At the 2023 Asian Championships (venue: Urmia, Iran), the Japanese men's volleyball team faced Uzbekistan in their second group match and won 3-0 (25-8, 25-19, 25-13).
First set starting lineup
Japan
OH: Otsuka, Kai
MB: Yamauchi, Evadedan
OP: Miyaura
S: Ryu Yamamoto
L: Ogawa
*Positions: OH = outside hitter, MB = middle blocker, OP = opposite, S = setter, L = libero
Match Report
In the first set, OH Kai's service aces and OH Otsuka's spikes gave Japan a 7-2 lead from the beginning. MB Yamauchi then widened the gap to 15-4 with seven consecutive breaks, including five consecutive service aces. After that, OP Miyaura also got three service aces, and OH Kai and MB Eva De Dan's spikes gave Japan a large lead of 24-7 and a set point. Finally, MB Yamauchi scored the winning point, and Japan took the first set 25-8.
In the second set, Japan took a 9-4 lead thanks to spikes from OP Miyaura and blocks from MB Yamauchi. Uzbekistan also scored points mainly from the side attacks, but Japan broke through with blocks from MB Eva Dedan and widened the gap to 19-11. From here, Uzbekistan's consecutive blocks and Japan's attack mistakes allowed Uzbekistan to narrow the gap to 20-17. However, in the end, a service ace from MB Onodera, who entered the game as a substitute, was decided and Japan won this set 25-19.
In the third set, OH Kai and OP Miyaura's spikes helped Japan widen the lead to 6-2 early on. After that, OH Otsuka's spikes and others helped Japan widen the lead to 14-6. Uzbekistan also succeeded in consecutive breaks to 14-9 with service aces and blocks, but OH Kai's spikes and others helped Japan widen the lead again to 20-11. In the final stages, Ryu Yamamoto, the starting setter for the A national team, scored two attacks to score Japan's 24th point, and in the end, the opponent's combination error made it 25-13, and Japan won this set 3-0, defeating Uzbekistan.
Thoughts etc.
The team members were completely changed from yesterday (however, Takahashi Kentaro did not play due to injury, and Yamauchi and Onodera played half of the time).
However, the opponent was Uzbekistan, who was even weaker than the previous day's tie, and the first set was a serve fest with 10 service aces (lol). Yamauchi's five consecutive service aces was probably his best record in an official match. However, in the second set, he lost a lot of points on attack, so the content was not good. However, in the third set, he allowed his opponent to break consecutively, but overall I think he was able to play the match at a good tempo.
I think setter Yamamoto Ryu did a great job in this match. Even though he only joined the team shortly after the Universiade ended, he continued to supply sets to each attacker without any major breakdowns. He also used the middle and pipes to distribute the ball well, and I think his tossing work was superb and kept the audience entertained. The opponent's serves were weak, giving him more freedom, but it still takes more or less courage for a setter to use the middle, so it was great tossing work. It was also exciting to see the "Rakunan Quartet" combination with Otsuka on the Senior A National Team.
Kai was also good. With Otsuka and Kai facing each other from the OH position, I wondered who would take the second position (the position closer to the setter and with a heavy burden on serve reception), and it was Kai. Even so, he didn't make any major mistakes in serve reception, and his serves were as powerful as expected. His spikes were also high, and many of the balls went over the Uzbekistan block. He was also a pro at spiking from the right (if anything, he looked to be better at this). I wish his toss for the pipe was higher, but he still made it with no problem. Kai Yuto really is a player full of dreams.
Miyaura seemed to be out of form against Uzbekistan, losing many points in attacks. It also seemed like he was checking his combination with setter Yamamoto during the match. However, he was smiling a lot during the match and seemed relaxed from start to finish. I hope he will continue to improve his form in the final tournament. But will Nishida start again with Miyaura as a reserve? It seems like that will happen.
The uniforms of Uzbekistan did not have names on them. They all just said "UZBEKISTAN". It reminded me of a club shirt, and it made me sad. How did they feel about the match against Japan?
Today's venue was bigger than the day before, both in number and in energy, probably because of the match against Iran tonight. A lot of Iranian guys were shouting even during the pre-match practice (especially the "Nishida" calls (lol)). The Iranian crowd is very rowdy (lol). I haven't been to the Philippine venue yet, but unlike the "waaaah" you hear when watching Philippine idols, the roars of the guys "Woooooo!" echo through the venue. Personally, I don't dislike this atmosphere. If this is how it is against Japan, the match against Iran must be terrible. The Iranian journalist next to me said, "It's hell" (lol).
Now, next up is the final tournament with two days to go! 3 more matches to go! We'll be watching for the gold medal!
Photo: AVC, photographed by author
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