There hasn't been any confirmation yet but PFU already announced that her naturalization is official. The whole trainee thing is a little confusing because she should be allowed already to be part of official wide roster but I don't know if there are other processes she has to go through. This is the first time JVA allowed a naturalized player.
Wasn't Shuka Oyama also naturalized from China?
Is there a possibility to use LYY as the opp? China needs more production on the right side.
They tried back in the day with Lang Ping but she was just ineffective from the right and with her current production on the left I don't think they would move her from that position any time soon
Ishii? what are you talking about? Do you mean Sakoda?
Pipes are completely unreliable this time especially if they're heavily relying on Koga. Have you ever seen Koga land a perfectly deadly pipe against Brazil, Italy, Poland etc. back to back? no. She will never be Gabi. Her serve gets wonky after 1 strong serve what more with pipes.
They should go for their middles. Pipes will just tire the OHs faster and by OH I mean Koga.
IIRC Sakoda retired right after the Olympic Qualifying Tournament so OH duo in Rio was Koga and Saori
Some people are just baby faced. Poulter looks older for her age for example. And MBH also looks older than she actually is.
My non-volleyball friend was watching Maja in Tokyo Olympics and asked if she was in her sixties 
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 
I just remember both serves were so effective it destroyed the other side's system completely
I remember her 2 aces in a row in the 5th set at the London Olympics to knock China out during the QF...if only she hadn't retired early
Kobata was the only member of JT that has achieved something think about that and tell me where JT stands
Megumi Kurihara doesn't count because she considers herself a Hitachi OG
Don't forget Takeshita (and to an extent KYK)
Who tf gave Kaori Inoue the nickname "KILLER" she couldn't do kills to save her own career
Full name Kaori Inoue Nickname killer Born October 21, 1982
Toyooka, Hyogo, Japan
Inoue pre-injury was quite effective in the middle to the point that Araki was benched in 2010 when Otomo came back to the NT; post-injury Inoue was a whole other story (same story could be said for Otomo)
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
Maiko Kano looks like KYK in that thumbnail
OMG I thought I was the only one who thought that lol
Zhang CN can be good in one match and so so in the following one.... The coaches will be hoping she hits the right form in crucial matches in the OG...
Zhang Changning is like the Han Songyi for Korea from London quad
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 ...
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.
Display More13:00 JT Marvelous v Toyota Body Queens ... 3–1
13:00 NEC Red Rockets v Denso Airybees ... 2–3
15:00 Ageo Medics v Toray Arrows ... 1–3
15:00 Hisamitsu Springs v Hitachi Rivale ... 3–0
JT had a little payback for the Body Queens. Kitsui is back in uniform for JT, subbed in a few sets. Neriman has added blond highlights to her ponytail. Toyota has added 3 or 4 new Body Queens to their roster. Only one I recognized is Ayaka Sugi from the U23 team. It was an entertaining, hard fought match with no individual standouts. Toyota drops to 6th place in the standings behind NEC--wtf?
NEC and Denso went down to the wire in a 5 sets, but it wasn't an entertaining match. Sloppy play all around and it doesn't bode well for Denso that it took them 5 sets to beat NEC. Denso played a looser lineup, maybe that's why, and offered up their first great Densoid* of the year (look at Sakamoto's body stance. She thinks she's on a coffee break
Hisamitsu remains undefeated. Hitachi signed a new player.
I can't bring myself to watch an Ageo game.
Seems like there are a number of new players in the league. I'll sort it out later.
* A Densoid is when the team stands around and group watches the ball hit the floor.
OMG...this is my favorite picture ever "my latte is cold"
(sorry for 
)
Is it just me, or does the North Korean team look more solid than South Korea minus KYK?
Yes, No Lee Da Young. All of the setters are quite short.
Well, not if Han Suji returns to setter still can't believe they changed her to MB
Display MoreWide roster for Grand Prix is out in some news article.
OH: Kim Yeon Koung(Fenerbahce), Park Jeong Ah(IBK), Lee Jae Young(Heungkuk), Lee So Young(GS Caltex), Kang So Hwi(GS Caltex), Go Ye Rim(Hi-Pass)
MB: Kim Su Ji(Heungkuk), Yang Hyo Jin(Hyundai E&C), Bae Yoo Na(Hi-Pass), Han Su Ji(KGC)
OPP: Kim Hee Jin(IBK), Kim Mi Yeon(IBK)
S: Yeom Hye Sun(Hyundai E&C), Lee Go Eun(IBK), Ahn Hye Jin(GS Caltex)
Li: Kim Yeon Kyun(Hyundai E&C), Na Hyun Jeong(GS Caltex), Kim Hae Ran(KGC)
Note:
Bold Font: Part of the team who competed in Rio Olympics
Italic Font: Part of the 2016 NT(And got cut in the selection for those who'll compete in Rio Olympics)
Source: 1
No Lee Da Yeong? 
Was that challenge also not the third one? I thought he challenged twice and it didn't accept either?
I think one you are missing Dinamo Krasnodar...Uralochka is twice on there
Display MoreFriendly match #1 against Japanese NT
25:20 29:27 22:25 25:16
Main roster:
Shen Jing-si (Ding Xia), Zeng Chun-lei (Yang Fang-xu, Liu Yan-han)
Zhu Ting, Liu Xiao-tong (Zhang Chang-ning)
Yang Fang-xu, Xu Yun-li (Yan Ni)
Lin Li (Shan Dan-na)
Gong Xiang-yu replaced Xu Yun-li in Set 2 as a server.
You don't mean Yuan Xinyue?
