2021–22 V.League Division 1 Women Explained

2021–22 V.League Division 1 Women's
League:	V.League Division 1
Sport:	Volleyball
Duration:	Oct 15, 2021 – Apr 17, 2022
No Of Teams:	12
No Of Games:	198 (Regular round) 3 (Final stage)
Season:	2021–2022 Results
Season Champs:	JT Marvelous
Top Scorer:	Jana Kulan
Finals Champ:	Hisamitsu Springs
Finals Runner-Up:	JT Marvelous
Finals Mvp:	Arisa Inoue
Seasonslistnames:	Women's V.League Division 1
Prevseason Year:	2020-21
Nextseason Year:	2022-23

The Volleyball 2021–22 V.League Division 1 Women's is the 28th volleyball tournament year and includes the 4th top level women's volleyball tournament of the newly branded and reorganized V.League (Japan) scheduled for October 15, 2021 to April 17, 2022.^{[1] [2]}

The V.League Division 1 Women's teams compete in four tournaments each year:

1. V.Summer League starts the season June 25 to July 4, 2021, and includes teams from V.League Division 2 Women's and two University selection teams.^[3] This is its 40th tournament year. Its main purpose is the strengthening and training of new and younger players.^[4]
2. The main V.League Division 1 Women's tournament starts October 15, 2021, and ends April 7, 2022 with a winter break December 6, 2021 to January 7, 2022.
3. The Empress' Cup Final Round is scheduled for December 10–19, 2021 during the winter break of the main V.League Division 1 Women's tournament.^[5] The Final Round is the culmination of a month's long qualification process where high school, university, business, and club teams participate in Prefectural and Block Round competitions for a chance to play in the Final Round. Sixteen teams will join the V.League Division 1 Women's teams in the Final Round.^{[6] [7] [8]} See also Japanese Wikipedia article: Reiwa 3rd Emperor's Cup / Empress's Cup All Japan Volleyball Championship (in Japanese)
4. The Kurowashiki All Japan Volleyball Tournament opens in May every year in Osaka and serves as the final competition of the season.^[9]

Clubs

Personnel

style=background:red colspan=8	2021–22 V.League Division 1 Women's Personnel
Club	Head Coach	Captain	City, Prefecture	Colors	Main Sponsor
Denso Airybees	Gen Kawakita	Fumika Moriya	Nishio, Aichi	align=center		Denso
Himeji Victorina	Kodai Nakaya	Riho Sadakane	Himeji, Hyōgo	align=center		Himeji Victorina Co., Ltd.
Hisamitsu Springs	Shingo Sakai	Mana Toe	Tosu, Saga	align=center		Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical
Hitachi Rivale	Asako Tajimi	Kanako Saito	Hitachinaka, Ibaraki	align=center		Hitachi Automotive Systems
JT Marvelous	Tomoko Yoshihara	Mako Kobata	Osaka, Hyogo	align=center		Japan Tobacco Ltd.
Kurobe AquaFairies	Takaya Maruyama	Sayo Masuda	Kurobe, Toyama	align=center		Kurobe AquaFairies
NEC Red Rockets	Takayuki Kaneko	Misaki Yamauchi	Kawasaki, Kanagawa	align=center		NEC
Okayama Seagulls	Akiyoshi Kawamoto	Aimi Kawashima	Okayama	align=center		Okayama Seagulls Co., Ltd.
PFU BlueCats	Masayasu Sakamoto	Ayaka Horiguchi	Kanazawa, Ishikawa	align=center		PFU Limited
Saitama Ageo Medics	Antônio Marcos Lerbach	Akane Yamagishi	Ageo, Saitama	align=center		Ageo Medical Group
Toray Arrows	Akira Koshiya	Misaki Shirai^[10]	Ōtsu, Shiga	align=center		Toray Industries
Toyota Auto Body Queenseis	Haruya Indo	Mioko Yabuta	Kariya, Aichi	align=center		Toyota Auto Body

Foreign players

The number of foreign players is restricted to one per club worldwide plus one per club from ASEAN nations.

