Promising New stars 2013

    I have enjoyed International tournaments a lot this year, especially ECH was so much fun. Great fight spirit, great play, great fans from Germany and Switzerland. I'd pick promising new stars that were seen and played for first time in NT this year. I think you guys also can join adding good new stars.


    Russia


    Anastasia Shlyakhovaya (1990) - It was a clever choice cutting Borodakova out and letting Nastya play in stead. she's a strong blocker with great attacks.
    Daria Isaeva (1990) - Tough spike server.
    Anna Malova (1990) - Nobody really expected her to be this good. I don't think Russia will have problems with libero position.
    Ekaterina Pankova (1990) - Best setter at ECH this year.
    Irina Zaryazhko (1991) - Too bad that she was injuried during ECH while her teammates played an amazing volleyball.

    Natalia Malykh (1993) - She doesn't seem to be a traditional russian attacker. she's fast, smart and has a fabulous arm swing.


    Germany


    Anja Brandt (1990) - I know she's not a newbie on NT, but she somehow made me surprised by her great performance during the whole summer. So it wasn't a big surprise that Kauffbelt was cut and she was in.
    Jennifer Geerties (1994) - Matthes got finally cut thanks to great jennifer.
    Lisa Izquierdo (1994) - Although she didn't get enough chances to show how promising she is...I hope to see her more next year.


    Belgium


    Lise Van Hecke (1992) - Of course, It wasn't her first time on NT this year, but she played really well and is still very young.
    Laura Heyrman (1993) - A very promising player, I'd say.


    Italy


    Valentina Diouf (1993) - Personally she's not my type of a player but was the best scorer for Italy NT. I think if she keeps playing more, she can be another Haneef-Park-like player.
    Cristina Chirichella (1994) - She seems to be a pretty good blocker.


    Poland


    Dorota Medynska (1993) - I don't know why Makowski didn't try her in stead of Maj that played quite bad during whole season this year. I think Medynska is a good digger with good spirit. Perhaps her reception may be a bit shaky but let's see. she's only 20 yo.
    Anna Grejman (1993) - Thanks to Makowski, we couldn't see her at ECH.
    Agnieszka Kakolewska (1994) - She could have played a lot of matches as starter due to absences of Bednarek and Tomsia and she's a very strong blocker. her attacks are not really good yet, but let's see how it turns out next year.


    The Netherlands


    Celeste Plak (1995) - We gotta see more of her performance but it was enough seeing how promising she is.


    Czech Republic


    Pavla Vincourova (1992) - It wasn't her first year on NT but I'd say she played quite good considering her age and her experience. Anyone knows why Kubinova was cut ? As far as I remember she was playing as starter during the first round of WGP.
    Michaela Mlejnkova (1996) - A 17 year old girl playing for her senior NT and she played a very stable volleyball at WGP this year, too pity that she couldn't get any chances of playing at ECH. Kossaniyova and Vanzurova weren't that good.


    Croatia


    Martina Malevic (1990)


    USA


    Kelly Murphy (1989) - Another bomb player from the states :wavy: I really hope she can be as good as Nancy Metcalf in some years.
    Kimberly Hill (1989) - She's not a strong attacker neither stable receiver but I liked her performance at WGP.


    Brazil


    Gabriela (1994) - Another monster brazilian player :D

    Ah yes, she's a good player. But to be completely honest I haven't watched enough matches of Chinese NT. Only WGP I guess.


    I think there's no BIG NAMED stars above yet, but I'm quite sure some of them will make us surprised in some years. I really hope so.

    We have to wait for both Murphy and Hill. They both changed position in 2013, so we have to give them more time. Murphy was a setter in her college career, while Hill used to play as a middle blocker. Murphy swiched position when she was in Puerto Rico, Hill after a season with Pepperdine University Sand volleyball program. We just have to be patiente.


    We can add many players from NCAA on this list, but the sad think is that many of them won't have any opportunity to play abroad, expecially on libero position it's very difficult for these girl, that's why I think we should add on this list Natalie Hagglund, on of the best liberos NCAA ever produced!

    To me, young/promising player means U-20, so 1994 and younger ones.


    Setter: H. Miyashita
    Opposite: T. Boskoviç/M. Vargas
    Outside Hitter: Z. Thing/Gabi/C. Bosetti/J. Geerties/L. Izquierdo/E. Fedele/S. Matienzo/J. Rivero/C. Plak/M. Mlejnkova/A. Leyva
    Middle Blocker: C. Chirichella/A. Kakolewska/K. Akman/A. Kalaç/A. Barysevich
    Libero: D. Bağcı/Z. Todorova


    The players above has already manage to play in their senior NT and showed good performance. Especially on OH position, there are very good prospects

    Cate Bosetti was a big disappointment this year, not sure what was wrong with her though...

    I think that one of the most promising player is Haruka Miyashita. I guess that it's so hard for her to replace great Yoshie Takeshita. Big pressure, but she played so good during WGP 2013 and Asian Championships... so, I'm sure that she will be a new star of japanese team :thumbsup:


    Good luck Haruka! :heart: