Japan Women's Volleyball Team kicks off the tournament with a straight win over Cameroon! Akimoto scores 18 points as a starter [2025 Women's World Volleyball Championship]

The qualifying round for the 2025 Women's Volleyball World Championship (World Volleyball) will be held on Saturday, August 23rd, with Japan, in Pool C, facing off against Cameroon.

Japan defeated Cameroon 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-19).

In addition to outside hitter (OH) Ishikawa, setter (S) Seki, and libero (L) Kojima, who were key players in this year's Nations League, Japan also started players who had few opportunities to play in the Nations League, including outside hitters Kitamado and Akimoto, and middle blockers (MB) Araki and Yamada.

In the early stages of the first set, Cameroon took a big lead of 1-6 due to their stiffness, but Ishikawa and Akimoto, who was in the opposite (OP) position for this match, scored points to tie the score at 11-11 in the middle of the set. After that, Japan took the lead to 13-12 with a block, and then with Akimoto's service ace, Japan gradually extended their lead and won the first set 25-21.

In the second set, Seki started off with three consecutive service aces. Cameroon then widened the gap with blocks, but Japan continued to maintain their lead and took the second set 25-17.

In the third set, Japan started with MB Shimamura, MB Miyabe, and L Fukudome. They struggled again with Cameroon's blocks at the start, allowing them to fall behind 1-5. However, with consecutive service aces from Akimoto, Japan turned the game around to 7-6, and with spikes from Shimamura and a service ace from Seki, Japan took the lead and won the third set 25-19, securing a straight victory.

Overall, Japan was unable to score as they wanted on attack, allowing Cameroon to score 11 block points in the third set. However, they managed to score a total of 10 service aces in the three sets, and their solid floor defense prevented their opponents from scoring easily on attack, allowing them to win the rallies.

Akimoto had the most points with 18.

Japan - Cameroon
3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-19)

Japan
Starting lineup: S. Seki (5), OH. Kitamado (10), MB. Araki (5), OH. Akimoto (18), OH. Ishikawa (11), MB. Yamada (5), L. Kojima
Substitutes: MB Shimamura (4), L Fukudome, MB Miyabe (2), OH Iwasawa (0), S Nakagawa (0)

Cameroon
Starting lineup: S Amana (1), OP Adiana (9), OH Balan (1), OP Bramdai (11), OH Brandi (5), MB Oromo (4), L Ngameni
Substitutes: S Mbira (0), OH Tshombe (0), OH Andrea (2), MB Nabyon (5)

Match stats▼
https://en.volleyballworld.com/volleyball/competitions/women-world-championship/schedule/22401/#teamstats

The next match will be against Ukraine on Monday, August 25th at 7pm.

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Photo: Volleyball World