Mayu Ishikawa

In this Japanese name, the surname is Ishikawa.
Mayu Ishikawa
Personal information
Full nameMayu Ishikawa
NationalityJapanese
Born (2000-05-14) 14 May 2000 (age 24)
Okazaki, Aichi, Japan
Height1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Weight65 kg (143 lb)
Spike300 cm (120 in)
Block290 cm (110 in)
Volleyball information
PositionOutside hitter
Current clubItaly Igor Gorgonzola Novara
Number4 (national)
10 (club)
Career
YearsTeams
2016–2019
2019–2023
2023–2024
2024–present		Japan Shimokitazawa Seitoku
Japan Toray Arrows
Italy Azzurra Volley Firenze
Italy Igor Gorgonzola Novara
National team
2017– Japan
Honours
Women's Volleyball
Representing  Japan
FIVB Nations League
Silver medal – second place 2024 Bangkok Team
Asian Girls' U18 Championship
Gold medal – first place 2017 Chongqing team
FIVB U20 World Championship
Gold medal – first place 2019 Mexico team
Asian Championship
Gold medal – first place 2019 Seoul team

Mayu Ishikawa (石川 真佑, Ishikawa Mayu, born 14 May 2000) is a Japanese professional volleyball player. She's a member of the Japan Women's National Volleyball Team, as one of its outside hitters.[1] She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Women's volleyball.[2]

Ishikawa currently plays for the club Igor Gorgonzola Novara.[3] She used to be the captain of Japan U-18 and U-20 national volleyball team.

Personal life

Ishikawa has one older sister and one older brother, Yūki Ishikawa, who is the team captain of Japan men's national volleyball team. She was motivated by her siblings to start playing volleyball and her brother would always give good advice about spiking when she was in high school.[4]

Career

She started playing volleyball when she was in the third year of Yahagi Minami Elementary School, in Okazaki city, and joined the local club team Anjo Kita Rabbits.[5]

In 2013, she attended Nagano City Susobana Junior High School, which is known as a strong team. In junior high school, she participated in the "National Junior High School Athletic Meet" for three consecutive years, winning twice in 2013 (1st year) and 2015 (3rd year).[6][7]

After graduating from junior high school in 2016, she entered Shimokitazawa Seitoku High School, which has a prestigious high school volleyball team. She had become a regular player since the first year and won the "2016 The National High School Comprehensive Athletic Meet Volleyball Tournament" (Inter-high) by defeating Kinrankai High School with a set count of 3–0.[8] In 2017, she became the ace of the team and at the "69th All Japan Volleyball High School Championship" (Harutaka), she led the team and defeated Shujitsu High School with a straight set in the final round.[9]

In March 2017, Mayu was first registered as a member of Japan women's national under-18 volleyball team and competed as national team representative for the first time at 2017 Asian Girls' U18 Volleyball Championship in China. She served as the captain and Japan team won the title.[10][11]

In the third year of high school in 2018, she became captain of the team. In the same year, at the "2018 The National High School Comprehensive Athletic Meet Volleyball Tournament" (Inter-high), she defeated 3–0 in the final with Kinrankai High School and achieved the third tournament victory for the first time in two years.[12] At the "73rd National Sports Festival Volleyball Competition" (Kokutai) in the fall, as the representative of Tokyo, her school had defeated Kinrankai High School with a set count of 3–1. The victory made Shimokitazawa Seitoku High School achieve two consecutive high school crowns.[13] In January 2019, the team challenged the triple crown in the "71st All Japan Volleyball High School Championships" (Harutaka), Shimokitazawa Seitoku High School lost to Higashi Kyushu Ryutani High School with a full set in the semi-finals round.[14]

January 16, 2019, Toray Arrows of the V.League Division 1 announced that Mayu would join the team as an informal player.[15] She debuted in 2018/19 season, in the final 8 round, in the match against Hisamitsu Springs in the starting lineup.[16]

In July 2019, at 2019 FIVB Volleyball Women's U20 World Championship in Mexico, Mayu served as the captain of the under-20 national team.[17][18] Mayu led the team to victory[19] and received the "Most Valuable Player" (MVP) and 2nd "Best Outside Spiker" awards.[20]

