Wolfdogs Nagoya were the team that took over the third place on 17-11 and 51 after two straight-set wins at Toray Arrows Shizuoka, who stayed in seventh, now on 9-17 and 27. Nagoya mastered a 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-19) sweep of their first game on Saturday. Their opposite Kento Miyaura put away two aces and two kill blocks towards a match-high 15 points and shared the top scorer honors with Toray Arrows’ outside Hiroki Ozawa. Sunday’s game went 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-15) with Miyaura topping the scorers chart again, this time with 14 points, including two aces and a block.
Defending champions and table leaders Suntory Sunbirds Osaka were mostly merciless against their visitors, table trailers Nagano Tridents. In the first match, they hammered out a 3-0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-19) shutout in front of almost five thousand spectators at the Asue Arena Osaka, with outside hitter Alain De Armas leading the way with 16 points, including two aces. His cross-court teammate and captain Ran Takahashi shined with five direct points from the serving line. On Sunday, Tridents pushed the third set deep into overtime, but the home team still closed the game in straight sets, 3-0 (25-13, 25-20, 33-31). This time, Takahashi emerged as the best scorer of the match with 20 points, while Russian opposite Dmitriy Muserskiy raised five kill blocks towards a 19-point total. Suntory top the chart on a dominant 27-1 and 78. Nagano are stuck at the bottom, in 10th place on 3-25 and 14.
