Naturalized player from Cuba, Melissa Valdes (185cm, 23, Opposite Spiker), is likely to be selected for the Japanese women's national volleyball team next year.

I first saw Valdes in this screenshot taken during the match when Japan defeated Poland and advanced to the quarterfinals in the final VNL qualifying match on July 12th this year.
Even though Valdes was not selected for the national team this year, she accompanied the Japanese squad to the VNL as a trainee. The player in the red shirt on the far right is Valdes.

In the photo below, Mayu Ishikawa is with Valdes.

Valdes has lived in Japan since 2018, during her high school years, and has been playing in the Japanese league as a member of the PFU BlueCats in the SV.League since 2021. She is also registered on the BlueCats roster for the 2026-27 season.
Melissa ranked 8th in the SV. Best Scorer category for the 2025-26 season; while that might seem low, Rosamaria (185cm, Opposite), a regular attacker for the Brazilian national team, ranked 6th.
Valdes acquired Japanese citizenship on September 26, 2024, and will satisfy the FIVB's "2-year waiting period (Clearance) after naturalization" regulation for international competition eligibility on September 26th of this month.
The reason Valdes was not included in the 37-member list for the 2026 Japan women's national volleyball team announced this April is likely because she did not meet the FIVB's eligibility requirements for naturalized players at that time.
Currently, Japan's top-tier attacking trio consists of Mayu Ishikawa (174cm), Yukiko Wada (175cm), and Yoshino Sato (178cm). Since none of them are over 180cm, the Japanese women's national team is in desperate need of a tall attacker.
The photo below was taken from a Thai volleyball fan's Instagram post uploaded on April 16th this year. Translating the Thai caption reads: "PFU announces that Melissa Valdes has been called up to the Japan national team training camp as a 'Trainee'."

BlueCats club photo registered on Volleyball Box


Below is a video of a BlueCats match featuring Valdes on October 20, 2025. The video is titled "Volleyball SV League 'BlueCats' wins two consecutive games in home opener." Valdes' jersey number is 23.
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