Saitama lets Nila Markovic and Sara Lozo go.
Gunma cleans house, gets rid of 12 players, including Aliona Martiniuc and Wimonrat Thanapan.
Posts by brahmin
-
-
Astemo just announced that Noboru Aihara will be the manager for the 2025-2026 season.
He has coached the Japanese U-17,U-18 and U-20 national teams in the past and was a coach with Nakata for the Tokyo Games. -
-
-
Astemo cleans house with the coaching staff be fired on the 22nd.
I mean if they were expecting them to win the title this year, that was probably not a great thought to begin with.
They were 7th last year, and finished 8th this year.
The only teams that jumped them were Himeji, who got promoted and Toray. Queenseis finished above them in 2023-2024, but dropped below them in 2024-2025.
-
I am not going to call Miku a nepobaby. Look her mom played in the league as a mom and helped led Japan to places they had never been in 30+ years. She grew up seeing her mom play and being successful, and then continued being a mom with her younger siblings.
She helped guide her in the right way, but she has tried to stay out of her spotlight. Look Miku could have gone a different route.
Yes, did Victorina probably get a steal because of the connections with the team, absolutely. Basically she was the best player on the court in the country. Bring the briefcases of cash to get her, because she’s the future face of Japanese volleyball.
-
Some more tragic than others. Osaka and Denso have been one of those "Multi-home" turf teams so their disappointing numbers are a little understandable
PFU with their new arena I thought would be betterdon’t forget that Denso moved cities as well. Gunma was new to the top league. Aranmare cannot even play home games in their town of Sakata. Over 1.5 hours away by car in Tendo.
-
Final Position Movement Chart
Wins Chart
-
I don't understand the home game thing why not just hold everything in one venue
they are trying to make home games matter. Teams with better records are rewarded by forcing a team to play on the road.
It is a best of three series, and instead of forcing teams to move multiple times, o host 1-1-1, just easier to have three straight games in one city, if it goes maximum
-
-
Madison has head-to-head tiebreaker over SLC (2-0)
Austin has head-to-head tiebreaker over Omaha (2-1)Madison could pass Houston for 2nd with two wins, would take head-to-head over Houston (2-1).
-
for starters, Yoko wanted to play with Hitachi, which was essentially the national team back then, and the national team head coach, also Hitachi’s coach, asked her to join the team out of high school, but she wanted to go get a degree and play at Waseda, a Japanese Ivy League university.
Coach basically told her, you do that route, you are not on the team. He held his promise, and basically blackballed her. The tryout with her American side (father) gave her a chance to make a team, she did and won a medal. Japan was still another 30 years from its next Olympic medal.
-
If Atlanta beats Houston, they will be the number 1 seed.
If Houston beats Atlanta, Atlanta must beat Omaha to be the number 1 seed. Houston will have head-to-head tiebreaker with Atlanta.
Position Movement with Saturday's matches
Wins by Match Played
-
Osaka's magic number for clinching the regular season title is 2 wins or a combination of wins with NEC losses. Osaka is already ahead of them on points, and the maximum points that NEC can reach is 100, Osaka is already at 95.
With NEC and Denso playing next weekend, JT could take it on Saturday with a win over Saitama.
Saitama took over 4th by not going 5 sets on Sunday, as Saga won, but dropped a point by going 5.
Denso has a one win advantage over Saitama and Saga, but are ahead of both on points. But they need something from their battle with NEC to stay in 3rd place by the end of the weekend.
Toray is technically behind Himeji on points, but have two more games to play as they are tied on wins. With Toray playing PFU, two wins would put them solidly in 6th place.
Astemo with their win and both PFU and Kariya losses, put their magic number at 1. If Astemo beat Gunma next weekend, they are in the playoffs. Also, if Astemo lose both matches, they would need one loss by PFU and one loss by Kariya to qualify for the playoffs.
Gunma can still catch Aranmare for 11th, but need two wins to pass them with six to play.
Position Movement by Match Played
Wins by Match Played
-
Hiroshima may have just shot their playoff chances in the foot. Losing to Voreas Hokkaido, worst team in the league, when Sakai loses, would have given them 2 wins in front of Sakai, forcing Sakai to match.
Sakai vs. Hiroshima next weekend will be for the last playoff spot.
Also battle for 1st with Osaka and Wolfdogs as well next weekend. Nagoya is still ahead on points with wins being tied right now.
Osaka's got 6 games left, while Nagoya has 4. If Osaka takes the series, they will be the regular season champs. If Nagoya takes the series, Osaka has to win out to have a chance at 1st.
A split goes towards Osaka, as they will still have 4 matches to play.
Tokyo and JTEKT will face off in the same conditions, as Tokyo would pass JTEKT if tied on wins. Two wins by Tokyo would all but lock up the 4th spot. JTEKT does have a one win advantage over Tokyo, so a split would benefit them.
Position Movement by Match Played
Wins by Match Played
-
Position Movement by Match Played through Saturday's matches
Osaka Bluteon and Wolfdogs are tied on wins, and Wolfdogs are ahead on points. If Osaka lose two matches, Wolfdogs would be in first place.
Hiroshima has passed Sakai on wins with 15, but Sakai still has two matches more to play and a win puts them ahead of Hiroshima on points.
Wins by Match Played
-
Position Movement by Match Played through Saturday's matches
Osaka Bluteon and Wolfdogs are tied on wins, and Wolfdogs are ahead on points. If Osaka lose two matches, Wolfdogs would be in first place.
Hiroshima has passed Sakai on wins with 15, but Sakai still has two matches more to play and a win puts them ahead of Hiroshima on points.
Wins by Match Played
-
Position Movement by Match Played
Atlanta clinches 1st for the playoffs with a win and a Houston loss
If Austin wins over Atlanta, they will be 4th losing head-to-head with Madison on points (135-137, tied on win-loss, sets win-loss)
If Austin losses and Omaha win, 3-way tie at 5-8, Austin 4th with 3-1 record against SLC and Omaha, SLC 5th at 2-2, Omaha 6th at 1-3
Wins by Match Played
-
Position Movement after Saturday's Matches
Osaka with 2 wins (and 6 points) or two NEC losses will clinch 1st place spot for the playoffs
NEC and Denso, can flip spots on Sunday with another NEC loss and a Denso win
Saga and Ageo are tied on wins and points and sets ratio keeps Saga in 4th placeToray could tie Saga and Ageo on wins, but cannot pass them on points
Victorina already 2 losses behind Saga, Ageo and Toray, and 3 wins ahead of Astemo are pretty much locked into 7th.
Astemo has a 3 win lead over Kariya and PFU, but are catchable on points
Wins Movement by Match Played
-
Himeji clinched their spot with PFU loss today.
Astemo has a 3 win advantage over Kariya and PFU. But Astemo have dropped a ton of points, so magic number for them is 3, (combination of wins and Queenseis/PFU losses).