The Japanese men's volleyball team is starting up under the direction of new coach Tille, the Frenchman who won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Ishikawa Yuki, Takahashi Ai and other starters at the Paris Olympics joined the team in the third week of the Chiba tournament, meaning that most of the team was made up of players with little experience playing for the national team.
Perhaps for this reason, up until the second week they aimed for a win rate of 501 TP3T, but in the first week they defeated China, Serbia, and the Netherlands, and in the second week they defeated France and Slovenia, and are currently winning with a record of 5 wins and 3 losses.
In addition, the team's current ranking in the qualifying round is 4th out of 18 teams, putting them within the range to qualify for the final round.
Results so far
Week 1: Xi'an (China)
vs china
3-0 (25-23, 25-14, 25-22)
vs Poland
●1-3 (25-27, 22-25, 25-18, 37-39)
vs Serbia
3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 26-24)
vs Netherlands
3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-18)
Week 2: Burgas (Bulgaria)
vs Bulgaria
●0-3 (25-27, 23-25, 19-25)
vs France
3-2 (25-22, 19-25, 22-25, 25-20, 15-11)
vs Ukraine
⚫︎2-3 (24-26, 17-25, 18-25, 25-22, 13-15)
vs Slovenia
3-0 (27-25, 25-15, 25-16)
Rankings after Week 2
1 Brazil 7 wins, 1 loss, 20 points, 23/8 sets
2 Poland 6 wins, 2 losses, 18 points, 21/10 sets
3 Italy 6 wins, 2 losses, 17 points, 21/12 sets
4 Japan 5 wins, 3 losses, 15 points, 18/11 sets
5 France 5 wins, 3 losses, 15 points, 19/12 sets
6 Ukraine 5 wins, 3 losses, 15 points, 19/14 sets
7 Argentina 5 wins, 3 losses, 13 points, 17/15 sets
8 Germany 4 wins, 4 losses, 15 points, 19/16 sets
9 Cuba 4 wins, 4 losses, 13 points, 18/17 sets
10 Iran 4 wins, 4 losses, 12 points, 17/18 sets
11 Bulgaria 4 wins, 4 losses, 11 points, 14/15 sets
12 Slovenia 4 wins, 4 losses, 11 points, 13/16 sets
13 USA 4 wins, 4 losses, 10 points, 13/17 sets
14 Canada 3 wins, 5 losses, 11 points, 15/17 sets
15 China 2 wins, 6 losses, 7 points, 8/19 sets
16 Türkiye 2 wins, 6 losses, 6 points, 8/18 sets
17 Netherlands 1 win 7 losses 4 points 9/22 set
18 Serbia 1 win, 7 losses, 3P, 7/22 sets
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Attack, serve and serve reception support good results
Up until the second week, Japan's volleyball has been supported by strong attacks, a large number of service aces, and solid serve reception.
First, the attack. The team's attack success rate of 49.31 TP3T was third out of 18 teams, and the attack effectiveness rate (= (scored - conceded runs) / number of hits) was 35.31 TP3T, fourth highest.
The player leading Japan's attack points is opposite Kento Miyaura. With 101 points, he is the team's highest scorer and the seventh highest overall. He had the most experience playing for the national team up until the second week, and he was able to convert the high balls he received at key moments into points many times by hitting them powerfully.
Among the outside hitters, Tatsunori Otsuka scored 72 points and his attack efficiency rate of 401 TP3T was the best among Japanese side attackers. Among the middle blockers, Shunichiro Sato made his presence felt with 28 points and an attack efficiency rate of 61%.
Of course, we should also add that Oya, who was the main setter in this tournament, also gave a stable performance.
Next is the serve. Japan has been doing well in this tournament, with 1.48 service aces per set, second overall.
Miyaura is also leading the way in terms of service aces, with 11 aces so far, the most on the team and 7th overall.
Outside hitter Yuto Kai followed with 9 and Masama Tomita with 6. Akito Yamazaki, who often played as a relief server, and Sato, who had a high break rate with his hybrid serve, also each scored 4 aces.
Finally, serve reception. His serve reception success rate was 521 TP3T, ranking third, and even more noteworthy was the fact that he lost points during serve reception, meaning the number of service aces he conceded was the lowest at 0.76 per set.
The backbone of this solid serve reception is Tomita and libero Tomohiro Ogawa. They are ranked 2nd and 5th in the best receiver rankings with high serve reception success rates of 61% and 591 TP3T, respectively.
In terms of the fewest runs conceded, Otsuka also performed well. Despite receiving 113 serves, the most on the team, he only conceded three runs, supporting the team.
This high level of performance in attack, serve and serve reception has led to the team's impressive result of fourth place, despite being without their main players.
My personal MVPs so far:
Kento Miyaura
Position: Opposite
117 points (101 attacks, 11 serves, 5 blocks)
Attack Effectiveness Rate: 34%
Our Mr. Miyaura.
He has started in all eight games so far. At 190cm, he is the smallest of the team's opposites, but his high jumps and powerful spikes and serves have made him a prolific scorer.
Even though the outside hitters struggled to score, he showed consistent performance throughout the tournament, especially in crucial situations where he was able to hit difficult high balls to save the team from pinch on multiple occasions.
He is expected to perform well as a starter even after Ishikawa and the others join the team, so we hope he will correct his issues so far, such as being blocked, and make an even greater impact in the third week and the final round.
Tomohiro Ogawa
Position: Libero
Serve reception success rate: 59%
Along with Miyaura, he was another man who started in all eight games.
In serve reception, he easily returned many serves that would normally be taken as aces with an A pass. In digs, he turned many pinches into opportunities with incredible positioning and reaction, including a close-range straight spike.
As the second setter, he provided attackers with easy-to-hit sets from jump sets. He also scored points by giving B-quicks to middle blockers.
Furthermore, he actively called out words and gave instructions during the game, and it seemed like he supported Japan's floor defense as a second coach.
Looking at all the teams so far, Ogawa is the best libero.
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