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

This Gifu match Yuka Yamamoto just aced Hitachi 3 out of 4 serves and counting

Denso Saki Ishikura's southpaw sister Airi plays OH for Gifu

Brilliant Aries needs to comeback here so we can enjoy another full V2->V1 Sweep

Gunma 25–20, 25–12 Saitama

Begrudgingly I will admit Kurobe libero has been making some great digs in this tournament

Sendai delivers again 2–1 Kurobe

Still need to figure out the girl with the pants problem

Poor Sendai middle blockers. All that jumping for nothing

Ranna Shiraiwa handled going from It Girl to part time player well. She's still pretty good

Speaking of 186cm middle blockers, Sendai's Ami Takahashi been hanging around their bench in this tournament. I thought it was some assistant coach. When I realized it was her I thought to myself "Where's Sendai's coach"? They have no one there!

Somewhere amongst all the fanfare I missed the fact that Ligare Sendai's head coach quit (although I will probably never have to speak of him again I will refer to him here as "weenie head"). The team has been organizing their own tactics and practices without a coach

I don't know if weenie head had anything to do with the unceremonious sacking of Arisa Sato but I bet he failed to mention he would only coach the team for a year

Chiyomi Tanaka will be Sendai's new head coach. She played for NEC in the 80s, and has coached a few marginal hobbyist teams, most recently Vesuvius Niigata. She's coached for the past 25 years

Hitachi is going to out Denso Denso in this tournament

Gunma has a new gun: Nanami Masaki, just 21 year old lefty OP, legendary 173cm. Impressive firepower

Also one of Uni Stars Wakana Akishige played for Kurobe last year. She's still in school one more year at Waseda. By the looks of her here Kurobe should hope she comes back

All the good matches tonight are on Court B, the middle court. I hate when that happens

Quote from volleyb

The finals will be Gunma vs PFU right?

Yes, that's weird. Gunma picked up speed after losing their opener to Kurobe. I can't believe they just beat the Uni Girls

I didn't realize this could be PFU's 4th Gold in a row

I don't think Yoshino has seen the court since we bad mouthed her

I like Sendai setter quite a bit but she makes me cringe with how often she bump sets

If Yoshino would have serve sub erred at Match Point that would have been over the top

It's remarkable how mediocre these luxury teams are without their imports. It's a "B-Team" but at least they have a B Team The hobbyist teams that are beating them don't have anything . Some don't even have a coach

Uni Girls finish 3rd. that's disappointing
I assume Sendai 4th and NEC 5th

Two ex-PFU coaches on the Gunma bench likely not enjoying this match

Final Summer League Final Results and Awards

1. PFU Blue Cats
2. Gunma Green Wings
3. East Japan University Selection
4. Ligare Sendai
5. NEC Red Rockets
6. Breath Hamamatsu
7. Prestige International Aranmare
8. JA Gifu Rioreina
9. Kurobe Aqua Fairies
10. Saitama Ageo Medics
11. Hitachi Rivale
12. Brilliant Allies
13. Tokyo Sunbeams

Non Suzuki's been around a couple years but this was definitely a breakout for her. So happy she got Fresh Star. All three Sendai pins did really well, especially considering they played without middle blockers

PFU's 4th Title in a row. And they did it without Melissa Valdes, just to rub it in Gunma's face Kiiro Omura take your legendary 173cm and go girl

Summer League Ends My favorite tournament of the year. Besting the Uni Games only because the coverage is better. Can't see faces in Uni broadcasts

First JVA took V2 streams away from me, then they put HS behind a paywall, they refuse to improve the Uni Streams, and now they pull the plug on Summer League and add another BCS to the V.League teams. They must really want me to go away .