style=background:red colspan=3	V.League Division 1 Women's foreign players 2021-22
Team	Worldwide	ASEAN
Denso Airybees	Roslandy Acosta (CSV)	Jarasporn Bundasak (AVC)
Himeji Victorina	Celeste Plak (CEV)
Hisamitsu Springs	Foluke Akinradewo (NORCECA)
Hitachi Rivale	Hannah Tapp (NORCECA)
JT Marvelous	Andrea Drews (NORCECA)	Thatdao Nuekjang (AVC)
Kurobe AquaFairies	Merete Lutz (NORCECA)	Pimpichaya Kokram (AVC)
NEC Red Rockets	Sarah Wilhite Parsons (NORCECA)
Okayama Seagulls	Xintian Fu
PFU BlueCats	Melissa Valdes	Trần Thị Thanh Thúy (AVC)
Saitama Ageo Medics	Lorenne Teixeira (CSV)	Alyja Daphne Santiago (AVC)
Toray Arrows	Jana Kulan (CEV)
Toyota Auto Body Queenseis	Kelsey Robinson (NORCECA)	Hattaya Bamrungsuk (AVC)

Transfer players

style=background:red colspan=8	2021–22 V.League Division 1 Women's inbound transfers ^[11] ^[12]
Player	Coming from	Coming to
	Kinrankai High School (ja)	Denso Airybees
	Yonezawa Central High School (ja)	Denso Airybees
	Kurashiki Ablaze	Denso Airybees
	PFU BlueCats	Denso Airybees
	Diamond Food	Denso Airybees
	Nihon University	Himeji Victorina
	Tokai Mermaids	Himeji Victorina
	Aydın Büyükşehir Belediyespor	Himeji Victorina
		Hisamitsu Springs
		Hisamitsu Springs
		Hitachi Rivale
	Higashi Kyushu Ryukoku High School (ja)	Hitachi Rivale
		JT Marvelous
	Kinrankai High School (ja)	JT Marvelous
	Kyoei Gakuen High School (ja)	JT Marvelous
		Kurobe AquaFairies
		Kurobe AquaFairies
		Kurobe AquaFairies
		Kurobe AquaFairies
		Kurobe AquaFairies
		Kurobe AquaFairies
		Kurobe AquaFairies
		NEC Red Rockets
		NEC Red Rockets
		NEC Red Rockets
		NEC Red Rockets
	Kyoei Gakuen High School (ja)	Okayama Seagulls
	Shimada Commercial High School (ja)	Okayama Seagulls
	Osaka International Takii High School (ja)	Okayama Seagulls
	Hiroshima Oilers	Okayama Seagulls
	Miyakonojo Commercial High School (ja)	PFU BlueCats
	Furukawa Gakuen High School (ja)	PFU BlueCats
	University of Tsukuba	PFU BlueCats
	Denso Airybees	PFU BlueCats
	Juntendo University	PFU BlueCats
	Okayama Seagulls	PFU BlueCats
	Denso Airybees	PFU BlueCats
		PFU BlueCats
	NSSU	Saitama Ageo Medics
	Aoyama Gakuin University	Saitama Ageo Medics
	Gunma Bank Green Wings (ja)	Saitama Ageo Medics
	Osaka Superiors (ja)	Saitama Ageo Medics
		Saitama Ageo Medics
		Saitama Ageo Medics
	Kinrankai High School (ja)	Toray Arrows
	Mito Girls High School (ja)	Toray Arrows
		Toyota Auto Body Queenseis
Haruka Kaji	Sundai Gakuen High School (ja)	Toyota Auto Body Queenseis
	Hachiojijissen (ja)	Toyota Auto Body Queenseis
	Hachiojijissen (ja)	Toyota Auto Body Queenseis
	Shimokitazawa Seitoku (ja)	Toyota Auto Body Queenseis
	Shimokitazawa Seitoku (ja)	Toyota Auto Body Queenseis
	Shujitsu High School (ja)	Toyota Auto Body Queenseis
		Toyota Auto Body Queenseis
		Toyota Auto Body Queenseis

