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Sunday 23 July 2017

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Philippine NT tune-up game with Okayama Seagulls [Pictures]
22 July 2017, ZIP Arena Okayama
Public practice + volleyball clinic for kids + tune up game
Pictures by #岡山シーガルズ

First up: public practice from 9am to 12nn

Afterwards, both teams conducted a volleyball clinic for kids

Photo-op with kids!

Aki Maruyama (20), Moe Sasaki (7), Koyuki Okusu (22)

Alyssa Valdez (09) tries to block Mai Yamaguchi (02)

Alyssa Valdez spikes through 2 Okayama blockers

Syuka Kaneda (18) Mika Reyes (03) Aiza Maizo-Pontillas (08)

Rhea Dimaculangan (11) exchanges jerseys with Omasu (25)

Jerseys exchanged and signed!

Philippine NT + Okayama Seagulls

Jaja Santiago gives out autographs for Japanese fans

Francis Vicente and Mika Reyes interviewed by local Okayama news

Of course, after training, lafang!

DLSU teammates, now NT teammates!

Apparently, melon was a favorite!


Tuesday 18 July 2017

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Alyssa Valdez (3rd from left) and Mika Reyes (4th from left) meet with Okayama Mayor and Okayama Seagulls members Mai Yamaguchi (2nd from right) and Aki Maruyama (rightmost) | credit image to @marcreyesINQ

🇵🇭 Philippine NT to hold open practice w/ Okayama Seagulls

The Philippine National Volleyball Team have arrived in Okayama, Japan and have started their rigorous training in anticipation of two international tournaments in next month.

The Asian Senior Championships will be held here in Manila from 9-17 August, while volleyball in SEA Games will be held in Malaysia from 19-31 August.

The national team will be training with club team Okayama Seagulls for one week. The Volleyball NT is looking to improve their floor defense and transition game in this training camp. Okayama Seagulls is a Japanese club team currently under the V.Challenge league. Prominent players of Okayama Seagulls include Haruka Miyashita (Japanese NT setter) and Mai Yamaguchi (London Bronze medalist).

There will be an open practice and 5-set tune-up game on July 22 (Saturday) between the Philippine NT and Okayama Seagulls that will be open to the public (free admission). To those who would like to attend (support our NT!), details are as follows:
Date: 22 July 2017
Time: (GMT+9 JPN time) 9am-12nn practice, 3pm start of tune-up game (gates will open 8:30am)
Location: ZIP Arena Okayama (address: 岡山県岡山市北区いずみ町2−1−3, map link)

#LabanPilipinas 🇵🇭

Friday 14 July 2017

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source: okayama.v-seagulls.co.jp

🇵🇭 Philippine NT to train with 🇯🇵 Japanese club team


The Philippine National Volleyball Team will be undergoing training camp in Okayama, Japan with club team Okayama Seagulls in preparation for the Asian Senior Championships and South East Asian (SEA) Games this August 2017.


The Asian Senior Championships will be held here in Manila from 9-17 August, while volleyball in SEA Games will be held in Malaysia from 19-31 August.


The week-long training will commence on July 17 (Monday) and will end on July 25 (Tuesday). They will be training in the gymnasium of Okayama University of Science High School (map for reference).

The Volleyball NT is looking to improve their floor defense, discipline and transition game in this training camp. Okayama Seagulls is a Japanese club team currently under the V.Challenge league. Prominent players of Okayama Seagulls include Haruka Miyashita (Japanese NT setter) and Mai Yamaguchi (London Olympics Bronze medalist).



Sunday 9 July 2017

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And another World League season has come to an end: France won their 2nd FIVB World League title today at Curitiba, Brazil. This achievement is a big boost for #TeamYavbou after their dismal performance in Rio 2016. This is a hefty accomplishment, however, given their long history of being in Group 2 - they managed to get two World League titles in just two years after being promoted to Group 1 in 2015.

image from FIVB.com

The lineup that France mostly used this final leg is a pretty new team (only Ngapeth, Toniutti, Grebennikov and Le Roux are the holdovers, although Le Goff is still in the lineup), which shows how much upside the team has. Kevin Tillie, who’s one of their best defenders, isn’t in the lineup. Clevenot proved to be a revelation as the young outside hitter started in the final match (without starting in any of the games in the final leg). He was instrumental in France’s climb to the final leg since he was also used in the eliminations (over Lyneel).

