Japanese League quarterfinal matchups set

The eight teams that will compete in the playoffs of the 2024-2025 women’s Daido Life SV.League are now aware of their opponents in the quarterfinal round as the tournament’s regular season came to an end this weekend, settling the final positions for each of the 14 teams that are part of the league.

Set to start next Friday, the best-of-three quarterfinal series will have top-ranked Osaka Marvelous facing eighth-placed Astemo Rivale Ibaraki, second-placed and defending champions NEC Red Rockets Kawasaki meeting seventh-placed Toray Arrows Shiga, third-placed SAGA Hisamitsu Springs battling sixth-placed Victorina Himeji, and fourth-placed Denso Airybees challenging fifth-placed Saitama Ageo Medics.

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The matchups were determined after the conclusion of the two duels between Osaka and Toray. The team from Shiga entered the weekend in fifth place, but after falling to the league leaders twice, went down to seventh, ending their regular season campaign with 26 wins and 18 losses.

On Saturday, when the teams first met, Osaka benefited from 23 points (21 kills, two aces) scored by outside hitter Kotona Hayashi to win 3-1 (25-22, 25-22, 23-25, 25-19). On Sunday, the team got a sweep (29-27, 25-14, 25-13), with outside hitters Yuki Nishikawa and Mikoto Shima standing out as their leading scorers with 13 points each.

“We finished first in the regular season, and that’s a reward to the players’ motivation and hard work,” said head coach Daisuke Sakai. “We want to continue growing so we can win the title.”

The last weekend of the regular season also saw a double-header between 11^th-placed Okayama Seagulls and 14^th-placed Gunma Green Wings. Each team took a win home, with Gunma triumphing 3-2 (20-25, 13-25, 25-20, 25-22, 15-8) on Saturday and Okayama responding with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-23, 25-19) victory on Sunday.

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