Venues

Regular Round 2021–2022^[13]
Adastria Arena, Mito Ageo City Gymnasium (ja) Baycom Gymnasium, Amagasaki (ja) Brex Arena, Utsunomiya CNA Arena, Akita Fukuoka Citizens Gymnasium Deai Dome, Gifu Green Arena, Kobe Higashiyama Gymnasium, Ichinoseki Hiroshima Green Arena Hitachinaka Sports Facility (ja) Ikenokawa Sakura Arena, Hitachi Kanazawa City Gymnasium Kasaoka Gymnasium, Okayama (ja) Kawagoe Sports Park, Saitama Kitagas Arena, Sapporo (ja) Komatsu City Gymnasium, Ishikawa Konohana Arena, Shizuoka Horaiya Koriyama Gymnasium Kose Sports Park Gymnasium, Kofu (ja) Kurobe General Sports Center (ja) Kurume Arena, Fukuoka Maruzen Intec Arena, Osaka Muko Citizens Gymnasium, Kyoto Nishio City Gymnasium (ja) Okazaki Park Gymnasium, Aichi Ota Ward Gymnasium, Tokyo Saga Sunrise Park Gymnasium Saiden Chemical Arena, Saitama (ja) Saitama Prefectural Budokan, Ageo (ja) Sanyo Fureai Park Gymnasium, Akaiwa Shimadzu Arena, Kyoto (ja) Shiwa Town Gymnasium, Iwate Sky Hall Toyota Sumiyoshi Sports Center, Osaka Sun Arena Sendai (ja) Sun Arena Wajima, Ishikawa Todoroki Arena, Kawasaki Toyama City Gymnasium Toyama Seibu Sports Center, Tonami Trim Park Kanazu, Awara (ja) Ukaruchan Arena, Otsu Wing Arena Kariya Wink Gymnasium, Himeji YMIT Arena, Kusatsu (ja Yokkaichi City Gymnasium Zip Arena, Okayama
Final Stage 2021–2022
Konohana Arena, Shizuoka

Schedule

Regular Round begins October 15, 2021 (Saturday) and ends March 27, 2022 (Sunday). Matches are played every Saturday and Sunday along with a couple Friday Night matches.

1. Each team will play every other team three times for a total of thirty-three matches
2. It is not a strict round robin
3. A theme this season is for each team to host at least one opponent two nights in a row at their home arena
4. Teams are ranked in the Regular Round by:
   • Wins ->Points ->Set Percentage ->Scoring Rate
5. The top three teams from the Regular Round will advance to the Final Stage
6. Ranking of 4th to 12th place will be the ranking of the Regular Round and will be the final ranking. The 11th and 12th placed teams will compete in the V.Challenge Match.

Final Stage begins April 9, 2022 and ends April 17, 2022.

1. Final 3:
   • The 2nd and 3rd ranked teams from the Regular Round will play a one match playoff
   • The 2nd ranked team is given a one win advantage
   • There are no tie breakers
   • If the number of wins is equal a 25 point Golden Set will be played to determine the winner
2. Final
   • The winner of the Final 3 tournament will play the 1st ranked team from the Regular Round in a two match Final
   • No advantage points are given
   • No tie breakers
   • If the number of wins is equal a 25 point Golden Set will be played to determine the winner

V.Challenge Match (V1-V2 Promotion-Relegation Matches): TBD

Season standing procedure

The team with the most wins will be ranked highest

Points awarded for a match as follows:

• 3 points: "3-0" or "3-1" victory
• 2 points: "3-2" victory
• 1 point: "2-3" loss
• 0 points: Lost in "0-3" or "1-3"

If a team abstains for some reason, it will be considered to have lost the game 0-25, 0-25, 0-25

Tie Breakers are as follows:

• If two or more teams have the same number of wins, the team with the most points will be ranked higher
• If the number of points is also the same, the team with the highest set rate will be ranked higher
• If the set rate is also the same, the team with the highest points rate will be ranked higher

Regular round

Final standing

	Qualified for the Final ^[14]
	Qualified for the Final 3 playoff
	Will play the V.Challenge Match

style=background:red colspan=11	2021–22 V.League Division 1 Women's Regular Round Final Standing
Rank	Team	Wins	Losses	Points	Sets Won	Sets Lost	Set Rate	Pts Won	Pts Lost	Pts Rate
1	style=background:#CCFFCC	JT Marvelous	27	6	80	86	30	2.87	2774	2320	1.20
2	style=background:#c0c0c0	Toray Arrows	26	7	79	87	34	2.56	2814	2485	1.13
3	style=background:#c0c0c0	Hisamitsu Springs	23	10	72	82	44	1.86	2955	2711	1.09
4	NEC Red Rockets	23	10	70	78	43	1.81	2815	2508	1.12
5	Saitama Ageo Medics	20	13	60	72	55	1.31	2936	2748	1.07
6	Denso Airybees	20	13	56	67	57	1.18	2798	2744	1.02
7	Hitachi Rivale	14	19	41	54	73	0.74	2612	2917	0.90
8	PFU BlueCats	12	21	38	50	72	0.69	2583	2757	0.94
9	Okayama Seagulls	12	21	36	49	71	0.69	2650	2759	0.96
10	Toyota Auto Body Queenseis	10	23	29	43	78	0.55	2601	2826	0.92
11	style=background:#FFEEEE	Himeji Victorina	8	25	25	49	86	0.57	2854	3102	0.92
12	style=background:#FFEEEE	Kurobe AquaFairies	3	30	8	20	94	0.21	2220	2735	0.81