Brazil had everything to win the title - the players and even the crowd behind them. It was really a toss coin in the last set. To be fair, their lineup isn’t what we’re used to seeing. Wallace and Lucarelli brought their best ‘til the end - it’s just that their middle blockers are lacking firepower.

image from FIVB.com
Canada and USA’s fight for the Bronze Medal was also a really good match. Who would have thought Canada will be in the final leg? Their coach Stephane Antiga brought them here after beefing up the Poland squad a few years back. This resulted to Canada winning their first ever World League medal.Despite the loss, USA still has something to be proud of. No Aarron Russell, David Smith, Matt Anderson, and Max Holt? They only had Micah Christenson, Erik Shoji and Taylor Sander with a mix of young guns in their current World League lineup. That’s what you get if you have a very good volleyball system - they can still manage to put up a contender team even without the whole first six! Let’s all wait for Benjamin Patch, he is such a good opposite hitter at 18 years old.

Lastly, Italy’s performance has relegated them to Group 2, what is up with that? They didn’t have Zaytsev and Juantorena and they only won 1 game. Simone Giannelli, even with his setting skills couldn’t lift this team up without good chemistry. They were really struggling even with the supposed “easy” opponents.

To review the final standing and awardees:

1
France
7
Belgium
2
Brazil
8
Poland
3
Canada
9
Bulgaria
4
USA
10
Argentina
5
Serbia
11
Iran
6
Russia
12
Italy

MVP:
Earvin N'Gapeth (FRA)
Best MBs:
Graham Vigrass (CAN)
Kévin Le Roux (FRA)
Best Setter:
Benjamin Toniutti (FRA)
Best OP:
Wallace de Souza (BRA)
Best OHs:
Ricardo Lucarelli Souza (BRA)
Earvin N'Gapeth (FRA)
Best L:
Blair Bann (CAN)

Saturday 8 July 2017

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Friday 7 July 2017

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Reset! We have now started another Olympic cycle in Volleyball!
The annual FIVB World Grand Prix is back!

Dominican Republic has returned to Group 1 as they topped last year’s WGP Group 2 while Germany has been relegated from Group 1 to Group 2. Korea has returned to participate in the tournament, although they are relegated to Group 2 this year (they were in Group 1 the last time they participated in 2014).

Schedule

Tuesday 18 October 2016

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International volleyball is back in Manila! Athough we've had a few hosting stints the past few years, this, by far, is the biggest yet! The chance to get to watch the best volleyball players in the world! We are talking about Olympians, MVPs, FIVB heroes, and world-class volleyball idols. This is an amazing event especially for real volleyball fans and very much a thing the Philippines could be proud of.


So which club teams are playing here and what can we expect from them?




Hisamitsu Springs


League: V.Premier League
Qualified via: Wildcard
CWC participation:
Watch out for: Miyu Nagaoka (OP), Risa Shinnabe (WS), Maja Tokarska (MB)

Hisamitsu Springs is a powerhouse Japanese club team with a long history of winning. With the recent appointment of Kumi Nakada as the new head coach of Japan’s national team, expect players from Hisamitsu to be staples in the NT lineup. Could this be the comeback of Risa? With Nagaoaka, Ishii, Risa, and Iwasaka who have NT experience, expect them to tough it out with the tall players from Europe and the Americas. As with any Japanese team, floor defense is their main advantage. Expect wingers to get most of the sets especially Nagaoaka as Japanese teams rely more on wingers via C sets. We expect Risa to top the receiving department as she always did with at least 70-80% reception (no jinx!). They are reinforced by Polish middle Maja Tokarska.

Lineup:

#
Name
Pos
Height
Spike
Block
1
Miyu Nagaoka ©
OP
179
308
303
2
Chizuru Koto
S
171
295
281
3
Risa Shinnabe
WS
173
293
285
4
Nana Iwasaka
MB
187
299
290
5
Yumi Mizuta
MB
181
300
285
6
Yuki Ishii
WS
180
302
287
7
Haruka Kanamori
MB
176
297
290
8
Rika Nomoto
WS
180
310
291
9
Maja Tokarska
MB
193
325
293
10
Hitomi Kodama
MB
179
284
277
11
Erika Sakae
S
168
273
267
12
Yuka Imamura
WS
175
295
290
13
Kiyora Obikawa
MB
183
298
290
14
Fumika Moriya
MB
180
302
285
15
Ayano Nakaoji
S
167
290
275
16
Risa Ishibashi
MB
178
292
284
17
Hikari Kato
WS
179
297
282
18
Mana Toe
L
163
278
264
19
Akane Ukishima
WS
172
286
273
20
Sayaka Tsutsui
L
158
260
247


