Opening in Thailand! Six players to watch from SAGA Hisamitsu and A Aichi
SAGA Hisamitsu Springs and Aleeza Aichi meet in Bangkok on October 10 and 11. The new season begins with the SV League’s first official matches in Thailand. Using last season’s data, we highlight three Japanese players from each team and the opening-match storylines that point totals alone cannot reveal.
SAGA Hisamitsu ① Ayane Kitamado — Attacking, receiving and serving
Kitamado scored 663 points last season, with 1,611 attack attempts and 1,577 serve receptions. Her influence shows in the sheer volume of work she handles in both attack and reception.
Her 30 service aces ranked seventh in the league and first at Hisamitsu. She receives an opponent’s serve, joins the attack, and threatens to score from her own serve. There is something to watch throughout her rotation.
In the opening matches, watch how she transitions into attack immediately after receiving. When she moves to the service line, the contest shifts to Aichi’s reception unit. Her serving adds another scoring threat to a heavy workload in attack and defense.
SAGA Hisamitsu ② Shion Hirayama — Opening up the attack through the middle
Hirayama scored 326 points in 163 sets last season. She converted 255 of 611 attack attempts, a 41.7% kill rate, and added 51 block points and 20 service aces.
Her attack kill rate ranked third on the team. With Erika Sakae setting, it reached 42.5%. Watching how her attack changes with the setter offers another angle on Hisamitsu’s play.
When the middle attack scores, opposing blockers must pay attention to Hirayama. How does that affect their coverage of the wing attackers? Watch her points and the changes her presence creates across Hisamitsu’s attack.
SAGA Hisamitsu ③ Sae Nakajima — Reception and serving amid competition for places
Nakajima scored 281 points in 88 sets last season, with a 37.2% attack kill rate and a 47.6% serve-reception success rate. This season, teams may field up to four foreign players at once, including one in the special Asian slot, intensifying competition at outside hitter. Nakajima is not assured a starting place, but when she plays, watch how she links reception to attack.
Another striking figure is the team’s 46.1% break-point rate on her serve, 6.3 percentage points above Hisamitsu’s 39.8% average. Hisamitsu scored on a high proportion of rallies that began with Nakajima serving.
Ace totals alone do not capture this. Whether she starts or comes off the bench, watch how Hisamitsu combines its block and defense when Nakajima gets a turn to serve. Even with limited playing time, her ability to change the momentum on serve is worth following.
Aleeza Aichi ① Hinata Shigihara — A heavy workload and an option late in the set
Shigihara also made her mark with Japan’s national team this year. Last season, she scored 619 points, with 1,515 attack attempts and 1,073 serve receptions, recording a 49.9% reception success rate. Like Kitamado at Hisamitsu, she carries a substantial workload on both sides of the ball.
She contributed 125 attack points in the 20-point-and-beyond phase, accounting for 15.0% of Aichi’s team total of 834. As every point grows more valuable late in a set, watch the balls entrusted to her.
The team’s break-point rate on her serve was 42.7%, above its 38.2% average, with a longest run of eight consecutive points. Late-set attacks and scoring runs on serve make her a player to follow when Aichi needs points.
Aleeza Aichi ② Sayaka Yokota — Two scoring weapons: block and serve
Yokota recorded 98 block points last season, averaging 0.61 per set, the highest rate on the team. Her 32 service aces also led Aichi and ranked fifth in the league.
She can score by stopping an opposing spike as well as with her own serve. Those two weapons are central to watching Yokota.
At the net, which Hisamitsu attacks does she react to, and where does she put her hands? From the service line, whom does she target and what return does she force? Following her reveals how Aichi disrupts an opponent’s attack and turns that into points.
Aleeza Aichi ③ Ayano Sato — Setting the attack and building momentum on serve
Ayano Sato, the team’s captain and setter this season, is worth watching from the service line as well as when she sets. The team’s break-point rate on her serve was 45.1% last season, 6.9 percentage points above its 38.2% average and second on the team. Her longest scoring run was six consecutive points.
The setting figures are interesting too. With Sato setting, Shigihara’s attack kill rate was 36.9%, above her overall season rate of 36.4%. Riri Kasai also reached 35.4%, compared with 34.0% overall.
Different opponents and playing situations mean these figures cannot be attributed to Sato’s setting alone. They still offer clues to how she brings out her attackers’ strengths. Watch both whom she chooses to set and whether her serve can launch a scoring run.
In these two opening matches in Thailand, look beyond the player who finishes a spike. Watch the reception before it, the middle attacker drawing a blocker’s attention, and the server starting a scoring run. Keeping these six players’ numbers in mind can make every rally more engaging.