Red-hot Hisamitsu try to stop Japanese League leaders Victorina

Undefeated in their last three 2025-2026 women’s Daido Life SV.League matches, the Saga Hisamitsu Springs will try to continue their winning streak in Japan this week, but will have a big challenge to accomplish it, facing undefeated league leaders Victorina Himeji twice.

The teams will be face-to-face in one of the seven duels set to take place this weekend as part of the fourth leg of the regular season in the country, meeting for the first time on Saturday, at 14:05 local time (5:05 UTC), and then again on Sunday, at the same time.

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The home team in this weekend's encounters, Victorina benefited from a massive revamp, which brought players like Italian outside hitter Camilla Mingardi, libero Satomi Fukudome, Korean outside hitter Jae-Yeong Lee and Bulgarian middle blocker Mira Todorova to the team this season, to win all six matches they played in 2025-2026 so far and sit at the top of the standings.

Mingardi, who ranks seventh in the Japanese League in scoring with 109 points, and outside hitter Rui Nonaka, another new signing, with 98, have been the team's most productive players in the first three weeks of the season.

Hisamitsu found their best form midway through the second week of the regular season and won three straight matches heading into this weekend's encounters. After sweeping the Denso Airybees twice on the road last weekend, they moved up to sixth place in the standings with three wins and three losses and want to continue rising.

American opposite Stephanie Samedy, who produced 95 points so far, outside hitter Ayane Kitamado, who contributed 75, and Greek outside hitter Ólga Strántzali, who has 66 under her name, have played big roles in the team's recent strong run of form.

Hisamitsu have won four of the six matches against Victorina last season, dropping only the first two, held in October 2024. They have seven victories in the ten most recent matches involving the teams.

NEC and Kurobe also try to continue undefeated

Besides Victorina, two other teams will try to keep their undefeated statuses this weekend. Defending champions NEC Red Rockets Kawasaki, who are second, also with six victories, are one of them. They will be on the road, playing against fourth-placed Astemo Rivale Ibaraki (3-1), on Saturday and Sunday at 14:05 (5:05 UTC).

Also trying to keep their record clean will be third-placed Kurobe Aqua Fairies, which also emerged victorious in the first six matches of their campaign. They will play in front of their home fans, having the seventh-placed Gunma Green Wings (3-3) as their opponents. The duels will happen on Saturday and Sunday, at 14:05 (5:05 UTC).

The four remaining duels will have fifth-placed Denso (3-3) visiting tenth-placed PFU BlueCats Ishikawa Kahoku (2-4), eighth-placed Saitama Ageo Medics (2-2) going on the road against 12th-placed Toray Arrows Shiga (2-4), ninth-placed Osaka Marvelous (2-4) facing 13th-placed Okayama Seagulls (0-6) and 11th-placed Queenseis Kariya (2-4) meeting 14th-placed Aranmare Yamagata (0-6).

Women’s SV.League 2025-2026 4th leg:
Nov 1, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): PFU Blue Cats Ishikawa Kahoku v Denso Airybees
Nov 1, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Queenseis Kariya v Aranmare Yamagata
Nov 1, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Okayama Seagulls v Osaka Marvelous
Nov 1, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Astemo Rivale Ibaraki v NEC Red Rockets Kawasaki
Nov 1, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Kurobe Aqua Fairies v Gunma Green Wings
Nov 1, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Victorina Himeji v Saga Hisamitsu Springs
Nov 1, 15:05 local (06:05 UTC): Toray Arrows Shiga v Saitama Ageo Medics
Nov 2, 12:05 local (03:05 UTC): Okayama Seagulls v Osaka Marvelous
Nov 2, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): PFU Blue Cats Ishikawa Kahoku v Denso Airybees
Nov 2, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Queenseis Kariya v Aranmare Yamagata
Nov 2, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Astemo Rivale Ibaraki v NEC Red Rockets Kawasaki
Nov 2, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Kurobe Aqua Fairies v Gunma Green Wings
Nov 2, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Victorina Himeji v Saga Hisamitsu Springs
Nov 2, 15:05 local (06:05 UTC): Toray Arrows Shiga v Saitama Ageo Medics

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