I didn’t notice that the league had shifted to having more terminating local OPs. It used to be support/defensive role, except for Nagaoka. Now, they have Kurogo (sometimes), Wada, Furukawa, Valdes, Nonaka (sometimes), Hawi, Tanaka, and Yoshitake. Akimoto and Chuganji are next in line. I have a feeling that Akimoto will go to JT.
On the flipside, there’s now a shortage of young, tall, and “complete” OHs.
Saori in action! She still got it at 38 
It was likely Manabe or someone Manabe related. If it was Yoshihara why the reassessment or whatever?
Maybe they learned from getting Nakada. Her greatness with Hisamitsu didn’t carry over to the NT.
Taken 2 months ago
It's an open secret that Yoshihara is currently laying low at Tsukuba
What? Nooo I want her in the NT. I only realized she’s really good after seeing JT’s roster of well-decorated players fall apart against the nobodies of Kurobe.
Kurogo’s been doing pretty well in the JVL. She has highest attack rate among the local OPs right now so she might reclaim her spot but she’s a receiving OP in Ageo. I feel like they’ll move away from using a receiving OP. Airi Furukawa is another OP prospect, currently ranked 3rd among local wingers in attack rate. I wish she’s an OH, which Toray tries at times, but her reception and floor defense are lacking so they use her as OP more often than as an OH. Hayashi could play as an OH in the NT and sub for Mayu. I wouldn’t want them on court together cuz it’d make it too easy for the Euro OPs to dominate. If it’s against Thailand and other lower-tier Western teams, then maybe it’s fine.
Kurogo hits in the open sometimes so they might consider as OH but I don’t think she’d take on the challenge and the pressure. Nishikawa seems like a lost cause and you can see from her performance in JT that she herself is upset about it. Kitamado is firey at times but I don’t see star quality in her tbh but it’s too early to judge I guess. Inoue’s doing pretty good scoring-wise but bad at reception. That’s not what you want if there will no longer be a receiving OP in the NT.
All in all, I haven’t come across a tall, young OH like when I first saw Koga in 2015, not strong but very smart and dexterous.
Mayu is 175 cm? I thought she was 172/173.
Ayane Kitamado leading Saga for the win vs NEC having 27 points and with 50% attack%
Please be that >180 girl!
MVP - Yoshino Sato
Is this the beginning of her surpassing Koga? I wonder who will take the OH1 spot between her and Ajcharaporn now that Koga has retired. If it’s her, could she be Japan’s next OH1? I can’t think of any other standout tall OH1 that would work well with Mayu, unless Inoue will still play for the NT. I’m concerned that U21 World Champion OH1 Mayu won’t work against the senior powerhouses. Well, it did work tho against Thailand and SoKor with KYK back in AVC 2019 so who knows?
Semifinal 2
LP Bank 3:1 Quanysh
Just wow...Vietnam is uncontrollably rising! 
I'm not generally a Tsukada fan but will splash kudos all over any setter who gives her middle blockers that many swings
IKR! There were times they'd be out of system, and she'd still set it to Shimamura for a slide. It always caught me off guard. 
I thought she's been married since last year
I guess the guy's active because she doesn't publicize him
Quite understandable why they can't get an existing club to participate. It's probably because it will affect the players/club for the regular league. Still, the showing in these tournaments isn't fantastic and makes the players an easy target for haters (I mean the toxicity among PH fans is well-known lol; this is coming from me, a Filipino XD).
I hate how top Asian clubs don’t take this as seriously as they do in the CEV Champions League. South Korea has never even bothered to send a team. It would be great to see KYK play again internationally! I remember it being somewhat competitive, but things changed when Japanese clubs stopped fielding their core winning lineup. In 2015, Hisamitsu had Ishii, Nagaoka, Shinnabe, Zayasu, and Iwasaka. In 2016, NEC featured Koga and Oumi. Since 2017, Japanese clubs have stopped using their core lineup. In Europe, import contracts typically include playing in continental championships. Given the rising popularity of volleyball in Asia, I really want the AVC Club Championship to reach the same level as the CEV CL, where each club plays with their core lineup with their imports to truly determine who’s the boss.
Since both her and Valdes already interned with the NT. JVA has acknowledged their willingness to play for the national team. It may even speed up the process. They should be eligible by next year unless something goes wrong like with the Cuban player from Suntory.
Yoshihara's selection is another story however.
KYK and Takeshita congratulated her on her 2nd post These JT girls
PFU Bluecats signed American Kashauna Williams and Thai players Thatdao and Natthanicha
They can now have 2 Asian imports?
Valdes is such a waste at PFU I don't know why she won't get the hell outta there.
IKR! Tapia is already making a name for herself, but Valdes was better during her Furukawa years compared to Furukawa Tapia. I even remember noticing that she was better than Lorenne during her rookie year at PFU. Tapia and Lorenne are now Olympians. Valdez really downgraded after her first year at PFU. The Furukawa Valdes is gone; she was 'PFUd.' I hope she will transfer to a better team where she can be a monster again.
This feels like deja vu. Lavarini kicks them out and DOM gets in.
I still can’t believe that it could be Koga’s last match later. I definitely have to see it 
The match against Poland was a real bummer. Come to think of it, Lavarini basically kicked them out again—same coach, different country.
I saw this coming. I mentioned it in last season’s thread hehe
…All the foreign god tier OP don’t wanna go to Japan anymore…
Btw, Nwakalor and Van Hecke haven’t signed with any clubs yet. It seems they’ll still play in Japan, and I’m pretty sure one will join JT.
Edit: I forgot about Karsta Lowe. She might return?? She’s a better choice than those two for me tho.
Is it true that Hancock will replace Carlini? I prefer Hancock but that seems very brutal for Carlini...
Yup, it’s all over Twitter. It must be heartbreaking for Carlini. Every time I watch her interviews in the past 3 years, all I hear is “Olympics.” That’s how she badly wants it. I saw this coming tho. Hancock is better for double sub coz she’s a multi-awarded best server.
