Aug. 16 - USA vs. Japan, 1:00 p.m. EST
By Mas Shibata
The top-ranked USA women’s indoor volleyball team, which finished 5-0 in Olympic pool play, will play fifth-ranked Japan in the quarterfinals on Tuesday (August 16). In this scouting report, Art of Coaching contributing editor Mas Shibata takes a detailed look at Japan.
Click here to download the complete scouting report
1 Miyu Nagaoka – OPP – 5’11” – 25
2 Haruka Miyashita – S – 5’10” – Age 22
3 Saori Kimura – OH – 6’1” – Age 29
5 Arisa Sato – Libero – 5’5” – Age 27
6 Yurie Nabeya – OH – 5’10” – Age 22
7 Mai Yamaguchi – MB – 5’10” – Age 33
9 Haruyo Shimamura – MB – 6’0” – Age 24
11 Erika Araki - MB – 6’1” – Age 32
12 Yuki Ishii – OH – 5’11” – Age 25
16 Saori Sakoda – OPP – 5’9” – Age 28
18 Kotoki Zayasu – DS – 5’3” – Age 23
20 Kanami Tashiro – S – 5’8” – Age 25
General observations
- In their match vs. Brazil, Japan began in Rotation 1 whether they were serving or receiving serve. Japan started Set 1 with lefty opposite Miyu Nagaoka (#1) and outside hitter Yuki Ishii (#12). These two players were replaced in sets 2 and 3 due to attack errors by opposite Nagaoka and reception errors by outside hitter Ishii. In set 1, Ishii was Brazil’s primary serving target.
- In sets 2 and 3, Ishii was replaced by outside hitter Yurie Nabeya (#6). Opposite Nagaoka was replaced by Saori Sakoda (#16). In Set 3, middle blocker Haruyo Shimamura (#9) was replaced by Mai Yamaguchi (#7).
- All servers for Japan use some form of jump float serve except for lefty opposite Nagaoka, who uses a jump topspin.
Offense - Rotation Notes
Rotation 1: Setter right back
In set 1, lefty opposite Nagaoka (#1) sprinted from the left sideline to the right sideline to attack, allowing OH Saori Kimura (#3) to stack on the left side to attack the “Go” set. Nagaoka was primarily a line-side attacker. Kimura’s shot of preference was a sharp cross-court attack.
In sets 2 & 3, opposite Sakoda (#16) replaced Nagaoka. Instead of stacking the attackers to the left side of the court, they split their attackers with Kimura (#3) passing from the right side to attack the “Red” set. Sakoda attacked the “Go” set in serve receive. Both attackers primarily hit high seam deep cross court toward the corners.
The 2 playsets in Rotation 1 were a Go/ 4 – 1 – Red that they ran 9 times and a Go/4 – 3 – Red that they ran 5 times.
Rotation 2: Setter right front
The two attack patterns in this rotation were similar to rotation 4. When the front-row attackers split, the back-row opposite hit the “Pipe.” Middle Araki (#11) attacked her slide sets high seam to the cross-court corner.
Rotation 3: Setter middle front
In sets 2 and 3 when Ishii (#12) was replaced, Brazil targeted outside hitter Kimura (#3) in serve receive. As a result, back-row opposite Sakoda (#16) was set often with the “D.” Her shot of choice was mostly a high seam cross-court deep corner attack.
Rotation 4: Setter left front
There are two primary attack patterns in the two-hitter rotations for Japan. When the outside hitter and middle blocker both run sets in front of the setter, the back row opposite hits the “D.” When the outside hitter runs the “Go” and the middle blocker attacks behind the setter, the back-row opposite hits the “Pipe.”
Rotation 5: Setter left back
Japan split their hitters and ran some more balanced playset combinations by having the middle run some 3’s, 1’s and A’s. They keep their offense spread by running Go’s and Red’s in system and modifying them to 4’s and 5’s in out-of-system situations. Middle Shimamura (#9) hits primarily in front of the setter running 3’s & 1’s; middle Yamaguchi (#7) hits behind the setter running A’s, B’s & C’s.
Rotation 6: Setter middle back
Japan split their hitters and overloaded their attackers to the left side by running a Go – 3 – Red playset 6 out of 7 serve-receive plays. 50% of the sets were “Go” sets and 50% were “Red” sets. They did not set their middle in serve receive in this rotation.
Click here to view the serve receive formations and plays for Japan
Click here to view the serve receive formations and plays for USA
Defense
- Japan plays a fairly typical middle-middle read defense with the Libero playing left-back.
- They are not a tall team across the net and rely on control blocks for transition offensive opportunities vs. stuff blocking for points. Because of the shorter average block, the defense could be susceptible to high seam deep-court attacks.
- In order to compete with and upset the USA team, Japan must cover extraordinarily well and execute on their out-of-system opportunities by minimizing their unforced errors. They are generally a finesse team that must rely on their will to compete to be successful in the match.
1 Alisha Glass – setter (height: 6-0; age 28) – Leland, Michigan; Penn State
2 Kayla Banwarth – libero (5-10; 27) - Dubuque, Iowa; University of Nebraska
3 Courtney Thompson – setter (5-8; 31) – Kent, Washington; University of Washington
5 Rachael Adams – middle blocker (6-2; 26) - Cincinnati, Ohio; University of Texas
6 Carli Lloyd – setter (5-11; 27) – Bonsall, California; University of California-Berkeley
10 Jordan Larson – outside hitter (6-2; 29); Hooper, Nebraska; University of Nebraska
12 Kelly Murphy – opposite (6-2; 26) Wilmington, Illinois; University of Florida
13 Christa Dietzen – middle blocker (6-2; 29) Hopewell Township, Pennsylvania; Penn State
15 Kim Hill – outside hitter (6-4; 26) Portland, Oregon; Pepperdine
16 Foluke Akinradewo – middle blocker (6-3; 29) Plantation, Florida; Stanford
23 Kelsey Robinson – outside hitter (6-2; 24) Bartlett, Illinois; University of Nebraska
25 Karsta Lowe – opposite (6-4; 23) Rancho Santa Fe, California; UCLA
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