I wish I could understand what kind of weirdo ball Japan plays with MB #4 Shion Hirayama and OP #6 Haruna Soga. I can't follow rotations so I can't understand what they are doing. It's like they trade roles depending on the rotation
Posts by sitenoise
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Japan Coach here should coach the Senior NT ASAP
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USA has some reception issues. When they get a good look, they can score.
MB Hirayama hitting like an OP, and OP Soga hitting right up the middle.
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Hitachi has a dude on the sidelines who's not a dude. She's Toyota's previous Coach: Asako Tajimi
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Maldives needs to work on their passing. When one of them does a bump set it's a crap-shoot which direction the ball will go in.
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4T is like vietnamese Zhu Ting
It would be cooler if she was #4
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No they just got the flags wrong lol
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once again, FIVB projecting us their level of professionalism...
I don't really know the level/expectations of these U20 squads. Is this another case of FIVB cheating for Japan and putting all the better teams in the same group away from them?
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Any comments on Japanese youngters, sitenoise
Japan doesn't produce game-changers like the absentees you mention. They've won their games in a comparatively easy group with defense and serving: the Japanese way. We'll see how it scales in the next round.
The only two players who are giving me a little more than expected are MB #4 Shion Hirayama (Hisamitsu) and MB/OH/OP #6 Haruna Soga (NEC) -- maybe because expectations were lower.
I've been most interested in what the MBs here will show. Nichika Yamada and Ayaka Araki are both 184cm and don't look clumsy. Highest hopes were for Araki, who has one year of HS left and has already played a season in Europe as an exchange student, but she's seeing the least amount of play time. Yamada is a better blocker and Hirayama a better scorer at this point. Hirayama is a full court defender, a precision attacker, and possesses a rare Japanese trait of being a little icy. You can see her talking to herself sometimes. She's attacking at 73% but not enough swings to place; 7th so far at blocks/set. Since she got drafted by Hisamitsu she'll get the best training possible. When it happened I bemoaned another good prospect spending time on Hisamitsu's bench. Now I think she cracks the starting lineup next season.
MB/OH/OP #6 Haruna Soga is showing the most hustle, by far. Her swinging compatriots (game-changers for their High Schools) have more buzz and street cred than her, so she has to. She's tricky, attacks almost equally across the front line. Reception and floor defense are acceptable. If she keeps getting the playing time over Miyu Nakagawa (Hisamitsu, Senior NT) that will say a lot. Won't surprise me if she doesn't. Nakagawa joined this squad late, has 10cm on her and already two years of training with Hisamitsu. Bummer Soga got drafted by NEC who are already nine deep on the pins.
I'd be interested in what the player/coach types here think of the "technique" of the players I've mentioned (if you get to see them). I'm not fooling anyone: if a player looks happy and not stupid, I think they're good
The libero, Rena Mizusugi, is better than she's showing here. She joined Toray in January after winning the HS Championship, and very quickly took over the starting spot and helped Toray to the Finals. In these past few months she's gone from scrawny and tiny to skinny and little. I expect her to be on Senior NT after Tokyo.
I'm not impressed with either setter, even though the backup, Kanon Sonoda (PFU) was a H.S. hero.
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Watching the JPN v DOM match. Nice to see Ameze Miyabe getting some playing time. Scoring some points and had a nice block on DOM #7 Guillen. Guillen doesn't hold anything back on her swing. Wow. I wish the DOM coach would go get a job doing something he enjoys.
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The flood recess sure changed the dynamic of JPN v BRA. Looks like it started back up at 18-22, Brazil scores one more, 18-23, and then Japan wins the set 26-24, and the next two sets. Fun match. The stream is good. Too bad every tricky download method I have will only give me 360p
Facebook 
Same arena, but the electronic advert board along the sideline was either covered or shut off.
btw - if ya'll watch any Japan matches, check the coach. He and I are BFF. Five of the players on this squad are either still at or just graduated from the H.S. where he coaches. He's a nice mix of Love and ToughLove. He's joyful and stern, theatrical in an amusing way. Given the opportunity, he likes to run around and pretend he's an airplane
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It's all my fault
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I think the raining affected the stream
Did it stop the match?
http://u20.women.2019.volleyba…/10552-japan-brazil/match
21-17 set 1. The match should be over by now
[Edit] I see sloth found info
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Pretty weird. I can understand a live video stream going kaput, but the FiveBuh site has been stuck "in progress" at 21-17 in the first set for over an hour
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The JPN v BRA match left this world unfinished
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These commentators are non-stop
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livestream365 is down for me. Ustreamix seems to have gone out of business, and batmanstream never works for me.
Wanted to look in on TUR v ARG. Any other stream sources?
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2019 Summer Universiade Napoli, Italy
Final Standings
Medal Rank Team Gold 1 RUS - Russia 
Silver 2 ITA - Italy Bronze 3 JPN - Japan 4 HUN - Hungary 5 GER - Germany 6 BRA - Brazil 7 CZE - Czech Republic 8 CAN - Canada 9 USA - United States 10 SUI - Switzerland 11 ARG - Argentina 12 TPE - Chinese Taipei 13 CHN - China 14 UKR - Ukraine 15 THA - Thailand
