NWAKALOR HAMMERS 90 (!) POINTS IN EIGHT SETS IN JAPAN

Recap of women’s SV.League seventh-leg matches

Toray Arrows’ Nwakalor celebrates with her teammates

Italian opposite Sylvia Nwakalor fired an out-of-this-world 90 points towards Toray Arrows Shiga’s two four-set wins in the women’s Daido Life SV.League in Japan this weekend. Meanwhile Saitama Ageo Medics kept their place on top of the current standings after the completion of the seven seventh-leg double headers on Saturday and Sunday.

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Toray Arrows Shiga produced two four-set victories on the road at Okayama Seagulls. On Saturday, Italian opposite Sylvia Nwakalor piled up an amazing tally of 44 points (40 spikes, 3 blocks, 1 ace) towards Toray’s 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-21, 25-18) win, and on Sunday, she even topped that with a fantastic 46 points (44, 1, 1) towards a 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-22) comeback. Toray Arrows climbed one spot up the table to seventh place on an 8-6 win-loss ratio and 23 points, while opponents Okayama shifted one position down to 11th place on 3-7 and 11.

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Saitama Ageo Medics achieved two three-point victories at PFU BlueCats Ishikawa Kahoku, which helped them improve to 10-2 and 29, while PFU stayed in ninth place on 6-8 and 17. In Saturday’s 3-1 (29-27, 20-25, 25-19, 25-20) win, the top scorer honours were shared by Aki Meguro and captain Yuka Sato with 21 points each. On Sunday, Ageo delivered the victory in straight sets, 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-21), as Serbian star outside hitter put away a match-high 20 points, including two kill blocks.

“It was a very tough two days. PFU’s coach knows us inside and out, and the offensive and defensive battles were such that Medics could not show their strengths, making these two games very emotional,” said Ageo’s head coach Shigekazu Okubo. “But our players supported each other and carefully accumulated points one by one. The reason we won was that we were able to focus on what we had to do even in close moments or when we were losing, and I feel that we have grown in that respect. I would like to praise the players on both teams for their hard work.”

Second-placed Denso Airybees Koriyama also achieved two wins, at home against Saga Hisamitsu Springs, but they had to struggle though a five-set battle on Sunday. On Saturday, Rosamaria Montibeller and her teammates had to come back from a set down to celebrate a 3-1 (19-25, 25-23, 25-17, 25-20) victory, led by the Brazilian opposite with 26 points, while her American counterpart Stephanie Samedy finished with 25 for Saga. The visitors made it even harder for the home team on the next day by taking a two-set lead, but with Rosamaria on fire in attack (34 kills towards a 36-point match high), Denso emerged with another win, 3-2 (23-25, 15-25, 25-21, 25-17, 15-11), to improve to 11-3 and 33, while pushing Saga down to eighth place on 7-7 and 22.

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Osaka Marvelous stayed in third place, now on 9-3 and 27, after picking up two wins upon their visit to Kurobe Aqua Fairies, placed 12th, now on 3-11 and 9. However, they also had to deal with a tough five-set battle in one of the matches. With a 31-point match high from Belgian opposite Lise Van Hecke, Osaka squeezed out a narrow 3-2 (20-25, 25-23, 25-19, 26-28, 15-13) victory on Saturday. Van Hecke was once again the leading scorer in Sunday’s game, when she contributed 23 points to another tight win, 3-1 (25-27, 25-17, 27-25, 25-23).

Victorina Himeji and Astemo Rivale Ibaraki did not put up the hard fight that was expected from the two neighbours in the standings. Hosts Himeji mastered two straight-set wins and improved to 9-3 and 23 in fourth place, while Astemo dropped to sixth place on 7-5 and 19. In Saturday’s 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-21) sweep, outside hitters Arisa Inoue and Thailand’s Chatchu-On Moksri led the way with 15 and 14 points, respectively. On Sunday, Chatchu-On hammered out as many as 25 points towards another 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-21) shutout.

Defending champions NEC Red Rockets Kawasaki took over the fifth place on 8-4 and 26 after collecting the full six points from their visit to bottom-placed Gunma Green Wings, 14th on 0-10 and 1. NEC’s rising star Yoshino Sato was the best scorer of both matches, putting away 25 points towards Saturday’s 3-1 (25-21, 25-14, 26-28, 25-18) victory and another 20 towards Sunday’s 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-19) sweep.

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Queenseis Kariya managed to distance themselves from the lower end of the table with two straight-set away victories over Aranmare Yamagata, which helped them climb to 10th place on 5-7 and 16. Aranmare are still second from the bottom, in 13th place on 2-12 and 8. Led by Belgian opposite Kaja Grobelna with 15 points, Kariya mastered an emphatic 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 25-15) shutout on Saturday. In Sunday’s match, they were just as convincing towards a 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-15) sweep, with 19 points from top scorer Grobelna.

The eighth leg next weekend will also feature a full set of seven double headers on November 30 and December 1.

Women’s SV.League 2024-2025 8th leg:
Nov 30, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Saitama Ageo Medics v Denso Airybees Koriyama
Nov 30, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Queenseis Kariya v Toray Arrows Shiga
Nov 30, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Osaka Marvelous v Okayama Seagulls
Nov 30, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Victorina Himeji v PFU BlueCats Ishikawa Kahoku
Nov 30, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): NEC Red Rockets Kawasaki v Aranmare Yamagata
Nov 30, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Gunma Green Wings v Kurobe Aqua Fairies
Nov 30, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Saga Hisamitsu Springs v Astemo Rivale Ibaraki
Dec 01, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Saitama Ageo Medics v Denso Airybees Koriyama
Dec 01, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Queenseis Kariya v Toray Arrows Shiga
Dec 01, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Osaka Marvelous v Okayama Seagulls
Dec 01, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): NEC Red Rockets Kawasaki v Aranmare Yamagata
Dec 01, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Victorina Himeji v PFU BlueCats Ishikawa Kahoku
Dec 01, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Gunma Green Wings v Kurobe Aqua Fairies
Dec 01, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Saga Hisamitsu Springs v Astemo Rivale Ibaraki

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