Voreas and Sakai produce surprising road wins in Japan

Sunday’s second competition day of the 12^th leg in the men’s volleyball Daido Life SV.League in Japan produced a couple of big upsets, both after five-set battles. Voreas Hokkaido beat their hosts Tokyo Great Bears, while Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers defeated JTEKT Stings Aichi, also on the road.

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After emerging on the losing end of two upsets at the hands of Sakai last weekend, Tokyo Great Bears suffered an even bigger one in the absence of their Polish star opposite Bartosz Kurek at home this weekend at the hands of Voreas Hokkaido, who are second from the bottom in the current standings. Sunday’s match between the two teams resulted in a 3-2 (25-18, 19-25, 25-22, 13-25, 15-11) win for the visitors from Hokkaido in a rollercoaster duel played in front of nearly three thousand fans at the Yoyogi National Stadium 2^nd Gymnasium in the Japanese capital. Voreas were powered by Taiwanese opposite Chang Yu-Sheng with a team-high 21 points, including three kill blocks and an ace. Estonian outside hitter Mart Tammearu added another 19, also including an ace. His Argentinean counterpart Luciano Vicentin delivered a match-high 22 points, including three aces and a block, for Tokyo. The first match between the two teams on Saturday went 3-1 (19-25, 27-25, 25-23, 25-21) the way of the home team, with Vicentin leading their scorers again, with 15 points, including one ace. This time Chang topped the match chart with 22 points for Voreas, including a block. Despite the win, Voreas did not move up the table and stayed in ninth place, now on a 6-16 win-loss ratio and 19 points. Tokyo, on the other hand, lost some ground and dropped from fifth to sixth place on 10-12 and 30.

Both matches between JTEKT Stings Aichi and trending Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers were pushed to five-set resolutions. On Saturday, the home favorites put together a 3-2 (25-20, 21-25, 25-18, 21-25, 15-3) victory with a match-high 26 points from American outside Torey DeFalco, including an ace. On Sunday, Sakai picked up a two-set lead, failed to hold on to it, but dominated the tie-breaker to snatch a 3-2 (25-21, 27-25, 20-25, 22-25, 15-9) upset to the disappointment of a 3,000-strong crowd in the stands. Italian outside Tommaso Rinaldi raised as many as five kill blocks towards a team-high 32 points, while Aichi’s French opposite Stephen Boyer emerged as the best scorer of the match with 39 points, including two aces and two blocks. Sakai moved up a spot in the table, to seventh place on 8-16 and 24, while Aichi stayed put in third, now on 16-8 and 46.

FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship runners-up Osaka Bluteon collected the full six points from the big clash with Wolfdogs Nagoya at home and improved to 20-4 and 58 in second place, leaving the opponents in fourth on 13-11 and 39. Both games were decided in four sets. The first one went 3-1 (25-18, 25-19, 20-25, 25-16) in front of well over seven thousand spectators, with a team-high 18 points from Cuban outside Miguel Lopez, including three aces. Opposite Yuji Nishida added 16 points, while his Nagoya counterpart and teammate in the Japanese national team Kento Miyaura emerged as the best scorer of the match with 20 points to his name. The two opposites engaged in a hot scoring race on Sunday. Bluteon captain Nishida led the way to a 3-1 (25-16, 25-23, 19-25, 25-13) victory with five kill blocks and three aces towards a match-high 20 points. Miyaura put away three aces and one blocking point to finish with a total of 19 points.

Defending champions and table leaders Suntory Sunbirds Osaka also picked up six points at home with two four-set wins over Toray Arrows Shizuoka to improve to 23-1 and 66 on top of the standings. Surpassed by Sakai, Toray Arrows dropped to eighth place on 7-15 and 21. Saturday’s scoring duel between Russian opposites Dmitriy Muserskiy and Kirill Klets resulted in a 24-point tie. Muserskiy contributed five kill blocks and an ace towards Suntory’s 3-1 (23-25, 25-13, 25-14, 25-21) comeback victory, while Klets delivered all of his 24 points for Toray Arrows in attack. In Sunday’s 3-1 (25-19, 25-18, 25-27, 26-24) victory, Muserskiy once again led his team with 24 points, including four blocks and two aces. Klets topped the chart with 27 points, including one ace and one block.

Hiroshima Thunders were the only team without a set lost this weekend. They were the team that overtook Tokyo to fifth place on 10-12 and 31 after two straight-set wins at bottom-stuck Nagano Tridents, trailing in 10^th place on 3-21 and 14. American outside Cooper Robinson contributed five kill blocks and two aces towards a match-high 23 points in Saturday’s 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-15) shutout. In Sunday’s 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 26-24) sweep, he shared the top-scorer honors with Brazilian teammate and opposite Felipe Roque with 17 points apiece.

The 13^th leg of regular season action will feature only one double header on Friday and Saturday, January 30 and 31. Sunday, February 1, is reserved for the All-Star Game at the Glion Arena in Kobe.

Men’s SV.League 2025-2026 upcoming matches:
Jan 30, 19:05 local (10:05 UTC): Tokyo Great Bears v Hiroshima Thunders
Jan 31, 15:05 local (06:05 UTC): Tokyo Great Bears v Hiroshima Thunders
Feb 01, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): All-Star Game – Team Taito v Team Kento

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