Women's World Grand Prix 2017

  • I've heard him before, I think he did some of World Cup 2015. I think his name is Clayton Lucas

  • I've heard him before, I think he did some of World Cup 2015. I think his name is Clayton Lucas


    It looks like he's the guy. I may unbury my Twitter account and send him a tweet thank you. For someone like me who's just learning the game he was a gem.


    Another name I'd like to thank is Monica De Gennaro. I noticed a few of us here, myself included, refer to her as "the Italian Libero". Let's learn her name :rose:


    Those of you keeping score at home may know I'm primarily a Japanese team fan. That's because their whole team plays like her. She was an absolute delight for me to watch during this tournament.


  • For the friends and the fans, she's simply 'Moki' ;) (or Moki De Gennaro)
    Sometimes I even forgot she is called Monica :lol:
    Like when you have that old friend that you always call with a nickname and then you need ten minute to realize you actually know a person with his name xD


    BTW, this is not the first 'bet libero' award she's won :)


    And to complete the 'Moki' thread, she got married few weeks ago with the new Conegliano coach, last years second coach with Mazzanti first. But for the honey moon she will probably have to wait an year!!


    Ps I have the same problem with the Chinese players (actually, with the East Asia players in general): I know their faces but I can't remember their names, with few exceptions! A bit is because I 'meet' them only during international tournaments and not during the local Championships, a bit because I'm less use to these names plus they sound often quite similar to me. Plus I've no idea how to correctly pronunciate them ^^'
    Sometimes also very long east europe names give me trouble, though.


    And in general I have the impression that often I don't catch the name of the libero (more than the name of other players) because since they don't score and don't serve their name is usually less repeated that other names. Or may be because I don't pay enough attention xD

  • If Brazil had Egonu then she'll be the MVP.


    The reason she make a lot of errors cause Lucia and Caterina can't hit high balls during a very bad transition.


    If Brazil had Egonu, the mistakes will be a lot less on her because the balls won't be forced all to her.


    A medal of gold, a medal of silver, Egonu still has claws

    Per un pir, un pam un persec per na brogna e na rumleina, nuetr'a sam d'la Ghirlandeina nuetr'a sam da rispeter




  • Ps I have the same problem with the Chinese players (actually, with the East Asia players in general): I know their faces but I can't remember their names, with few exceptions! A bit is because I 'meet' them only during international tournaments and not during the local Championships, a bit because I'm less use to these names plus they sound often quite similar to me. Plus I've no idea how to correctly pronunciate them ^^'
    Sometimes also very long east europe names give me trouble, though.


    And in general I have the impression that often I don't catch the name of the libero (more than the name of other players) because since they don't score and don't serve their name is usually less repeated that other names. Or may be because I don't pay enough attention xD


    So true. Ditto and Me Too. I don't know how many matches you get to watch with an Italian commentary pronouncing names for you, but for me as an English only speaker and an interest in mostly East Asian teams it's very rare to have English commentary pronouncing names. I think it's hard to remember someone's name if you don't know how to pronounce it.


    And thanks for the additional Moki news :)

  • Remember the discussion a while back about Tall Ball v Small Ball? I understand it's a nuanced discussion but .... Ana Beatriz at 187cm is the tallest Brazilian player who got any real playing time. Maybe it's a fluke, and Brazil may make up for lack of height with brute force but they also play a good TEAM game. I'm optimistic for the future.

  • Congratulations to the staff and the girls! :cup: :woohoo:


    Underdogs for the first time in so many years and they pulled it through. Our staff was decisive throughout the entire match. Well done! We'll need even more in bigger competitions since we don't have the best roster anymore.


    I liked Tandara's pipes and Bia slide atacks, considering we must solve our passing and hitting issues. Also blocking and defense worked pretty well and I cannot forget our passion and fighting-spirit. It's like 'if the favourites don't want to win, we do'. :P


    I totally disagree on the thank-you-Zhu-Ting-thing. What should we expect from the Olympic champions playing on home turf in front of 11,000 fans? Should they rest their best players in a F6? Should they tank? It would be a shame to say the least. 'Ok. There are 11,000 people supporting us out there. Let's rest our best players and play to lose'. Besides, why should you rest your best players in the finals since you had all the competition to do it unless they are injured? How many times did Brazil play 5 matches in a row against 5 different opponents in 5 days with its best line-up? The staff must care to make the team reach the finals physically strong and ready for intense and long matches in a couple of days just because it's like this in all volleyball competitions. I'm wondering what kind of winning teams really do it. China defeated Netherlands because they are better and Zhu Ting saved so many match points because she is capable for. In case the match was scheduled first in the pool, they should've won against Netherlands the same way and nobody would say something on this matter.


    Congratulations to Italy! They've beaten the Olympic champions at home and showed a great teamwork. Egonu is such a good prospect. The same goes to the middles. Bosetti sisters were way better than I was expecting they would be. Malinov had some brilliant plays and is a great prospect too. De Gennaro was totally outstanding. Until the 4th set she was almost perfect. In my opinion, the best italian player today.

  • just watched the first 3 sets... what a heartbreak for ITA in the 3rd set. but i think the worst heartbreak was really in the 5th... by then i think ITA was already spent. mazzanti really should have put in sorokaite for egonu. for every kill she had, egonu had another error, i think.


    they flashed the stats at the end of the match, and i think ITA outscored BRA in kills, but had so many more errors. BRA had more blocks total. adenizia of course a monster at the net.


    clayton lucas' pronunciation of BRA names is funny. he says drusilya but even funnier, he says adeneZIa...

  • One thing you can say about these Brazilian players is that THEY KNOW HOW TO PUT ON A GOOD SHOW. The passion that they have as volleyball runs in their blood comes alive every time they are on court, especially when they are falling behind and trying to catch up. Both Ana Beatriz and Gabi the libero showed amazing sportsmanship during the final match. They kept the spirit and momentum high.


    Having been a fan of Brazil NT for the past 3 generations (Venturini - Fofao - Lins) I feel like this young team has the best connection to each other. I have never seen Brazil NT really being passionate towards each other like Rosamaria, Roberta, Ana, and Tandara. I'm not saying the previous generations are not passionate about their team mates, but they don't really show it like these girls do. I guess maybe because they are truly professional #1 world player that they know how to keep their fire focus on the match. And who can forget the legendary Brazilian ice queen - Marianne Steinbrecher?


    I am really excited to see how much this team will develop since this tournament has stapled them as one of the teams that will win tournaments in the coming years. Especially knowing more players will be added to the team like Juciely, Gabi, and my favorite Garay. Natalia will secure her spot as the starting OH, so the other spot will be opened to Garay, Gabi, Rosamaria, and Drussyla to grab. I just hope at one point I will get to see the amazing Natalia-Gabi duo on court once again. Gabi is one of the best receivers Brazil currently have and with her on court, Natalia can focus on being a beast at the net.

  • I totally disagree on the thank-you-Zhu-Ting-thing. What should we expect from the Olympic champions playing on home turf in front of 11,000 fans? Should they rest their best players in a F6? Should they tank? It would be a shame to say the least. 'Ok. There are 11,000 people supporting us out there. Let's rest our best players and play to lose'. Besides, why should you rest your best players in the finals since you had all the competition to do it unless they are injured? How many times did Brazil play 5 matches in a row against 5 different opponents in 5 days with its best line-up? The staff must care to make the team reach the finals physically strong and ready for intense and long matches in a couple of days just because it's like this in all volleyball competitions. I'm wondering what kind of winning teams really do it. China defeated Netherlands because they are better and Zhu Ting saved so many match points because she is capable for. In case the match was scheduled first in the pool, they should've won against Netherlands the same way and nobody would say something on this matter.


    Why is "OK" for the Italy and for the Serbia to rest their best players (Egonu and Mihajlovic were not playing in their last F6 games), but it's not OK for the Chinese to rest their best players?


    Edit: I also want to add that Milena Rasic had just played two first sets and Chririchella Cristina just had played in the last sets as server. They rested their best players even though they (Italy and Serbia) need to fight for the first place in t their groups.


    For all these, I ask you again why is OK for the Italy and for the Serbia to rest their best players in their last F6 game, but it's not OK for the Chinese to do the same ?


  • A medal of gold, a medal of silver, Egonu still has claws


    :lol: :lol: :lol:



    In case the match was scheduled first in the pool, they should've won against Netherlands the same way and nobody would say something on this matter.


