Vernon-Evans on fire as Blazers win back-to-back matches in Japan

The Canadian opposite leads his team to consecutive victories against the Panasonic Panthers

Published 09:38, 28 Feb 2022

Canadian Olympian Sharone Vernon-Evans led the Osaka Sakai Blazers to a pair of important victories in the Japanese V. League as his team secured back-to-back triumphs against the Panasonic Panthers on Saturday and Sunday.

The 23-year-old opposite scored 64 points across both matches and kept the Blazers part of the league’s top three, who will qualify for the Final Round. The team now have 60 points (20 wins, eight losses) and rank second. The standings are led by the Suntory Sunbirds, who have 57 points, but 21 wins and just five losses. The Panthers are fourth with 53 (17 wins, nine losses).

A Tokyo Olympian, Vernon-Evans is finding his groove in his first season playing in the Japanese League. He produced 36 points (33 kills, two blocks, one ace) in Saturday’s 3-2 (23-25, 28-26, 25-23, 20-25, 18-16) victory and came back to add 28 (23 kills, four blocks, one ace) in Sunday’s 3-1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-21, 25-21) triumph.

Polish national team captain Michal Kubiak was the Panthers’ top performer of the weekend, delivering 26 points (23 kills, two aces, one block) on Saturday and 14 (13 kills, one block) on Sunday.

League leaders the Sunbirds also had a solid weekend, taking all six points in two matches against VC Nagano Tridents. The defending champions prevailed in four sets (21-25, 25-18, 25-15, 25-19) on Saturday and got the job done in three (25-23, 25-21, 25-23) the next day.

Russian Olympic champion opposite Dmitriy Muserskiy led the Sunbirds in points in their first match with 22 points (19 kills, two blocks, one ace). The team’s top scorer in Sunday’s meeting was outside hitter Kosuke Hata, with 20 (13 kills, six blocks, one ace).

Third-placed Toray Arrows and fifth-placed Nagoya Wolfdogs split matches, with each side taking three points home. The Wolfdogs won the first match, on Saturday, in straight sets (25-21, 25-22, 25-23), with 24 points (19 kills, five blocks) by Polish star Bartosz Kurek.

The Arrows responded with a sweep (25-22, 28-26, 25-23) of their own that featured 23 points (17 kills, six aces) by Hungarian opposite Krisztian Padar.