Individual awards

^[15]

style=background:red colspan=5	2021–22 V.League Division 1 Women's Regular Round Individual Awards
Award	Player	Team	Achievement	of Times
Top Scorer	Jana Kulan	Toray Arrows	Total Points = 789	3rd
Spike Award	Foluke Akinradewo	Hisamitsu Springs	Kill Rate = 56.5%	4th
Block Award	Jaja Santiago	Saitama Ageo Medics	Blocks/set = 0.81	1st
Serve Award	Mioko Yabuta	Toyota Auto Body Queenseis	Serve Effect Rate = 13.4%	1st
Receive Award	Mako Kobata	JT Marvelous	Reception Rate = 69.5%	2nd

Match results

Round 1 October 15–17, 2021

Round 2 October 23–24, 2021

Round 3 October 30–31, 2021

Round 4 November 6–7, 2021

Round 5 November 12–14, 2021

Round 6 November 20–21, 2021

Round 7 November 27–28, 2021

Round 8 December 4–5, 2021

Winter break December 6, 2021 to January 9, 2022
Empress' Cup Final Round held December 10–19, 2021 (Hisamitsu Springs wins)

Round 9 January 8–9, 2021

Round 10 January 15–16, 2022

Round 11 January 22–23, 2022

Round 12 January 29–30, 2022

Round 13 February 5–6, 2022

Final stage

• Final 3 gives an advantage of 1 win to the 2nd place ranked team in the Regular Round.

Match results

Final 3

FINAL

The 2nd round of the FINAL, scheduled for April 16, 2022, was canceled due to several players from both teams having tested positive for the new coronavirus.

Hisamitsu Springs, who won the first round of the final on April 10, 2022 with a set count of 3-1 will be ranked the highest, the victory will be confirmed, and they are given the Title of Season 2021-22 Champions. JT Marvelous are runners up.^[16]

Final ranking

width=40	Rank	width=240	Club
	Hisamitsu Springs
	JT Marvelous
	Toray Arrows
4	NEC Red Rockets
5	Saitama Ageo Medics
6	Denso Airybees
7	Hitachi Rivale
8	PFU Bluecats
9	Okayama Seagulls
10	Toyota Auto Body Queenseis
11	Victorina Himeji
12	KUROBE Aqua Fairies

Team roster	Setter: Misaki Inoue, Manami Mandai, Erika Sakae Libero: Yuka Ikeya, Mana Toe MB: Ayaka Araki, Shion Hirayama, Asuka Hamamatsu, Foluke Akinradewo, Riho Ōtake OP: Miyu Nakagawa, Miyu Nagaoka, Akari Shirasawa OH: Arisa Inoue, Yuki Ishii, Hikari Kato, Rika Nomoto, Yuka Imamura, Megumi Fukazawa, Saki Nakajima, Mika Yoshitake
Head Coach: Shingo Sakai

Awards

Regular round

• Best scorer
  • Jana Kulan
• Best spiker
  • Foluke Akinradewo
• Best blocker
  • Alyja Daphne Santiago
• Best server
  • • Best receiver
  • Mako Kobata
• Fair play award
  • Alyja Daphne Santiago
  • Mami Yokota
• V.League Special Award
  • Aimi Kawashima (Okayama Seagulls)
  • Erika Sakae (Hisamitsu Springs)
  • Aya Watanabe (Hitachi Rivale)
  • Kotoe Inoue (NEC Red Rockets)
  • Fumika Moriya (Denso Airybees)
• Outstanding personal records
  • Foluke Akinradewo (Hisamitsu Springs)

