Victorina Himeji gave up the second place to Saga on set ratios after being forced to five sets in one of the matches in their away double header against Queenseis Kariya. In Saturday’s game, Himeji took the three points with a 3-1 (26-24, 25-13, 20-25, 25-19) win on the wings of a match-high 22 points from Italian outside Camilla Mingardi. On Sunday, however, they had to come back from a set down twice before emerging with a 3-2 (14-25, 26-24, 23-25, 25-21, 15-10) victory. 30 points put Mingardi on top of the scorers chart again, one point above Kariya’s Russian outside Sofya Kuznetsova. Queenseis fell to 10th place on 7-9 and 23.
Defending champions Osaka Marvelous also wasted a point in the second game of their home double header against Astemo Rivale Ibaraki. After a 3-0 (25-20, 28-26, 25-18) sweep of Saturday’s match with a game-high 18 points from Belgian opposite Lise Van Hecke, on Sunday, they had to turn the course of the match from two sets down to a 3-2 (23-25, 24-26, 25-18, 25-17, 15-13) victory. Osaka’s Japanese opposite Ameze Miyabe and Astemo’s American striker Mackenzie May shared the top scorer honors of that match with 25 points each. Marvelous stand fourth in the table on 11-5 and 35, while Astemo are 11th on 4-10 and 14.
Gunma Green Wings also wasted a point at home, but in the first of their games against Toray Arrows Shiga, which they won by a hard-fought 3-2 (23-25, 27-25, 24-26, 25-20, 15-12). Polish outside Olivia Rozanski contributed a leg-high 35 points, including three blocks and two aces. On Sunday, Gunma secured the full three points with a 3-1 (25-16, 25-22, 28-30, 25-19) victory. This time, outside Momoko Niida led the way with a team-high 19 points, while opposite Airi Furukawa delivered a match-high 24 points for Toray Arrows. Gunma are running in fifth place on 10-6 and 29, while Toray Arrows are third from the bottom, in 12th place on 3-13 and 9.
