Voreas produce shocking win in Tokyo

In the most surprising result of this weekend’s 12^th leg in the men’s Daido Life SV.League in Japan, table trailers Voreas Hokkaido squeezed out a five-set away win over Tokyo Great Bears, who thus missed a chance to capitalize on JTEKT Stings Aichi’s two defeats at Wolfdogs Nagoya and overtake them in the current standings. Defending champions Suntory Sunbirds Osaka, however, took advantage and rose to third place.

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On Saturday, Tokyo Great Bears took a 3-1 (25-23, 25-22, 23-25, 25-16) home win over Voreas Hokkaido with a 21-point match high, including five kill blocks, from Polish opposite Maciej Muzaj, but on Sunday, bottom-placed Voreas Hokkaido battled their way to a 3-2 (25-20, 25-20, 23-25, 23-25, 15-12) victory over their strong hosts to the disappointment of the home crowd at the iconic Ariake Coliseum. The visitors showed a solid overall blocking effort, while opposite Yu-Sheng Chang of Chinese Taipei and outside hitter Kota Ikeda led the scoring with a match-high 22 points each. Muzaj also put away 22 for Tokyo.

“Today's five-set victory feels like a turning point after losing five five-set matches this season. The biggest difference was our stability, maintaining a consistent performance in every set. And I think the biggest factor was our willpower. We didn't want to lose any more,” commented Voreas’s Croatian head coach Edo Klein. “We feel that we are growing as a team, and little by little, that is starting to show in the results. I feel great hope for the second half of the season.”

It was Voreas’s only second win since the start of the season, so they still trail bottom on a 2-20 win-loss ratio and 10 points, but Tokyo failed to take advantage of the opportunity to climb higher in the table and stayed in fifth place, now on 15-9 and 46.

That opportunity arose from Wolfdogs Nagoya’s two home wins over JTEKT Stings Aichi. In the first match, Dutch opposite Nimir Abdel-Aziz contributed a match-high 23 points towards Nagoya’s 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-22) sweep, despite an impressive six aces from Aichi’s opposite Kento Miyaura. In the second, JTEKT Stings took a set, but Wolfdogs claimed another three points with a 3-1 (25-21, 18-25, 25-23, 25-18) victory. Nimir was once again the best scorer of the match, with 28 points. Second-placed Nagoya improved to 18-6 and 54, while Aichi dropped a spot to fourth on 16-8 and 42.

They were overtaken by Suntory Sunbirds Osaka who mastered two straight-set victories at home against Hiroshima Thunders to rise to 16-6 and 49. On Saturday, Russian opposite Dmitriy Muserskiy was Suntory’s best scorer with 18 points towards a tight 3-0 (33-31, 25-23, 27-25) shutout, and on Sunday, outside Alain De Armas led the way to another hard-fought 3-0 (25-16, 28-26, 25-23) sweep with 16 points. Hiroshima’s Brazilian opposite Felipe Roque topped the charts in both matches, with 20 and 22 points, respectively. Standing on 10-14 and 29, Hiroshima kept their sixth place in the table.

Leaders Osaka Bluteon also added six points to their record to keep their advantage ahead of Nagoya on 19-3 and 57. Travelling to Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers, they produced a 3-1 (25-16, 25-22, 20-25, 25-22) win on Saturday, led by opposite Yuji Nishida with 18 points, and a 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-23) shutout on Sunday with 13 points from Cuban outside Miguel Lopez. Sakai stayed in seventh place, on 7-15 and 24.

Closer to the lower end of the table, Nagano Tridents and Toray Arrows Shizuoka exchanged victories to stay ninth on 5-17 and 13, and eighth on 6-16 and 18, respectively. Hosts Nagano took the first match by 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 29-27) with a 27-point match high from Danish opposite Ulrik Dahl. The visitors reacted with a 3-1 (25-19, 25-17, 22-25, 25-23) win on Sunday. This time, their Brazilian opposite Alan Souza was on fire to put away a match-high 31 points.

Another full set of five double headers will be played next weekend, January 18 and 19, in the 13^th leg of the men’s SV.League regular season.

Men’s SV.League 2024-2025 13th leg:
Jan 18, 13:35 local (04:35 UTC): Voreas Hokkaido v Suntory Sunbirds Osaka
Jan 18, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Hiroshima Thunders v JTEKT Stings Aichi
Jan 18, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Toray Arrows Shizuoka v Osaka Bluteon
Jan 18, 15:05 local (06:05 UTC): Tokyo Great Bears v Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers
Jan 18, 17:05 local (08:05 UTC): Wolfdogs Nagoya v Nagano Tridents
Jan 19, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Hiroshima Thunders v JTEKT Stings Aichi
Jan 19, 13:35 local (04:35 UTC): Voreas Hokkaido v Suntory Sunbirds Osaka
Jan 19, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Toray Arrows Shizuoka v Osaka Bluteon
Jan 19, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Tokyo Great Bears v Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers
Jan 19, 16:05 local (07:05 UTC): Wolfdogs Nagoya v Nagano Tridents

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