Posts by Dr Organoborane

    I can't remember how they were as a team not exactly the winning bunch but they were tall and that was a factor to making them look worldclass. Kurihara was a mess in most of the matches I've seen but their coach made it seem like she was Japan's Gamova or something. Most annoying part of that era. Never liked her as a player. Very overrated.

    Kurihara prior to Kana Oyama's injury was actually effective on the court; Oyama was dubbed the "ace" back then and I remember watching her just being so ineffective getting blocked so many times compared to some of their smaller hitters (especially "Shin" Takahashi; she was one of my favorites). I'm pretty sure Japan's ace culture had an adverse affect on her performance and whether it was pressure or injury she was much less effective post-Athens compared to pre-Athens when all the attention was on Oyama. I think Saori is the only ace I've seen who has not been affected by this "syndrome".

    OMG that's right ... I just checked the match. At 16–16 in the 5th set she served on Zeng who overpassed it to Araki who sent it back, so not an ace (or is it?) and then aced Hui outright. Good times :)

    My bad :lol::lol:

    I just remember both serves were so effective it destroyed the other side's system completely

    I mean I'm fine with that. The only issue is a matter of her being non-Japanese. I don't think Japan has ever had a naturalised player in the NT before in both the men and women's teams so we'll see if it happens for her.

    Under Yanagimoto (iirc at least in the 2006 World Championships) they had a naturalized Chinese OH Shuka Oyama but I don't think she ever played for the Chinese NT


    :D Yeah, that was poetic license, because, honestly, understanding/explaining MB1 or the hybrid 6 double duplex rotation systems are above my pay grade.



    Check that score! (okay, it was the meaningless World Grand Champions Cup, but still ... :P

    When they did Hybrid 6 tactic, they used one true middle and one "pseudo" middle. Depending on which player was the pseudo-middle, they switched around MB1 and MB2 for the true middle: when Sakoda was the pseudo-middle she was in MB2 position running "scorpion" attack (AKA pipe attack from the front row) but when Nagaoka was used as the pseudo-middle they stuck her at MB1 position to give her 2 rotations attacking on the pins.

    OMG...this is my favorite picture ever "my latte is cold" :lol: :lol: :lol:


    (sorry for :offtopic: )

    No Lee Da Yeong? :( :( :(

    You don't mean Yuan Xinyue?

    I think Dietzen is pretty much done as a player. Too many injuries causing her game to decline over the past years; it showed especially during World Cup. I'm hoping for at least Adams in the lineup but I think every position besides setter and libero is questionable.

    Plak with 132??? :lol: :lol: :lol: