SUNTORY SUNBIRDS OSAKA Edge JTEKT STINGS AICHI in Epic 2024-25 DAIDO LIFE SV.LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP Finals GAME1

SUNTORY SUNBIRDS OSAKA defeated JTEKT STINGS AICHI 3-2 (21-25, 21-25, 26-24, 32-30, 26-24) in a mesmerizing opening match of the 2024-25 DAIDO LIFE SV.LEAGUE MEN CHAMPIONSHIP Finals at Ariake Arena in Tokyo on Saturday.

SUNTORY took a slight lead in the early stages of the first set but there was little to choose between the two teams through to 6-6. Ricardo Lucarelli Souza laid down a couple of markers, including a wicked service ace, and his colleague Kento Miyaura was also on form with a couple of cracking spikes down the right line. A Go Murayama spike gave STINGS AICHI their first lead at 7-6 and they were to keep that lead to the end as their players found their targets with more efficiency and SUNTORY found themselves playing catchup and committing a few costly errors. STINGS AICHI were two points ahead at the break and that was the closest SUNTORY came for the rest of the set. Dmitriy Muserskiy led a minor fightback with a strong spike and a mammoth service ace to make the score 22-19, but a crashing smash by Torey Defalco brought up setpoint at 24-20 and Lucarelli finished off the set at 25-21.

STINGS AICHI led narrowly for the first phase of the second set and stayed ahead to the break at 12-9. But SUNTORY were looking more efficient both in attack and defense and Muserskiy started to find his range while his team’s block also started working. Muserskiy was able to capitalize on a great reception to make the score 12-10, Kenji Sato followed with a service ace and Muserskiy blocked Lucarelli to bring the scores level at 12-12. SUNTORY were ahead at 16-14, but then STINGS AICHI turned up the heat. An ace by Lucarelli made it 16-16 and Miyaura put them ahead for good with a crisp spike after some excellent defensive work from his teammates. Good serving by Defalco kept STINGS AICHI in front and setpoint came when Sato sent a service long. Lucarelli blasted another shot through the SUNTORY defense to seal the set at 25-21 and put his team 2-0 up.

SUNTORY weren’t out of it but they needed to raise their efficiency level to match STINGS AICHI. But initially that didn’t happen, as the STINGS AICHI team edged ahead again in the third set and were 12-9 up at the break. Alain De Armas rallied his team with a strong spike and a service ace that closed the gap to 15-13 and a great block by Taishi Onodera drew SUNTORY to within a point at 15-14. At 17-15 to STINGS AICHI, Aleksander Sliwka hit a cracking crosscourt smash and Masaki Oya followed up with a service ace to bring the scores level at 17. Both teams dug in and it was still level at 24-24 when Kenji Sato brought up setpoint with a spike. Torey DeFalco then sent a serve well long to hand the third set to SUNTORY 26-24 and bring them back into the match.

But it was STINGS AICHI who again had the early advantage in the fourth set, despite good work by SUNTORY’s De Armas. STINGS AICHI had a four-point lead at the break with some great shots from Lucarelli and a couple of errors from SUNTORY. STINGS AICHI stayed ahead, helped by some soft SUNTORY service errors and they were gifted three match points when Muserskiy sent a serve into the net. But Lucarelli sent a service wide and an attack by Kentaro Takahashi gave the big Russian the chance to even the scores at 24-24. A thunderous ace by Miyaura put STINGS AICHI up 30-29 but they couldn’t follow it up. Taishi Onodera blocked Go Murayama for setpoint, but DeFalco thought he had leveled the scores when head coach Oliver Lecat made another successful challenge and SUNTORY were able to steal the set 32-20.

SUNTORY had the momentum going into the fifth set and they took a three-point lead at 9-6. Miyaura brought his team back and they were level at 9-9. In an intense finale, both sides had match points. At 24-24, Muserskiy slammed a ball through the STINGS AICHI defense to bring up SUNTORY’s eighth match point and the Russian giant then blocked Miyaura to seal an incredible win.


