Sakai Blazers master two upsets of Tokyo in Japan

The two upsets Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers handed Tokyo Great Bears were among the most interesting results in the five double headers of the 11^th leg in the men’s volleyball Daido Life SV.League in Japan.

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Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers, who were second from the bottom of the current standings before the weekend, surprised their visitors Tokyo Great Bears and sent them back home without any points earned. The home team hammered out a convincing 3-0 (25-23, 28-26, 25-19) shutout on Saturday, with 4,109 fans in the stands of the Kitakyushu City General Gymnasium in Fukuoka, and a match-high 19 points from Italian outside hitter Tommaso Rinaldi. On Sunday, Bartosz Kutrek and his teammates managed to pick up a set, but the three points once again went to Sakai, who celebrated a 3-1 (25-19, 22-25, 25-20, 25-20) victory in front of 4,461 spectators. This time, Danish opposite Ulrik Dahl was the best scorer of the game, contributing 24 points, including three aces and two blocks, to his team’s success. Sakai climbed to eighth place on a 7-15 win-loss ratio and 21 points. Tokyo kept their fifth place, now on 9-11 and 26.

In the big match-up of the weekend, defending champions and table leaders Suntory Sunbirds Osaka put together two away wins over Wolfdogs Nagoya and improved to 21-1 and 60, pushing their opponents down to fourth place on 13-9 and 39. Over 14 thousand fans flocked to the IG Arena in Aichi for each of the two matches. On Saturday, the visitors celebrated a 3-1 (20-25, 26-24, 25-22, 25-22) victory. Their outside hitter and captain Ran Takahashi was the best scorer of the match with 21 points, including three blocks. On Sunday, the game went five sets, 3-2 (25-19, 29-25, 25-19, 25-27, 15-12), with Suntory triumphant at the end of the tie-breaker. Russian opposite Dmitriy Muserskiy fueled his team to success with a match-high 30 points, including two aces and a block.

Hiroshima Thunders and Toray Arrows Shizuoka traded victories, splitting the six points from their double header in half. The first match went 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-21, 25-19) the way of the visitors from Shizuoka. Their Russian opposite Kirill Klets was on fire. He spiked 27 points at a 75% success rate and hit two aces towards a match-high 29 points. Hiroshima retaliated with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 27-25) sweep of Sunday’s match. The winners’ Brazilian opposite Felipe Roques emerged as the best scorer of the match with 18 points. The two teams remained neighbors in the table – Hiroshima in sixth place on 8-12 and 25, and Torray Arrows in seventh on 7-13 and 21.

JTEKT Stings Aichi won both their games at Voreas Hokkaido, but were pushed to five sets in the first one. Hosts Voreas came back from a set down twice during Saturday’s game, but the visitors from Aichi lived up to the expectations and claimed a 3-2 (25-17, 28-30, 25-22, 23-25, 15-13) victory. JTEKT’s American outside Torey DeFalco and French opposite Stephen Boyer impressed with their fantastic blocking effort that brought in six and five stuffs, respectively. They added one ace apiece and topped the scorer chart with 30 and 28 points. The second game also offered a tough fight, but it was resolved in three sets, 3-0 (26-24, 31-29, 25-20) in favor of Aichi with a match-high 15 points from Boyer. The two wins helped Stings climb to third place on 15-7 and 43, while Voreas dropped a spot to ninth place on 5-15 and 17.

Osaka Bluteon showed no mercy for bottom-placed Nagano Tridents and produced two emphatic shutouts of their visitors – 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-20) in front of 4,431 spectators on Saturday with a match-high 13 points from Cuban outside hitter Miguel Lopez, and 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-18) in front of 6,340 fans on Sunday with a match-high 15 points from opposite and captain Yuji Nishida, including two aces and four kill blocks. The 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship silver medalists stand second in the table on 18-4 and 52, while Nagano trail in 10^th on 3-19 and 14.

The 12^th leg of regular season action on January 24 and 25 will offer another full set of five double headers.

Men’s SV.League 2025-2026 12th leg:
Jan 24, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Nagano Tridents v Hiroshima Thunders
Jan 24, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Tokyo Great Bears v Voreas Hokkaido
Jan 24, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): JTEKT Stings Aichi v Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers
Jan 24, 17:05 local (08:05 UTC): Osaka Bluteon v Wolfdogs Nagoya
Jan 24, 18:05 local (09:05 UTC): Suntory Sunbirds Osaka v Toray Arrows Shizuoka
Jan 25, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Nagano Tridents v Hiroshima Thunders
Jan 25, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Tokyo Great Bears v Voreas Hokkaido
Jan 25, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): JTEKT Stings Aichi v Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers
Jan 25, 17:05 local (08:05 UTC): Osaka Bluteon v Wolfdogs Nagoya
Jan 25, 18:05 local (09:05 UTC): Suntory Sunbirds Osaka v Toray Arrows Shizuoka

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