Hiroshima upset Nagoya in straight sets, Bluteon book playoff spot

After the two shocking shutouts that Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers handed to heavy favorites Suntory Sunbirds Osaka earlier in the week, the 18^th leg in the men’s volleyball Daido Life SV.League in Japan offered another surprise as it was completed with another four double headers over the weekend, with Hiroshima Thunders sweeping their second match against Wolfdogs Nagoya on Sunday. Meanwhile, Osaka Bluteon became the second team, after Suntory Sunbirds, to book a berth in the playoffs.

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Wolfdogs Nagoya put together a narrow 3-2 (21-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-19, 16-14) victory in the first match of their double header at Hiroshima Thunders. Opposite Kento Miyaura and outside hitter Taito Mizumachi (three aces) led the way to success with 24 and 23 points, respectively. On the other side of the net, Brazilian opposite Felipe Roque (five kill blocks) and American outside Cooper Robinson put away 22 points apiece. On Sunday, the home team offered an emphatic reaction and hammered out a 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-22) shutout in front of nearly three and a half thousand fans in the stands of the Hiroshima Green Arena and ended Wolfdogs’ seven-match winning streak. Felipe Roque topped the match chart with 16 points, including three blocks and an ace. With these results, Nagoya kept in third place in the current standings on a 20-12 win-loss ratio and 58 points, but now edging fourth-placed JTEKT Stings Aichi only on set ratios. Hiroshima stayed within the playoff zone, in sixth place on 14-18 and 44.

FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship runners-up Osaka Bluteon struggled in their first home game against Toray Arrows Shizuoka. They were pushed to the overtime of a fifth set, before they could pocket a 3-2 (25-19, 25-23, 25-27, 22-25, 16-14) win in front of 4,846 spectators at the Ookini Arena Maishima. Bluteon’s Chinese middle Peng Shikun impressed with seven kill blocks, an ace and a 76% success rate in attack towards a team-high 21 points. Toray Arrows’ opposite Daiki Yamada was the best scorer of the match with 23 points under his belt. Toray Arrows put up quite a fight in the second match as well, but the home favorites managed to take it in straight sets, 3-0 (25-23, 29-27, 25-18). Three players shared the top scorer honors with 15 points each – Osaka’s opposite Hiroto Nishiyama and Cuban outside Miguel Lopez, and Toray Arrows’ Yamada. Bluteon are running second, now on 26-6 and 76, and they can no longer be pushed below the sixth-place cut-off for the playoffs. The team from Shizuoka is third from the bottom, in eighth place on 10-22 and 31.

Tokyo Great Bears brought home the full six points from their visit to Nagano Tridents. In a 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-20) shutout on Saturday, Argentinean outside hitter Luciano Vicentin contributed a team-high 15 points, while Nagano’s Canadian opposite Matthew Neaves top-scored 17 points, including three stuffs and two aces. On Sunday, the team from the capital dropped the first set, but battled its way back to a 3-1 (25-27, 32-30, 25-23, 25-21) win. This time, Polish star opposite Bartosz Kurek led the way with 28 points, including three blocks and two aces. Tokyo improved to 17-15 and 50 in fifth place, while Nagano remained stuck at the bottom, in 10^th place on 3-29 and 15.

With two straight-set victories over the weekends, JTEKT Stings Aichi managed to catch up with Nagoya on win-loss ratios and points, 20-12 and 58, but stayed behind in fourth place on set ratios. On Saturday, they mastered a 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-19) sweep of their first home match against Voreas Hokkaido. American outside Torey DeFalco was on fire and led Stings to victory with five aces, three kill blocks and a 68% success rate in attack towards a match-high 21 points. On Sunday, Aichi put together another 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-18) shutout, with Brazilian outside Ricardo Lucarelli (three stuffs) and French opposite Stephen Boyer (two stuffs) contributing 17 points each. Now on 9-23 and 28, Voreas stand second from the bottom, in ninth place.

The 19^th leg next weekend will offer a full set of five double headers on March 14 and 15.

Men’s SV.League 2025-2026 19th leg:
Mar 14, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Voreas Hokkaido v Nagano Tridents
Mar 14, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Hiroshima Thunders v Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers
Mar 14, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Toray Arrows Shizuoka v Suntory Sunbirds Osaka
Mar 14, 14:35 local (05:35 UTC): Wolfdogs Nagoya v Tokyo Great Bears
Mar 14, 18:05 local (09:05 UTC): Osaka Bluteon v JTEKT Stings Aichi
Mar 15, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Voreas Hokkaido v Nagano Tridents
Mar 15, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Hiroshima Thunders v Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers
Mar 15, 13:35 local (04:35 UTC): Wolfdogs Nagoya v Tokyo Great Bears
Mar 15, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Toray Arrows Shizuoka v Suntory Sunbirds Osaka
Mar 15, 18:05 local (09:05 UTC): Osaka Bluteon v JTEKT Stings Aichi

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