Final stage

• Most valuable player
  • Arisa Inoue (Hisamitsu Springs)
• Best Six
  • Andrea Drews (JT Marvelous)
  • Jana Kulan (Toray Arrows)
  • Arisa Inoue (Hisamitsu Springs)
  • Erika Sakae (Hisamitsu Springs)
  • Erina Ogawa (Toray Arrows)
  • Foluke Akinradewo (Hisamitsu Springs)
• Director Award
  • Shingo Sakai (Hisamitsu Springs)
• Best libero
  • Mako Kobata (JT Marvelous)
• Receive Award
  • Mana Toe (Hisamitsu Springs)
• Fighting Spirit Award
  • Andrea Drews (JT Marvelous)
• Best Newcomer Award
  • Melissa Valdes (PFU BlueCats)
• Matsudaira Yasutaka Award
  • Shingo Sakai (Hisamitsu Springs)

V.Challenge tournament

V.Challenge Match Women's tournament held April 9–10, 2022^[17]

• V1 11th vs. V2 2nd (two matches)
• V1 12th vs. V2 1st (two matches)

If a V2 team does not have an S1 license, they will not play the tournament, and their V1 opponent remains in V1 unchallenged.

Teams with the most wins will qualify for next season's V1 League. In the case of 1 win and 1 loss, the following will be used as tiebreakers:

1. Points
2. Set rate
3. Score rate

Points are awarded as follows:

Conditions	Points awarded
Win by set count "3-0" or "3-1"	3 points
Win by set count "3-2"	2 points
Lose by set count "2-3"	1 point
Lose by set count "1-3" or "0-3"	0 points

V1 Women's 11th - V2 Women's 2ndMatch Results

V1 Women's 12th - V2 Women's 1stMatch Results

See also

• 2021–22 V.League Division 1 Men's

External links

• Official website

Notes and References

1. Web site: Notice of tournament schedule and battle card decision . JVL Official Web site . Japan Volleyball League . 17 July 2021.
2. Web site: V1 Men and Women 2021-22 Season dates will be decided. The opening is October 15th . Volleyball Magazine (in Japanese) . studio108 . 17 July 2021.
3. Web site: 2021 V.SUMMER LEAGUE special page . JVL Official Web site . Japan Volleyball League . 29 July 2021.
4. Web site: 2021 V Summer League Women's Tournament Announcement . JVL Official Web site . Japan Volleyball League . 5 August 2021.
5. Web site: Tournament guidebook for officers (in Japanese) . Official Website . Japan Volleyball Association . 17 July 2021.
6. Web site: 2021 Emperor's Cup - All Japan Volleyball Championship Prefectural Round . Weekend, Happy Life (in Japanese) . 21 April 2021 . Takahiro . 5 August 2021.
7. Web site: 2021 Emperor's Cup - All Japan Volleyball Championship Block Round . Weekend, Happy Life (in Japanese) . 2 August 2021 . Takahiro . 5 August 2021.
8. Web site: First year of Reiwa Emperor's Cup . Empress's Cup All Japan Volleyball Championship (in Japanese) . Japan Volleyball Association . 5 August 2021.
9. Web site: Black Eagle Flag All Japan Men's and Women's Selection Tournament - OVA . Osaka Volleyball Association Web site . Osaka Volleyball Association . 16 July 2021.
10. Web site: お知らせ (Notification) . Toray Arrows Women's Volleyball Club . TORAY INDUSTRIES, INC. . 29 September 2021.
11. Web site: Transfers in season 2021/22 . Women Volleybox . Volleybox.net . 17 July 2021.
12. Web site: List of additional registered players / staff (women) (in Japanese) . JVL Official Web site . Japan Volleyball League . 17 July 2021.
13. Web site: Schedule and Results . JVL V.League Official site (in Japanese). Japan Volleyball League Organization . 16 July 2021.
14. Web site: 2021-22 V.LEAGUE DIVISION1 WOMEN V ・ Regular Round - Star Chart . JVL Official Web site . Japan Volleyball League . 28 April 2022.
15. Web site: V1 Women's Individual Award is decided . Volleyball Magazine . studio108 . 28 April 2022.
16. Web site: 2021-22 V.LEAGUE DIVISION1 WOMEN V.FINAL STAGE Final Round 2 Cancellation . JVL Official Web site . Japan Volleyball League . 3 May 2022.
17. Web site: 2021-22 V.LEAGUE V ・ Challenge Match (replacement match) . JVL Official Web site . Japan Volleyball League . 7 October 2021.