2024 Emperor's Cup & Empress's Cup All Japan Volleyball Championship Final Round Final

The final of the 2024 Emperor's Cup & Empress's Cup All Japan Volleyball Championship was held on Sunday, December 22, at Asue Arena Osaka (Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture), where OSAKA BLUTEON (hereinafter referred to as Bluteon) faced off against Suntory Sunbirds Osaka.

[Set 1]
We were caught by the opponent's block and gave up consecutive points, trailing 2-5, which led to a timeout.
After a brief pause, Lopez scored with a feint to break the bad momentum. Following that, we gradually regained our rhythm through Yamamoto's defense and Lopez's spikes, and Nishida scored off a block-out during a rally.
Unable to secure side-outs consistently, we found ourselves chasing again and reached the technical timeout at 7-12, then took our second timeout at 7-14 as our combinations failed to click.
Even after the middle of the set, while Lopez continued to land spikes, our quick attacks did not function well, and we lost the set by a large margin, 12-25, while still in a slump.

[Set 2]
Early on, Nishida landed a block, and led by libero Yamamoto, we countered the opponent's tenacity to create the style of play typical of Bluteon.
We took a 9-7 lead off Yamauchi's serve and reached the technical timeout at 12-9. Even after that, we scored consecutive points off Jeschke's serve, and with our blocks and defense functioning well, Lopez inspired the team by landing powerful spikes multiple times.
However, although Bluteon reached 20 points first, we were caught up in the final stages and called a timeout at 20-19.
After allowing a comeback to 20-21, we could not respond to the opponent's service breaks, gave up consecutive points, and lost the set 22-25.

[Set 3]
The early stages saw both teams trading points through serves, blocks, and defense.
With no room for error, Bluteon took a 9-8 lead on an Evade-Dan block, but allowed the opponent to pull ahead, reaching the technical timeout at 10-12.
Afterward, the team found themselves chasing a five-point deficit and unable to find their rhythm, leading to a double substitution of Nakamura and Nishiyama, as well as bringing in Tomita for Lopez to try and find a turning point.
However, they were unable to break down the opponent's stable volleyball until the end, dropping the set 17-25 and losing in straight sets.

Comments from Coach Tillie after the match

Suntory Sunbirds Osaka played extremely well, and we ended up unable to find a solution.
The Bluteon players also had many good plays, but I think we had more errors than usual and our performance was inconsistent.
The SV League resumes next week, and with tough games ahead, we want to practice hard.
Thank you for your support today.
Please continue to support us.

Comments from Yamauchi after the match

Thank you so much to all the Bluteon supporters who came out.
While our opponent played good volleyball in today's final, I feel that our own issues were greater; it's not that we were sabotaging ourselves, but I think the fact that we couldn't function well is reflected in the result.
I don't think we can beat any team playing like we did today, so we need to reflect on what we need to reflect on, move on, and since there is still the league season, I want to clear my head and prepare for it.