Osaka Bluteon won the title in the Japanese SV.League and ended a seven-year wait for a championship trophy. The club last triumphed in the 2018/2019 season, and now secured its eighth title in its history.
In the decisive third match of the final series, Osaka Bluteon defeated Suntory Sunbirds 3:0 (25:22, 25:20, 25:18) and closed the series with a 2-1 victory.
The finals offered a spectacular derby between the two leading Japanese clubs. Suntory won the first match 3:1 (26:24, 22:25, 25:16, 25:23), but Osaka Bluteon leveled the series after a 3:2 (13:25, 25:23, 25:22, 20:25, 15:9) success in the second game, leading to the decisive third match in Yokohama.
Statistics of the key figures in the final
Statistics from the decisive third match also demonstrated Osaka Bluteon's superiority in key moments.
For the champions, Cuban outside hitter Miguel Ángel López was the top scorer with 19 points, including 17 in attack, 1 block, and 1 ace. Captain Yuji Nishida added 15 points, including 3 aces from serve.
On the other side, despite Suntory Sunbirds' loss, Russian opposite hitter Dmitriy Muserskiy finished with 18 points (15 attacks, 2 blocks, and 1 ace) and was the most significant threat to Osaka's defense.
Ran Takahashi finished the final with a modest 7 points, as Osaka Bluteon successfully limited his influence in attack.
This also proved to be one of the key factors for Osaka Bluteon's decisive victory in the third match.
French setter Antoine Brizard, an Olympic champion with France, was among the key figures throughout the season, while Cuban Miguel Ángel López provided significant stability in attack.
On the other side, the big name was Ran Takahashi – currently the most popular Japanese volleyball player and one of Suntory Sunbirds' main figures. It was around him and Yuji Nishida that Japanese media built much of the interest in the final series.
Huge interest in the matches
The final series once again demonstrated the enormous interest in volleyball in Japan. The new SV.League reports a significant increase in attendance and TV viewership, and the matches between Osaka Bluteon and Suntory Sunbirds became the face of the new era of Japanese professional volleyball.
According to official data, one of the matches between the two teams during the season set an attendance record with over 9000 spectators at 'Glion Arena Kobe'.
This was also the last season in Japan for the London 2012 Olympic champion Dmitriy Muserskiy, who was part of the Suntory Sunbirds squad.
Meanwhile, Polish media continue to claim that Ran Takahashi is getting closer to a transfer to the Polish champion Bogdanka LUK Lublin, where Bulgarian national player Alex Grozdanov plays.
