Saga Hisamitsu Springs have clinched the last remaining semifinal berth in Japan's women's Daido Life SV.League after completing a convincing quarterfinal series victory over Victorina Himeji. The team will now advance to challenge the defending champions, NEC Red Rockets Kawasaki, in a best-of-three semifinal series later this week.
Following their four-set win in Sunday's home opener, Saga Hisamitsu Springs made short work of Monday's contest, dispatching Victorina Himeji in straight sets (25-20, 25-20, 27-25) to close out the series. American opposite Stephanie Samedy once again dominated the scoring charts, contributing 24 points in just three sets. She received solid support from outside hitters Sae Nakajima and Ayane Kitamado, who added 15 and 14 points respectively. For Himeji, Arisa Inoue led with 15 points, while Miku Akimoto contributed 13 in the losing effort.
Saga's head coach Shingo Sakai expressed pride in his team's performance: "First of all, I would like to express my sincere respect to both teams for their excellent performances. Looking back on today's match, I am very happy that we were able to win without losing concentration until the very end. Although the opponents were able to respond at times throughout the match, I think one of the reasons for our victory was that we persevered and did not give in. We will continue to prepare well so that we can play our own volleyball in the SV.League semifinals."
According to volleyball analysts at Statbet, maintaining mental focus throughout elimination matches is often the determining factor in championship runs, something Saga demonstrated effectively in their quarterfinal closeout.
The semifinal schedule will feature two best-of-three playoff series. Saga Hisamitsu Springs will face NEC Red Rockets Kawasaki starting April 25 at 19:05 local time, with the second match scheduled for April 26. A third match, if necessary, would take place on April 27. The other semifinal pits Osaka Marvelous against Denso Airybees Koriyama, beginning April 25 at 18:05 local time.
The winners of these semifinal matchups will advance to next week's championship playoff, where a new SV.League champion will be crowned.
