The SV.League weekend opened on Friday with a thrilling five-setter at the Yoyogi National Stadium 2nd Gymnasium in Tokyo. Coming back from two sets down, hosts Tokyo Great Bears mounted a hard-fought 3-2 (24-26, 19-25, 25-17, 34-32, 15-10) victory over Nagano Tridents. Argentinean outside hitter Luciano Vicentin contributed 26 points towards his team’s success, including one ace and one kill block and emerged as the best scorer of the match. Saturday’s duel between the two teams was resolved in straight sets, but was no less dramatic as the third one was pushed so deep into overtime that finished only after a total of 80 rallies were completed. The home team celebrated victorious with Vicentin leading the way again, with 20 points, including four kill blocks, towards a 3-0 (25-15, 25-23, 41-39) win. Tokyo Great Bears improved to 3-3 and 8 in fifth place, while Nagano are in seventh place on 2-4 and 8.
In their double header, Hiroshima Thunders and JTEKT Stings Aichi traded four-set wins. The first game in Hiroshima went 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 29-27, 25-21) the way of the home team. Brazilian opposite Felipe Roque led the winners with 23 points, including two aces and two blocks, Aichi’s French opposite Stephen Boyer delivered a match-high 26 points, including one ace and one block. Stings got back at Thunders on Sunday with a 3-1 (25-17, 25-18, 22-25, 25-16) away victory. Once again, Boyer emerged on top of the scorers’ chart, with 22 points, including two blocks. Aichi are now on 4-2 and 11 in third place, while Hiroshima stand sixth on 3-3 and 8.