    So true!! And it's true also otherwise: if Ned would have win, we would have probably thought 'they were lucky, if China wasn't already qualified they probably wouldn't have win!'

  • So true!! And it's true also otherwise: if Ned would have win, we would have probably thought 'they were lucky, if China wasn't already qualified they probably wouldn't have win!'

    I also ask you the same question, why is OK for the Italy and for the Serbia to rest their best players in their last F6 game, but it's not OK if the Chinese team was doing the same thing?

  • In case the match was scheduled first in the poo

    Why is "OK" for the Italy and for the Serbia to rest their best players (Egonu and Mihajlovic were not playing in their last F6 games), but it's not OK for the Chinese to rest their best players?


    Edit: I also want to add that Milena Rasic had just played two first sets and Chririchella Cristina just had played in the last sets as server. They rested their best players even though they (Italy and Serbia) need to fight for the first place in t their groups.


    For all these, I ask you again why is OK for the Italy and for the Serbia to rest their best players in their last F6 game, but it's not OK for the Chinese to do the same ?

    Netherland and Serbia did the same thing in Rio 2016.

  • imo, current Italy NT have even better defense skill than Japan NT....

  • Why is "OK" for the Italy and for the Serbia to rest their best players (Egonu and Mihajlovic were not playing in their last F6 games), but it's not OK for the Chinese to rest their best players?


    Edit: I also want to add that Milena Rasic had just played two first sets and Chririchella Cristina just had played in the last sets as server. They rested their best players even though they (Italy and Serbia) need to fight for the first place in t their groups.


    For all these, I ask you again why is OK for the Italy and for the Serbia to rest their best players in their last F6 game, but it's not OK for the Chinese to do the same ?


    I don't think it's OK to Italy and Serbia doing it.


    First of all, if they need to rest their best players in the F6, it's because their staff weren't able to do differently and this is bad not good. Their staff is recognizing that in their programme they aren't able to make an outstanding player play 3 matches in a row and if they don't give her a rest, she would play worse and this is bad because this is the stage of the competition that the players are supposed to be in their best shape. Why do they need to do it while Brazil and USA don't? Maybe because they still have the European Championship ahead but it's not China's case.
    When Brazil is playing with no rest it happens because our staff is able to prepare the players for this moment which is way better than the opposite. How many times we saw Brazilian 30, 28 years old playing 3, 4 and 5 matches in a row in the F6 and still being the champions? If the italian staff isn't able to make an 18 years old do the same I really don't think it's OK. With a staff improvement of course they can. I'm not criticizing Mazzanti because he's doing a great job but they should be learning how to do it because to play 2 or 3 matches in a row in the finals is totally normal in volleyball competitions. Don't you think is weird to see a team play away like Brazil always putting its best line-up for the moment while you are resting your best players in front of your own fans?


    Secondly, I don't think Serbia is a good example of good shape. Of course it's not OK. Their players are always having physical issues and they are one of the teams that rest players the most.


    Then, why Egonu ( 18 ) should be given a rest while Tandara ( 28 ) doesn't seem to need it? Are you OK with it?


    How many times did Hugh give a rest to Hooker in the finals when they were winning all the competitions? How many times did Zé give a rest to Sheilla for over a decade? Is it really needed?


    Italy has so many good players. Why not to use more the other hitters during the match? Chirichella was so great hitting today. Where were Sylla and Sorokaite?


    Lastly, China is by far one of the most talented teams. They have so many great young players able to score. Don't you think they should use it more instead of overusing Zhu Ting? They won so many under competitions in the past years... China really don't need it. It's a powerhouse not made by just one player. If Brazil can play in their home in front of their fans all the F6 with the best line-up, why they can't? Should their 11,000 fans watch Brazil and Netherlands with their best line-ups and China with its worse without their star?

  • Quoted from "NobodyKnows"
    In case the match was scheduled first in the pool, they should've won against Netherlands the same way and nobody would say something on this matter.



    So true!! And it's true also otherwise: if Ned would have win, we would have probably thought 'they were lucky, if China wasn't already qualified they probably wouldn't have win!'


    :thumbup:

  • There are so many contradictions in your narratives. But to sum up, why the other teams should follow the Brazilian volleyball team's steps? Should the volleyball fans from other countries follow the Brazilian fan's steps as well?