze. But she really is so good!

    She may have just been tired. You can tell when she's off because she gives up on her serve. JT had just played Himeji a couple hours earlier whereas Toyota was sitting around waiting. JT played six matches, Toyota played four. I don't get how the tournament is structured

    Summer League West Final ResultsIndividual Awards
    1. Toyota
    2. JT
    3. Himeji
    4. Okayama
    5. University West
    6. Kanoa Fukuoka
    7. Hiroshima
    8. SAGA
    9. Denso
    10. Forest Leaves
    11. Kurashiki
    12. Veertien Mie

    Open Participation: Liaoning (China)

    		Best Player Award: Ayana Funane (Toyota)
    Fighting Spirit Award: Ameze Miyabe (JT)

    Fresh Star Award:
    V1: Haruka Oyama (JT)
    V2: Hinako Nagae (Forest Leaves)







    A lot of wonderful stories in this Summer League. The best, as always, is witnessing backwater teams where girls play volleyball as a hobby upset some of the wealthy donor class teams who rely on expensive imports to cement their bogus reputations. When those imports aren't around things aren't as rosy


    Except Toyota. Ayana Funane. WTF? Didn't see that coming. She was a surprise but Toyota stuck to team volleyball, and to be fair, they had the easiest schedule of the tournament. They rocked Kaji and Suda against the V2 teams and Kousa and Mami against V1. So happy Arisa Nagano has thrown off the Himeji shackles. She's back to her college level because she is no longer taped up, not just because she joined Toyota. Nabeya and Kasai didn't dress

    JT's young MBs acquitted themselves pretty well, especially Naruse. Ogawa took over for Sakakibara when push came to shove. Haruka Oyama started the tournament like a team captain (playing OP) but faded a bit as it lingered on. I love her to death but it's ambiguous what position she should play. I wish Mikoto Shima would have snatched some of her's or Nishikawa's minutes, or god forbid Ameze's when she was clearly losing steam


    The Body Twister should had gone to Himeji. They need a libero. Morita isn't horrible but they need better. I love Saki Tanaka, and she did well, but even I have to admit she's only Top Tier V2 really good. Pretty much the same for the rest of the squad that played here. They'll all be benched when the real thing starts, but it means they'll have a decent bench. Has Himeji joined the wealthy donor class?


    SAGA
    Denso. Yikes!

    The Chinese team got smacked with JT and SAGA to start the tournament. You could see they were out of sorts, used to playing Big Girl volleyball, I guess. Then Kanoa Fukuoka beat them. Once they landed the other V2 teams they did much better

    Kurashiki was disappointing but Kanoa, Hiroshima, and Forest Leaves all had small moments of greatness. Little shining stars in the ether. Kanoa has made a big bounce back, and Hiroshima taking down both Denso and SAGA in one night (both full (3)setters). There's your Cinderella story :flower:

    Quote from volleyb

    Reika Sato to Astemo Rivale Ibaraki

    I'm cool with that. I don't know if Thatdao is coming back and didn't realize Ibaraki was down to one MB without her. I'm sure they will import one. They have to


    Will be interesting if the one remaining, Ayaka Etoh, gets to show her stuff. She was great at NSSU, award winner. She and Himeji's Mao Ito were top o' the line a couple years ago. At blocking, too :)


    There are a few other middle blockers transfer hoping around I like, but this is a serious job

    One from Ligare Sendai, Akari Miyata, is very monster-y but only 173, so ....


    Calling Kyoko :call:

    Okawa's haircut. What is that exactly

    Did someone post already about the JT coaching situation? They tried to copy Himeji with the foreign coach thing but apparently Daniel Castellani has pulled out due to health reasons. Daisuke Sakai will be the new Head Coach

    Quote from volleyb

    Yuki Yamagami and Kyoka Seto to Denso Airybees

    Yawn :lol:


    Seto is okay-ish, but I don't think Yamagami's any better than Yuka Yamaguchi and if she gets in the way of any Jia minutes I'm going after her

    Quote from sitenoise

    Seto is okay-ish, but I don't think Yamagami's any better than Yuka Yamaguchi and if she gets in the way of any Jia minutes I'm going after her

    getting Seto is fine. Denso needed a 4th MB and she’s not expected to play over Yokoyama, Asano and Osaki anyway. Now for setter, they will be 3 and 4 if Jia is renewing 😂