Vakifbank Istanbul



League: Turkish Volleyball League 1
Qualified via: Wildcard
CWC participation: Third
Watch out for: Zhu Ting (WS), Kim Hill (WS)

If there is a team which has a target on its back, it's probably Vakifbank. With several choices at the outside: Rio Olympics MVP Zhu Ting, World Championships MVP Kim Hill, and Sonsirma who has led Vakif all these years. Expect Coach Guidetti to surprise us with his starting six. Will sloetjes get the opposite? Rasic is a mainstay and you know she can deliver as she also helped serbia advanced to the finals. She was leading in service and is a mutiawarded best blocker. We want to see Naz work hard to give her attackers a good set. The hard part for coach guidetti is to balance the wingers. Opposites dont really receive so we expect the two outside to help the libero. In this case, sonsirma and hill are the obvious choice but zhu ting's power is also needed.





Volero Zurich

 

League: Swiss League
Qualified via: Wildcard
CWC participation: Fourth time
Watch out for: Foluke Akinradewo (MB), Olesia Rykhliuk (OP)

Volero Zurich has been a frequent participant in CWC, having hosted the event in the last 3 years. Watch out for American Foluke Akinradewo and Ukranian Olesia Rykhliuk.


Lineup:
#
Name
Pos
Height
Spike
Block
1
Julie Lengweiler
188
305
300
3
Josefa Fabiola Almeida De Sousa Alves
184
300
285
4
Bojana Zivkovic
186
300
292
5
Dobriana Rabadzhieva
194
305
285
6
Gabi Schottroff
192
302
285
7
Olesia Rykhliuk
196
316
304
8
Silvija Popovic
178
286
276
9
Natalya Mammadova ©
196
319
302
10
Irina Malkova
192
306
294
12
Mariana Costa
181
295
283
13
Gizem Karadayi
178
290
285
14
Kenia Carcaces Opón
190
322
300
15
Ekaterina Orlova
193
307
301
16
Foluke Akinradewo
191
331
300
17
Laura Unternährer
179
303
283



Bangkok Glass


League: Thailand Volleyball League
Qualified via: 2015 Asian Club Champions
CWC participation: First
Watch out for: Thi Ngoc Hua (MB), Wilavan Apinyapong (WS), Pornpun Guedpard (S)

Bangkok Glass VC is a mix of new and veteran players. With Pornpun at the setter's position, expect every hitter to get her touches. She's mastered Pleumjit's quicks and even a decent blocker at the right side. Vietnamese import Thi Ngoc Hua is also an explosive middle as she can hit off tempo middle plays. You don't want to underestimate a longtime Thai national team captain Wilavan as she will definitely look for those empty spaces and even directly target the weakest defenders. She will beat the block if she gets a good set and plays good combinations in the middle. They suffered a huge loss vs NEC at the semifinals of the 2016 Asian Club Championships (in Laguna!) so we expect a comeback game from them!

Lineup:

#
Name
Pos
Height
Spike
Block
1
Maliwan Prabnarong
173
280
275
2
Thitapa Tongsidee
173
270
265
3
Sutadta Chuewulim
173
265
254
4
Wirawan Sattayanuchit
176
245
250
5
Pleumjit Thinkaow C
180
298
281
6
Thidarat Phengvechai
175
286
277
7
Pimpila Muekkhuntod
168
270
268
8
Wilavan Apinyapong
174
294
282
9
Jarasporn Bundasak
180
290
280
10
Jutarat Montripila
175
290
280
11
Pornpun Guedpard
170
270
267
12
Karina Krause
178
295
285
13
Witita Balee
170
270
262
14
Rasamee Supamool
178
285
276
15
Tikamporn Changkeaw
165
254
243
16
Ashley Frazier
187
302
294
17
Wanida Kodrueang
170
283
272
18
Anongporn Promrat
179
260
254
19
Pattrathip Santrakoon
165
265
254
20
Thi Ngoc Hoa Nguyen
183
295
293