In the August of the same year, Japan won the gold medal at the 2019 Asian Women's Volleyball Championship and Mayu received the same awards at the end of the competition.[21] Her success was evaluated by Kumi Nakada, the director of the Japan senior national team, so she became a member of the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup Japanese roster.[22] In the tournament, she was appointed as a starting member in the matches against United States and South Korea, and was the best Japanese scorer in both games.[23][24]

In 2021 she took part in the 2021 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League. Mayu was also part of the Japanese women's roster for the 2020 Summer Olympics.[25]

Awards

Individual

High school team

  • 2016-17 All Japan High School Championship- - Champion, with Shimokitazawa Seitoku
  • 2017-18 All Japan High School Championship- - Bronze medal, with Shimokitazawa Seitoku

Club team

National team

References

  1. ^ "2019 FIVB VNL Preview: Japan Women's National Team". www.flovolleyball.tv. 7 May 2019.
  2. ^ "Volleyball ISHIKAWA Mayu". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 2021-08-13. Retrieved 2021-08-13.
  3. ^ "Mayu Ishikawa è il primo volto nuovo della Igor Volley 2024-2025". 11 May 2024.
  4. ^ "News - Rising star Mayu Ishikawa follows in her brother's footsteps".
  5. ^ "Kazaki 9/1 2019" (PDF). Kazaki (市政だより おかざき) (in Japanese). 1367: 4. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  6. ^ "平成25年度全国中学校体育大会 優勝者" (in Japanese). nagano-sports. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  7. ^ "平成27年度全国中学校総合体育大会 優勝者" (in Japanese). nagano-sports. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  8. ^ "kekkaB_interhigh_women2016" (PDF) (in Japanese). JVA. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  9. ^ "【インターハイに挑む】バレー女子 下北沢成徳の２年生エース 石川真佑" (in Japanese). 2017-07-28. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  10. ^ "第11回アジアユース女子選手権大会(U-18) - 日本代表メンバー". jva.or.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  11. ^ "SMM 11TH GIRLS' U18 "CHONGQING" ASIAN VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP". asianvolleyball.net. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  12. ^ "インターハイ・バレーボール女子 下北沢成徳が３度目V、真っ向勝負で宿敵破る" (in Japanese). koukouseishinbun. 2018-08-05. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  13. ^ "国体 成年女子は佐賀が連覇 少年女子は東京（下北沢成徳高校）が２冠" (in Japanese). JVA. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  14. ^ "石川真佑、涙…兄妹３冠の夢散る 下北沢成徳が準決勝で敗退／春高バレー" (in Japanese). sanspo. 2019-01-13. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  15. ^ "Toray Arrows players -#12 Mayu Ishikawa". toray-arrows.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  16. ^ "2018-19 V.LEAGUE DIVISION1 WOMEN ファイナル８" (in Japanese). vleague. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  17. ^ "第20回女子U20（ジュニア）世界選手権大会 -日本代表メンバー". jva.or.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  18. ^ "U-20 world championship - Japan team roster". volleyballworld.com. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  19. ^ "YEAR IN REVIEW – JAPAN TOPPLE ITALY IN CLASSIC U20 FINAL". volleyballworld.com. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  20. ^ "MAYU ISHIKAWA OF JAPAN NAMED WOMEN'S U20 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MOST VALUABLE PLAYER". volleyballworld.com. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  21. ^ "アジア女子選手権/タイ破り2連覇!MVPに石川真佑" (in Japanese). getsuvolley. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  22. ^ "女子バレー・石川真佑 鮮烈デビューの19歳が向き合う課題" (in Japanese). nhk.or.jp. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  23. ^ "19歳・石川、苦しむ日本の光明 バレー女子W杯" (in Japanese). nikkei.com. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  24. ^ "石川真佑がルーキーの定石を覆す活躍。 W杯では逆境での起用に応えた" (in Japanese). Takai Miwa. 2020-05-18. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  25. ^ "ARAKI TO LEAD JAPAN 2020 WOMEN'S NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER". en.volleyballworld.com. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  26. ^ "Best" (PDF). www.jva.or.jp. 2019. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
  27. ^ "Mayu Ishikawa » awards". Women Volleybox.net.
  28. ^ "Data".
  29. ^ "Info".
  30. ^ "Heartbreak for Thais at Asian tourney". Bangkok Post. 26 August 2019.