In the big match-up of the 2025-2026 men’s Daido Life SV.League season opening leg in Japan, last regular season winners Osaka Bluteon and defending champions Suntory Sunbirds Osaka traded four-set victories in Kobe with stellar contributions from Yuji Nishida, Miguel Lopez, Dmitriy Muserskiy and Ran Takahashi.
SV-Men 2025-2026
Bluteon and Suntory trade four-set wins in Japan
Recap of men’s SV.League 1st-leg matches
Published 08:05, 26 Oct 2025
Suntory Sunbirds’ Dmitriy Muserskiy in attack
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In Friday’s season opener, well over nine thousand fans on the stands witnessed Osaka Bluteon’s 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-20) victory over Suntory Sunbirds Osaka. In that game, Cuban outside Miguel Lopez led the winners with 17 points, including one ace and one kill block. Bluteon’s opposite Yuki Nishida added another 15, including one block. Suntory Sunbirds’ Russian opposite Dmitriy Muserskiy was the best scorer of the match with 27 points. The number of spectators was even higher for the second game. Muserskiy led his team to a 3-1 (25-15, 25-15, 20-25, 27-25) win in Saturday’s encounter with 30 points, including an impressive six blocks and an ace. Suntory Sunbirds’ outside hitter and captain Ran Takahashi added another 17 points, while Nishida was Bluteon’s leading scorer with 16 points.
Voreas Hokkaido and JTEKT Stings Aichi also traded victories in their double header this weekend. The team that finished bottom of the standings last season surprised their visitors with a 3-1 (25-23, 18-25, 27-25, 25-21) win in the first match on Saturday. Outside hitter and captain Kota Ikeda and opposite Chang Yu-Sheng of Chinese Taipei led Voreas to victory with 19 points apiece, while Aichi’s French opposite Stephen Boyer emerged as the best scorer of the game with 20 points, including three aces and two blocks. Last season’s silver medalists got back at their hosts on Sunday with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-22) sweep. American outside Torey DeFalco was on fire for Aichi, spearheading the winners with 26 points, including one block.
Nagano Tridents, the team that finished second from the bottom last season, also stunned their visitors Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers and did it in both matches with four-set victories. On Saturday, Nagano produced a 3-1 (25-22, 25-18, 21-25, 25-23) win, with three of their players leading the way with 20 points each – Danish outside Oskar Madsen put up five kill blocks and fired three aces, Canadian opposite Matthew Neaves registered two kill blocks, while outside Yuji Kudo hit one ace. Sakai’s legendary American outside Matthew Anderson delivered a match-high 24 points, including three aces and a block. Sunday’s game went 3-1 (25-18, 25-22, 23-25, 25-20) Nagano’s way, with Neaves rising as the top scorer of the match. He put away three kill blocks and an ace to finish with a total of 23 points.
In one of the weekend’s five-setters, Hiroshima Thunders upset their hosts Wolfdogs Nagoya on Saturday. With a match-high 23 points, including two blocks, from trending American outside Cooper Robinson, they celebrated a 3-2 (23-25, 25-22, 25-14, 21-25, 15-12) victory. Nagoya struck back the next day, hammering out a 3-0 (25-22, 27-25, 25-19) shutout. Outside Taito Mizumachi led the team with 13 points, including two aces, while Robinson was once again the top scorer of the match, with 15 points under his belt.
Saturday’s game between Toray Arrows Shizuoka and Tokyo Great Bears went the way of the visitors from the capital after a hard-fought five-set battle. Polish star opposite Bartosz Kurek marked his return to Japan with a match-high 28 points towards his team’s 3-2 (26-24, 27-25, 22-25, 21-25, 15-13) success. His tally featured four kill blocks and an ace. The next day, Toray Arrows took their revenge with a 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 19-25, 25-20) victory. This time, Russian opposite Kirill Klets was above all in scoring as he produced three aces, two kill blocks and 23 spike kills towards match-high 28-point total.
Another five double headers will be played in the second leg from November 1 to 3.
Men’s SV.League 2025-2026 2nd leg:
Nov 01, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Suntory Sunbirds Osaka v Tokyo Great Bears
Nov 01, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Nagano Tridents v Wolfdogs Nagoya
Nov 01, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Osaka Bluteon v Voreas Hokkaido
Nov 01, 16:05 local (07:05 UTC): Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers v Hiroshima Thunders
Nov 02, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Suntory Sunbirds Osaka v Tokyo Great Bears
Nov 02, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Nagano Tridents v Wolfdogs Nagoya
Nov 02, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers v Hiroshima Thunders
Nov 02, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): JTEKT Stings Aichi v Toray Arrows Shizuoka
Nov 02, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Osaka Bluteon v Voreas Hokkaido
Nov 03, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): JTEKT Stings Aichi v Toray Arrows Shizuoka
