Osaka beat Red Rockets twice in exciting duels

The top two teams in the 2024-2025 women’s Daido Life SV.League, Osaka Marvelous and NEC Red Rockets Kawasaki featured in a pair of exciting duels this weekend, during the 23^rd and penultimate leg of the Japanese League regular season.

Playing at home, Osaka won both encounters, further solidifying their spot at the top of the standings with 35 wins and seven losses and two more matches to play. Despite the defeats, the defending champions Red Rockets were able to confirm their second-place spot ahead of the playoffs, with a campaign of 30 wins and 14 losses.

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Saturday’s encounter between the Japanese heavyweights was a rollercoaster that saw the lead change hands twice before Osaka prevailed 3-2 (25-23, 15-25, 23-25, 29-27, 17-15) in a match in which just one set was not decided by the minimum difference of two points.

Ameze Miyabe led Osaka offensively with 25 points (19 kills, six blocks), followed by fellow outside hitter Mizuki Tanaka, who got 18, with 17 kills and one block. Outside hitter Yoshino Sato tallied 25 points (22 kills, three blocks) for the Red Rockets and matched Miyabe’s production.

The teams met again on Sunday and this time Osaka won more comfortably, prevailing 3-1 (20-25, 27-25, 25-22, 25-17). Outside hitters Kotona Hayashi, with 21 points (19 kills, one block, one ace), and Mikoto Shima, with 18 (17 kills, one ace), were Osaka’s most productive players, while Sato emerged again as the match’s top scorer, contributing 26 points (20 kills, four aces, two blocks) for the Red Rockets.

Osaka will complete their regular season campaign with a pair of road matches against the Toray Arrows Shiga next weekend.

Hisamitsu up to third place

The Saga Hisamitsu Springs took advantage of their last opportunity to move up in SV.League standings before the end of the regular season and swapped places with the Denso Airybees Koriyama, going from fourth to second place – they got to 30 wins and 14 losses, while their opponents ended the regular season with 29 wins and 15 losses.

Hisamitsu got the job done over the weekend, beating 13th-placed Aranmare Yamagata 3-0 (25-16, 25-10, 25-12) on Saturday and again 3-0 (25-11, 25-18, 25-20) on Sunday, while Denso split wins with ninth-placed Queenseis Kariya, losing 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 21-25, 25-23, 15-12) on Saturday and triumphing also in the tie-breaker (17-25, 25-23, 22-25, 25-18, 15-13) on Sunday.

Nwakalor gets to 1,000 points

The duel between Toray and Victorina Himeji also had a pair of tie-breakers, with the teams splitting wins – Toray triumphed 3-2 (26-24, 23-25, 20-25, 25-23, 17-15) on Saturday, while Himeji came out on top in five sets (25-11, 22-25, 25-20, 21-25, 15-10) the next day.

Sunday’s match had a special moment for Toray’s Italian opposite Sylvia Nwakalor, who became the first player to get to 1,000 points in the current SV.League season. She ended the match with 28 points and now appears with 1,019, at the top of the league’s top scorers table.

Ranked sixth in the standings, the Saitama Ageo Medics split wins with eighth-placed Astemo Rivale Ibaraki at home, losing 3-2 (25-18, 29-27, 26-28, 14-25, 15-13) on Saturday and triumphing 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 29-27) on Sunday.

The 23^rd leg of the regular season also had 11th-placed KUROBE Aqua Fairies Toyama and tenth-placed PFU Blue Cats splitting wins – Kurobe won 3-1 (25-23, 25-22, 16-25, 25-21) on Saturday, while the Blue Cats triumphed 3-2 (22-25, 25-16, 20-25, 23-25, 18-16) on Sunday – and a pair of road victories of 12^th-placed Okayama Seagulls over 14^th-placed Gunma Green Wings – the won 3-1 (18-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-21) on Saturday and 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-15) on Sunday.

Okayama and Gunma will meet again next week, in the final leg of the regular season.

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