2023-24 V.LEAGUE DIVISION1 MEN Regular Round Match 27

The 2023-24 V.LEAGUE DIVISION1 MEN Match 27 was held on Saturday, February 17 at Entrio (Inazawa City, Aichi Prefecture), where the Panasonic Panthers (hereinafter referred to as the Panthers) faced off against the Wolfdogs Nagoya.

[Set 1]
The team got off to a promising start, scoring with a back attack from Jeschke. They developed their offense primarily through the wings, and after taking an 8-6 lead with a service ace from Jeschke, they maintained their advantage with blocks from Yamauchi and Fukatsu to reach the technical timeout at 12-9. They continued to build on their momentum, but the opponent's tenacious defense stood in their way, leading to a 15-16 turnaround. The Panthers then scored consecutive points off Nishida's serve, successfully turning the game around again to 19-17. A back-and-forth battle continued until the final stages, but they maintained their concentration until the end and took the set 25-23.

[Set 2]
Unable to side-out against the opponent's ace serve, the team fell behind 2-5 early on. The Panthers looked to catch up quickly by attacking with their serves to create opportunities, but their rhythm was disrupted by the opponent's defense and aggressive offense. Coach Tillie attempted to shift the momentum with substitutions, replacing middle blocker Evadedan with Nishikawa and setter Fukatsu with Aratake. After the 12-8 technical timeout, Aratake scored with a surprise setter dump, but service errors became prominent, and they struggled to find a way forward, trailing 10-16. Although they fought back midway through with service aces from Jeschke and Nishikawa, they lost the set 19-25.

[Set 3]
Starting from the beginning, the team built a rhythm by using Yamauchi's quick attacks, and Jeschke, who had been struggling against tight marking, also began to score. The Panthers scored consecutive points, with Otsuka hitting a back-row attack off the defense, taking a 9-5 lead early on. They reached the technical timeout at 12-9, and after a service ace from Nishida extended the lead to 14-10, they were caught by the opponent's block, narrowing the gap to 15-14. The Panthers replaced the struggling Jeschke with Nakamoto, who brought momentum to the team with two consecutive blocks. Nishikawa followed with a block, shifting the momentum entirely, and they continued to score without allowing a counterattack, taking the set 25-17 to bring the set count to 2-1.

[Set 4]
Nakamoto, who had built momentum, continued to play. After failing to side out early on and conceding points, a series of errors led to a situation where they were trailing by as many as 10 points. The Panthers attempted to change the rhythm through substitutions, using Evade-Dan, Nishiyama, and Arata. Unable to do anything against the opponent's powerful serves and blocks, they continued to concede points in a difficult stretch, losing the set 12-25 and heading to a full set.

[Set 5]
Nakamoto, who had remained in the game, was injured in the first play when a camera attached to the net fell on his head, and Jeschke was brought on in an emergency. To break the bad atmosphere, Nishida hit a spike that pierced the block, and Otsuka also actively participated in the attack. They continued to endure while trailing by 3 points at 5-8, and caught up to a 10-10 tie with a service ace from Nishida. As the tense back-and-forth side-out battle continued, Coach Tilli called a timeout at 12-12 and another at 13-14 to settle the team's nerves and breathing. The Panthers saw Otsuka score a side-out, followed by a Jeschke point off the defense to take the lead, and they held on to win the fierce battle 16-14.

The Panthers have a record of 26 wins and 1 loss, a winning percentage of 0.96, and a total of 78 points.
They will play against the Wolfdogs Nagoya away (at Entrio) again tomorrow, Sunday, February 18.

Comments from Best Panther (VOM) player Nishida

Comments from Coach Tillie after the match

Comments from Nishikawa after the match