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Rosamaria was pivotal in both of Denso's victories over the weekend (Photo: SV. League)

A pair of outstanding performances from Olympic medalist opposite Rosamaria Montibeller helped Denso Airybees Koriyama return to the qualification zone for the 2025-2026  women’s Daido Life SV.League playoffs this weekend.

The Brazilian scored 69 points across two matches and helped her team beat the 13th-placed Okayama Seagulls twice on the road and move up from ninth to eighth place in the current standings.

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After failing to have a perfect week in the SV.League for four weeks, Denso managed to do it in Okayama, beating the Seagulls in back-to-back matches to improve their season record to 16 wins and 18 losses - they have ten more regular season matches to stay inside the top eight.

Denso started Saturday's match behind, but showed strength and counted on 36 points (33 kills, two blocks, one ace) from Rosamaria to come back and triumph 3-1 (19-25, 25-22, 25-18, 25-19).

On Sunday, the team dropped the second set, but also managed to come out on top, winning 3-1 (25-22, 20-25, 26-24, 25-22). This time, the Brazilian star contributed 33 points, with 32 kills and one block.

"It was a very difficult match, and I'm glad that we found a way to win it, because this was a big one for us," head coach Takeshi Tsuji said. "We had some difficult moments dealing with Okayama's offense, and that got our players a little stressed, but they were able to keep their focus."

To get into eighth place, Denso passed the Saitama Ageo Medics, who dropped both of their road games to defending champions and third-placed Osaka Marvelous, losing 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-15) on Saturday and again in straight sets (25-15, 25-19, 25-21) on Sunday.

NEC win fifth straight

League leaders NEC Red Rockets Kawasaki are now on a five-match winning streak after beating the seventh-placed Gunma Green Wings twice at home. On Saturday, team counted on 17 points (16 kills, one block) from American Giovanna Day and another 16 (11 kills, three aces, two blocks) from fellow outside hitter Yoshino Sato to secure a 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 27-25) victory.

On Sunday, NEC was pushed harder, winning 3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 25-20, 25-20). Three of their players went over 20 points in that encounter - outside hitter Ai Hirota led the team with 25, followed by Yoshino with 23 and Italian opposite Sylvia Nwakalor with 21.

NECR vs. GUNMA GREENWINGS - Match Highlights

Second-placed Saga Hisamitsu Springs also had a clean weekend, beating 12th-placed Toray Arrows Shiga twice on the road - they won in 3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-21) on Saturday and repeated the 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-21) scoreline on Sunday.

The most competitive duels of the weekend featured the fourth-placed PFU BlueCats Ishikawa Kahoku and tenth-placed Astemo Rivale Ibaraki. Despite playing on the road, the BlueCats won both matches, prevailing 3-2 (15-25, 25-19, 25-20, 20-25, 15-11) on Saturday and 3-1 (27-25, 25-20, 29-31, 25-14) on Sunday.

Ranked fifth, Victorina Himeji had no trouble beating 14th-placed Aranmare Yamagata twice on the road - they earned a 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-15) victory on Saturday and repeated the 3-0 (26-24, 25-12, 25-20) success on Sunday.

The seventh and last double header of the weekend had the sixth-placed Queenseis Kariya defeating the 11th-placed Kurobe Aqua Fairies 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-22, 25-18) on Saturday and 3-0 (26-24, 25-19, 25-20) on Sunday.

The 19th leg of the regular season will again have a full set of seven double headers, with match being played on Saturday and Sunday.

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