JT Marvelous & NEC Red Rockets clinch Final Four spots in Japan V1 Women’s League
Before the matches for the weekend of February 6 and 7, the Japanese V1 Women’s League announced that it would change the way the standings were calculated for the playoffs. At the beginning of the season, the standings were to be based on wins and points from those matches. However, with some teams having missed matches due to players testing positive for Covid-19, there would no way to play all of the missed matches before the end of the regular season on February 14. The league’s first change was to use winning percentage (wins/total matches) as the primary tiebreaker. The league would also shift to sets ratio as the next tiebreaker instead of points earned from matches.
These changes enabled Toray Arrows to clinch the regular season championship and a number one seed for the Final. Wins by JT Marvelous and NEC Red Rockets over the weekend would also allow them to claim their berths in the Final Four.
On Saturday, JT Marvelous faced Hitachi Rivale and swept the match 3-0. A balanced attack from Kotona Hayashi with 15 (3 blocks and an ace), Annie Drews with 16 and Mizuki Tanaka 11 pushed JT to 14-3 on the season.
Sunday’s JT match against Denso Airybees was important to both teams. Denso lost to Saitama Ageo Medics on Saturday 3-1 and desperately needed a win. And a JT win would clinch their spot in the Final Four.
Denso jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but allowed the Marvelous to tie the match 2-2, going to a fifth set. Tanaka ended the match for JT on a block 15-9, 3-2 win for the Marvelous. Thatdao Nuekjang was second in scoring for JT with 19 points (12 spikes 7 blocks), behind the USA’s Annie Drews on 20 (2 blocks and 2 aces). Kathryn Plummer for Denso did the heavy lifting for her team with 24 (a block and an ace) in the loss.
NEC Red Rockets were dominant in their two matches against Toyota Auto Body Queenseis and Kurobe Aqua Fairies, sweeping both 3-0. On Sunday against Kurobe, NEC went on 6-0 run to start the match and then 10-0 to lead 17-2 before winning the first set 25-7. Sarina Koga with 34 (6 blocks and an ace) and Neriman Ozsoy 37 (4 blocks and 2 aces) formed a great tag-team combination for the Red Rockets over the weekend to clinch their Final Four berth.
With Denso faltering, Saitama and Okayama Seagulls had opportunities to jump into the Final Four race. Okayama stumbled on Saturday against Victorina Himeji with a 3-0 loss. The Seagulls faced Hisamitsu Springs on Sunday and looked to rebound as a win would put them in fourth place on win percentage. Hisamitsu, however, sprinted to a 2-0 sets lead and used a 14-6 blocking advantage to take a 3-1 sets win. Foluke Akinradewo had six blocks and an ace as part of her 21 points for Hisamitsu in the win. Saitama, on the other hand, could jump to fifth with a win over Hitachi. Saitama used a balanced attack from Mami Uchiseto 17, Yuri Yoshino 13, Jaja Santiago 13 and Shaina Joseph 11 to take their match 3-0.
Meanwhile, Toray Arrows continued their perfect regular season at 20-0 with wins over Kurobe on Saturday 3-1 and Toyota 3-0 on Sunday.
Going into the final weekend of the season with only one spot left in the Final Four, the playoff scenarios are as follows for the teams still in contention:
4th Place Denso Airybees (2 matches remaining, Okayama and Hisamitsu)
2 WINS
OR 1 WIN AND a Saitama LOSS
5th Place Saitama Ageo Medics (1 match remaining, NEC)
Okayama WIN AND a Saitama WIN
OR 1 Denso LOSS (if Denso defeats Okayama) AND a Saitama WIN
6th Place Okayama Seagulls (1 match remaining, Denso)
Okayama WIN AND a Saitama LOSS AND a Denso LOSS to Hisamitsu
Match results for February 6, 2021
Saitama Ageo Medics – Denso Airybees 3-1 (24-26, 25-23, 25-19, 25-23)
NEC Red Rockets – Toyota Auto Body Queenseis 3-0 (25-17, 25-13, 25-15)
Victorina Himeji – Okayama Seagulls 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-14)
JT Marvelous – Hitachi Rivale 3-0 (26-24, 25-19, 25-22)
Toray Arrows – Kurobe Aqua Fairies 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 23-25, 25-22)
Match results for February 7, 2021
Hisamitsu Springs – Okayama Seagulls 3-1 (25-13, 25-22, 17-25, 25-19)
JT Marvelous – Denso Airybees 3-2 (23-25, 21-25, 25-21, 25-18, 15-9)
Toray Arrows – Toyota Auto Body Queenseis 3-0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-14)
Saitama Ageo Medics – Hitachi Rivale 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-23)
NEC Red Rockets – Kurobe Aqua Fairies 3-0 (25-7, 25-19, 25-16)
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