SUNTORY SUNBIRDS OSAKA
Head Coach Olivier Lecat (FRA): I want to mention about the amazing scenario of both teams put on as a “promotion” for volleyball in Japan. Sometimes it wasn’t perfect, but the intensity and commitment of the players was great and both teams never gave up. And after two sets, we didn’t give up and when we came back, they didn’t give up. It was a really intense fight. I’m happy to win today because it was a difficult moment for our team. We have good communication and we believe and trust the players. We tried to stay alive and use every possibility to stay alive because we were so close to dying today. It was beautiful to see how the team focused on their goal at the end. My role is not to find the guilty because we play badly. I know they mood of my players. My role is to try and get outside this bad flow and bad emotions and frustrations because you can’t win with this mood. We have to stay really focused and control our emotions. I’m French and come from a different continent and have to learn Japanese culture and talk to the Japanese. It’s different from how we talk in Europe and it’s a challenge, but it’s working. We are alive now and STINGS AICHI is in amazing shape and we must recharge our batteries and stay focused on the next game and beyond.

Ran Takahashi (JPN): In the first set, we should have been able to play more of our own style of volleyball. There was a sense that we weren’t fully fighting, but being able to raise our level in the third and fourth sets turned into something positive that we can carry into the next match. I'm very happy we got one win, and next time, I want us to bring our energy from the first set – that will be a key point in the upcoming game. Since we’ve made it to the Finals, if I start feeling like I’m not finishing plays, I know I have to lead the team. Taking a moment on the bench helped me reset. I believe I was able to show a strong sense of responsibility and focus on the points when it came to the balls entrusted to me – that’s my role and my duty.

Aleksander Sliwka (POL): There is no explanation; it's a game. I don't know what to say. I was thinking about what I have to do, what we need to do, how to manage our different systems, where to serve, where to spike. Maybe we just started to believe. I don't want to lose, I want to try to win. (In terms of intensity) that was the highest of this season for sure. And I think the highest possible effort was needed to keep the match points our opponents had in the tiebreak, and also in the fourth set when it was really close. And I think that was the display of our character as a team, of our mental energy. And I'm proud of the team that we stayed together and never stopped believing in ourselves. Winning a game always gives you more confidence for the next game, but I think this particular one will give us the confidence that no matter what the situation is, even if you're losing to zero, we can still win. There's now no score that we cannot come back from, so that's a big thing for our team and we proved to ourselves that we always can win if we don't stop believing. For sure, for them it was a heartbreaking loss, but I know most of these guys and they maybe will seem harmed right now, but they will come back and they will fight strong in the next game, so we need to prepare mentally for another big fight. Personally, I think we started too slowly, we were waiting for the opponent to show what they had. Maybe it was the wrong approach. I think on the third set we started to be more aggressive, especially on the serve. We started to touch some balls in the block defense system and that brought us to winning the third set. So I really I think the mental side was the most important.


JTEKT STINGS AICHI
Head Coach Michal Gogol (POL): This was a big commercial for volleyball. I think I witnessed today maybe one of the best matches in Japan club volleyball. There were many turnarounds and many situations that a single ball decided and this is volleyball, this is sport. You have to be one ball better, so congratulations to SUNTORY because today they were one ball better than us. I am extremely proud of my team and want us to understand we know how to suffer because we suffered a lot this season with injuries and missing players, but we always come back. If there is a team that knows how to suffer, it’s STINGS AICHI. It’s hard at the moment, but we have to come back. To win the championship, we have to win two games. Today, they started serving better in the third, fourth, fifth sets and they started to risk more with their serves, which they didn’t do in the first two sets.

Kento Miyaura (JPN): Our inability to capitalize on key moments was the main reason for the loss. I'm grateful we had the opportunity to play in such a fantastic environment with a great crowd, and with another match ahead, we're determined to come back stronger. We’ll prepare thoroughly, trust in ourselves, and stay fully focused on the next battle.

Torey DeFalco (USA): It was really tough. It was kind of so close that you couldn't really call it. We just didn't take our chances, didn't capitalize on our moments. They're a good team and they have the players to be able to come back. Now, we’ve got to go rest and recover.

Competition Overview Men:
Each club plays a total of 44 matches in the regular season using a home-and-away format. The top 6 clubs advance to the championship. In the championship, the clubs ranked 3rd to 6th play in the QuarterFinals, while the top 2 teams from the regular season start from the SemiFinals. The tournament is a best-of-three format, with the first to win two matches advancing until the Finals.

CHAMPIONSHIP Finals:
Men: Game 1: 12:10, Saturday, May 3 at Ariake Arena
Game 2: 16:10, Monday, May 5 at LaLa arena Tokyo Bay
Game 3: 16:10, Tuesday, May 6 at LaLa arena Tokyo Bay
Please note that Game 3 will not be held if either team secures two victories