Japan Emperor’s Cup: Tsukuba dream run ends in semis

  0 Jeremy Brahm | December 17th, 2017 | Japanese League, News, Pro Indoor

Going into the quarterfinals, the University of Tsukuba were the talk of the tournament with their two upset wins in the first two rounds of the tournament. JTEKT would be their opponent and the Stings did not give Tsukuba a chance to get into the match in any of the three sets.

Toyota Gosei Trefuerza faced JT Thunders for the second time in a week. Last time was in the final round of the 2nd leg of play for the V.League, which Toyota won 3-1. The Thunders dominated the first set 25-15, but Trefuerza tied the match in extra points in the second set. Toyota then took a tight third set. The Thunders came back in the fourth set in dominating fashion to force a deciding fifth set. Toyota again without the injured Igor Omrcen take it 15-10 and the match 3-2. They will face JTEKT in the semifinals next Saturday.

Toray Arrows met FC Tokyo and the Arrows got behind 2-0 to an inspired Tokyo team. However, the Arrow fought back to tie the match at two sets each. Toray took the fifth set 15-12 to win the match and face the winner of Panasonic-Suntory in the other semifinal.

Panasonic Panthers faced their Osaka rivals Suntory Sunbirds. Panasonic had won both of the matches in V.League this season, and won convincingly 3-0. The Panthers vs. Arrows match should be exciting as the Arrows would like to remain champion as they won the tournament last year.

Quarterfinals Results, December 17, 2017
JTEKT Stings 3-0 University of Tsukuba (25-12, 25-21, 25-18)
Panasonic Panthers 3-0 Suntory Sunbirds (25-14, 25-22, 25-20)
Toyota Gosei Trefuerza 3-2 JT Thunders (15-25, 28-26, 25-22, 18-25, 15-10)
Toray Arrows 3-2 FC Tokyo (26-28, 17-25, 25-20, 25-22, 15-12)

Semifinals, December 23, 2017
Toray Arrows vs. Panasonic Panthers
JTEKT Stings vs. Toyota Gosei Trefuerza

Final, December 24, 2017
Semifinal winners

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