Last Saturday, I went to see the Kanto University League Division 1-2 promotion/relegation match at Komazawa University Tamagawa Campus. It had been a long time since I last watched a university league live (about three years). There were four men's and women's matches, but I didn't make it to the women's match so I started watching from the middle of the first set of the third match. I was watching from the gallery seats, but the basketball goal in front of me was in the way when I sat down, so I mostly watched standing up lol.
The first match was between Senshu University, ranked 11th in the first division, and Keio University, ranked 2nd in the second division. I have been quietly supporting Yoshida (3rd year, Keio High School, the third son of the Yoshida brothers) of Keio University since high school, so I wanted him to return to the first division and welcome his fourth year. He is originally a setter, but due to team circumstances, he was converted to OH from this year's Waseda-Keio match. His serves and spikes are amazing, but his reception skills are also high, and he was awarded the reception award in the fall league. In the early part of the match, Keio's wish was granted, as they were at their pace. In particular, Keio's blocks were functioning well, and Senshu was not able to attack comfortably. There was also a large difference between the two opposites, with Keio's Tomizawa (4th year, Keio High School) scoring most of the spikes, while Senshu's Kubo (3rd year, Miyakonojo Technical High School) made many mistakes. However, from the third set onwards, Senshu came back to life thanks to Fujinaka's (first year, Ube Commercial High School, third son of the Fujinaka brothers) skillful serve (his form is very similar to Miyaura's at Waseda!) and spikes, and ace Kubo also started hitting. Meanwhile, Keio's ace Tomizawa started making more mistakes, and gradually there were scenes where setter Tani (second year, Tokushima Joto)'s tosses did not match up with the attackers and they were unable to attack. Senshu then won the third and fourth sets in a row, and in the fifth set, Senshu also took a large lead from the beginning, and Keio fought back with both Yoshida and Maruki (fourth year, Kawagoe Higashi High School) overtime, but Senshu kept up the momentum and won a major comeback victory. As a result, Senshu remained in the first division, and Keio remained in the second division.
I get the impression that Keio was slow to respond. Personally, I'd like to see setter Yoshida again next season by somehow recruiting a new freshman with good reception and spiking skills. Is there anyone out there?
The second men's match was between Komazawa University, ranked 12th in the first division, and Hosei University, ranked 1st in the second division. Komazawa lost all of their first division league matches in the fall, while Hosei won all of their second division league matches, so I thought Hosei would win, but that wasn't the case. I was rooting for a second division team this time because I knew a player on Hosei (Nishida (4th year, Chinzei High School, the setter when they were runners-up in the Spring High School Championships)), but before I knew it, Komazawa had won the first and second sets in a row and was on the verge of staying in the league. However, Hosei, bolstered by powerful back attacks from substitute OP Muraoka (3rd year, Gifu Prefectural Commercial High School), won the third and fourth sets in a row. I left at this point due to time constraints. Just like the previous match, I thought Hosei would win and be promoted to the first division, but Komazawa won. What happened? Well, that's what makes volleyball so interesting. With this momentum, I think I'll go see the All Japan Intercollegiate Championships starting on the 26th of this month.
Senshu University - Keio University
3-2(19-25, 26-28, 25-20, 25-17, 15-9)
○Komazawa University - ●Hosei University
3-2(25-19, 25-12, 22-25, 23-25, 15-8)
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