Saori Kimura 木村 沙織 (JPN, Volleyball)

Saori Kimura 木村 沙織 is a veteran Japanese volleyball player. Since making her international debut in 2003, Kimura has competed in three editions of the Volleyball World Championships and two Olympic Games.

Photo from m-louis

Soari was just in high school when she made her maiden Olympics appearance in Athens back in 2004. She was part of the Japanese team that won a bronze medal at the 2010 World Championships. The same year, she was adjudged as Best Scorer at the 2010 FIVB World Grand Prix.

The talented spiker has won several awards in Japan's domestic professional league. As a 20-year old, Saori was cited as Newcomer of the Year. The spiker then won two Most Valuable Player awards in 2009 and 2010, on top of consistent appearances in the Best Six team of the Women's Volleyball Premiere League.

Kimura plays her club volleyball with the Toray Arrows 東レ・アローズ. Since 2007, the team has garnered a total of nine titles from various high level tournaments.

Source:
Saori's Toray Arrows Profile
Soari's Wikipedia Profile

Francesca Piccinini (ITA, Volleyball)

The Italian national volleyball team came to the Philippines in the late 1990's to compete in the FIVB World Grand Prix Volleyball players Maurizia Cacciatori and Francesca Piccinini stood out for their good looks and mean talent. Perhaps the visits by those high caliber teams did much to sow the seeds of popularity of Philippine women's volleyball.

   

Photos from Marziacrem87 and parmavolleygirls

Piccinini is a spiker for Italian club team Volley Bergamo, Francesca won Most Valuable Player (MVP) honors at the 2009-2010 season of the Indesit Champions League, the same year her team won the championship trophy.

She competed in three editions of the Olympic Games (Sydney, Athens, and Beijing). Piccinini was part of the Italian team that bagged World Championship gold in Germany back in 2002. 

Throughout her long international career, Francesca has won a total of two European Championship gold medals, a gold at the World Grand Cup Champions League, a gold at the FIVB World Cup.

Sources:
Wikipedia Profile
Italian League Profile

Rachel and Eve!

Take a look at this fine photo of Rachel Anne Daquis and Areerat "Eve" Sanoorseang!

 Photo from Rachel Anne Daquis' Twitter account (@achdaquis03)

Areerat Sanorseang (THA, Volleyball)

Women's volleyball has been gradually increasing in popularity in the Philippines. This new found love affair probably started in the late nineties, when Brazilian Leila Barros caught Filipino hearts. The Shakey's V-League is the Philippines premiere commercial competition, featuring mostly collegiate talents. The teams, however, are allowed a certain number of foreigners to beef up their ranks. 

 Photo from Suan Sunandha Volleyball Club Facebook

The prolific Thai volleybelles have made an impact in local shores, raising the game of play at the fledging league. The 26-year old Areerat "Eve" Sanorseang is one such example. Sanorseang first came to the Philippines as an import for De La Salle University back in 2007, where she teamed up with the explosive Manilla Santos.

In the 9th season of the V-League, Sanorseang is with the resurgent Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws. The 5'7 Thai can man the middle, open and utility positions, according to her Facebook fan page. In Thailand, she plays for the Chaiyaphum Volleyball Club.  

Additional Link:
Areerat's Facebook Fan Page

Kaori Kodaira 小平 花織 (JPN, Volleyball)

Kaori Kodaira 小平 花織 plays the wing position for Japanese volleyball club Toray Arrows 東レ・アローズ. The Arrows, a many-time V-League champion, lost a tightly-contested match against Tianjin at the recently concluded Asian Women's Club Volleyball Championship. Kodaira played magnificently in that five-setter, with her timely daredevil spikes against the taller Chinese defense.

 Kaori in Action (Photo from Toray Arrows website)

The 22-year old first took up volleyball in her elementary school days. She attended the Saki Minemura junior high school. As a high school student in Tokai University, she competed at the 2008 Asian Junior Championships. 

Kaori joined Toray in 2009, bolstering the club's offensive arsenal. 

Sources: 

Kaori's Toray Arrows profile 

Wikipedia

Maurizia Cacciatori (ITA, Volleyball Beauty)

I wasn't really keen on volleyball, much less watching the game. But when the Manila leg of the Volleyball Grand Prix featured lookers from the Italian, Russian and Japanese teams, I was instantly hooked!

Photos from quotidiano.net and volleyballphilately.com

In the Philippines, people went head over heels about the diminutive yet lovely Brazilian spiker, Leila Barros. I, on the other hand, was enamored by the Mediterranean beauty of Maurizia Cacciatori.

Cacciatori, now long since retired from competitive sport, stands at 1.78m and played the dribbler position. She made her debut into top tier Italian volleyball Sirio Perugia for four years. Her professional career lasted until 2007. Cacciatori was a long time Italian international, having a total of 228 appearances for the Azurri. She helped the Italian squad garner a bronze in the European Championships in 1999 and a silver in the same competition 2 years later, losing to the Russians in the final.