The teams are separated by just one victory as the end of the regular season approaches
Sakai’s outside hitter Luciano Palonsky faces three Hiroshima blockers (Photo: SV.League)
The two-team race for the last spot in the 2024-2025 men’s Daido Life SV.League playoffs continues wide open after the two contenders, Hiroshima Thunders and Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers, split wins this weekend, during the 21st leg of the regular season.
After this weekend’s results, Hiroshima continue inside the qualification zone, in sixth place, with 16 wins and 26 losses, but it’s Sakai, who are seventh with 15 wins and 25 losses, who control the situation as they have two games in hand and depend only on their own efforts to make it to the postseason.
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Held on Saturday, in Hiroshima, the first encounter between the teams this weekend was won by Sakai, who, even away from home, secured what could be a critical 3-1 (25-17, 16-25, 25-23, 25-19) win. Team captain and Canadian opposite Sharone Vernon-Evans was the match’s top scorer with 19 points (17 kills, two blocks).
Pushed by their fans, Hiroshima got back on them on Sunday and defended their spot in the standings with a clean 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-18) victory. Outside hitter Yudai Arai was unstoppable, registering 23 points (20 kills, two blocks, one ace) for the home team.
“Today we played with a lineup we never tested before, but our desire to win was evident and this was a real team win,” said Hiroshima’s Argentinean head coach Javier Weber. “There are still two matches left and we will continue to fight to qualify.”
Osaka continue at the top, Suntory are now second
Another important race in the Japanese League, the one to secure direct spots in the semifinals, had a major development this week, with defending champions Suntory Sunbirds Osaka going up from third to second and joining league leaders Osaka Bluteon as the temporary holders of the two spots in the Final Four.
With then-second placed Wolfdogs Nagoya hosting Osaka for a pair of matches this weekend, Suntory needed to deliver in their home matches against bottom-placed Voreas Hokkaido to move up and they did that, winning 3-1 (20-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-13) on Saturday and 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-16) on Sunday to get to 32 wins and eight losses in the standings.
At the same time, Osaka topped Nagoya twice on the road, winning 3-2 (25-23, 18-25, 25-23, 19-25, 16-14) on Saturday and 3-1 (25-23, 21-25, 25-23, 25-23) on Sunday to get to 35 wins and five losses and leave their opponents down in third place with 33 wins and nine losses. Japanese star opposite Yuji Nishida scored 40 points for Osaka across the two matches.
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Two teams guaranteed in the playoffs, fourth-placed JTEKT Stings Aichi and fifth-placed Tokyo Great Bears, met twice over the weekend. Playing at home, Aichi won both encounters, prevailing 3-1 (25-19, 17-25, 34-32, 25-21) on Saturday and producing a sweep (25-21, 25-16, 25-23) on Sunday.
The fifth and last doubleheader of the weekend in Japan had eighth-placed Toray Arrows Shizuoka and ninth-placed Nagano Tridents splitting wins. Toray benefited from homecourt advantage to secure a 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 33-31, 25-22) victory on Saturday, but Nagano came back to win 3-2 (25-22, 25-23, 20-25, 24-26, 16-14) on Sunday.
The Japanese League regular season continues next week, with five doubleheaders taking place between Saturday and Sunday as part of the 22nd leg.
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