Women's World Grand Prix 2017

  • Netherlands practically brought Brazil and China to a tiebreak set and some people are still thinking they were an easy match? :white: :whistle:


    Newsflash everybody... It didn't matter if it was the first or the last game. Netherlands was a surprisingly tough opponent for both teams and they almost had the reigning champions eliminated before they could even reach the semifinals. :white:


    People saying I assume a lot with my "ifs ifs ifs" but this is the biggest jump-to-conclusion ever that Netherlands would just fall prey to China if it was the first game. The hypocrisy is just blatant to be quite frank with everyone :whistle:

    Favorite players: M: Maxim Mikhaylov, Murilo, Serginho, Aaron Russell, Otavio, Simone Giannelli, Ivan Zaytsev, Tsvetan Sokolov, Michał Kubiak, Mariusz Wlazly, Pawel Zagummy W: Sheilla, Zhu Ting, Natalia, Fe Garay, Fofao, Gabi, Thaisa, Foluke Akinradewo, Wei Qiuyue, Ding Xia, Carli Lloyd, Fabi, Natalia Goncharova, Yuko Sano, Saoris Kimura and Sakoda


    #FreeBritney

    Edited once, last by Rains_of_Castamere ().

  • 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?


    Sorry, where did I say it's not OK? 8| I've never even thouggt that!
    For me it was totally ok and I always thought and said that for every team, even when Italy was the one to risk being eliminated (last year WL I was totally ok with Brazil playing with the second line vs USA. Lucky for us after losimg 2-0 they still managed to beat USA and we got the semifinal).


    My point was completely different: you (generical you) can not say that Brazil got the final 'only thanks to China', because imho it appears like that only due to the order of the matches. And the amazing come back in the tie break ;)
    And I bet that if China would have put the second line and if like that they would have lost to Ned, someone would have said 'Ned was in the semi only because they had the luck to play vs China second line!'


    Ps having said that I do understand that China being at home preferred to play with the best team possible. And I wouldn't have minded it even if they weren't at hone, is their free choise.


    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.


    First af all, one of the main reason to let the titulars rest isn't 'resting', but avoiding injuries in moments where there's no need for them to play. Ask to our high-jumper (in athletics) Tamberi why he wasn't in Rio last year ;)


    Secondly, why the second line doesn't deserve to play?? Haven't they work as hard as the titular? Don't they need time on court to be ready to play in case of need? You are the pne to say that Italy should have used the subs! Why is ok to use them on the final and not in a almost ininfluent match?



    play 3 matches in a row


    4 matches in a row for us, my dear ;) while there are teams, like Brazil, that played two days in a row, then rest one day, than played two days in a row.
    And guess what, USA didn't use the second line because they had to play with the best squad possible to avoid the elimination ;)


    Who plays the firs two days of the final six has the advantage of a day off before the semi (when they reach it) but at the same time is obviously forced to play with the best team possible.
    On the other hand, who plays the first and the third day or the second and the third may happen to know before the second match of the pool if they're already qualified ir not. In this case, 3 team of 4 already knew.
    It's logic.


    some people are still thinking they were an easy matc


    Ehm, who wrote that, sorry? ?(
    Ned crushed Italy enough time last year to make me aware of how strong they are, if a 4th place at the OG isn't enough to prove it to anybody ;)


    I just meant that as China won vs Ned on the last match (when it was vital for Ned to win and usless for China, alteady first of the pool before the tie break), they could have won also if China-Ned was the first match of their pool ;)

  • i dont know what happened why adenizia was not selected as best mb!!! It should be her and bia!!!


    Bia played extremely well.. hoping she and tandara will lose more weight and boom!!! Brazil will be up again

  • 45yrgmWQtt0


    Serbian players celebrate the win over China dancing the kolo, the national dance of Serbia. They're not really doing a good job of it :P (make no mistake, I would have been much worse! :rolll: ) but it's cute!


    Lol they look a little goofy doing it but still very cute I agree. It looks very similar to a dance we have here in Turkey btw and judging by that yeah they are not really good :lol: but who really cares, at least they're having fun :D

  • I didn't watch the awarding ceremony but Im shocked Egonu is not best Opp, because she really WAS the best Opp for this Grand Prix. I could even see MVP going Egonu's way tbh...

    I don't agree. She was for sure the most impressive player with some of her kills, but she still makes way too many mistakes. Her meltdowns in the decisive moments of the final are not worthy of an MVP award or best OPP award (yet).

  • I don't agree. She was for sure the most impressive player with some of her kills, but she still makes way too many mistakes. Her meltdowns in the decisive moments of the final are not worthy of an MVP award or best OPP award (yet).

    agreed. it feels like she made more error than points. boskovic is the best OPP even though she played like 4 games only. but i think Tandara deserves the MVP slot.

  • I didn't watch the awarding ceremony but Im shocked Egonu is not best Opp, because she really WAS the best Opp for this Grand Prix. I could even see MVP going Egonu's way tbh...


    Despite being Italian and a huge supporter of Egonu, I don't think she played the final4 (the one that really matters for the awards) better than Boskovic, who played two match almost flawless and doing well in every department, from block to serve to spike (and she's always have been a better diggers than Paola).

  • Oh ok seems I am the only one in here then... :huh: Sure Egonu made a lot of mistakes but she was just so present in all matches even if she was not playing flawless. She really made me say 'Damn, Egonu!' so many times this time around. A lot of people I spoke too agreed as well. But yea Tijana probably played very good too but I didn't watch both Serbia's matches.

  • Honestly It is not just that I`m a huge fan of hers, but Boskovic was the best player of the finals, too bad Serbia was not able to beat Brazil otherwise Boskovic would be MVP. Even the commenters from NBC were speechless about her performance, they both said Boskovic even improved already from last year.


    Boskovic can not only kill balls, but she can serve, block and dig. Egonu and Tandara was fantastic as well and their. but they don`t have the block,serve and defense that Boskovic has. But still I was super impressed with Egonu and Tandara especially in the final.


    Another thing, in the game against Brazil, with no Mihajlovic on the court, Boskovic acted as the leader of the group, she was pushing Milenkovic and Busa all the time.


    There`s Zhu and there`s Kim...but Boskovic is here to be of the greatest ever also.

  • To be quite fair with Egonu though.


    She was the best opposite of the whole tournament from the intercontinental round to final round. It has to be said that Boskovic was rested more so that could factor into her good performance in the final round with Mijhaylovic serioisly carryIng Serbia during the intercontinental round.


    And a lot of the balls were forced to Egonu and she although makes a lot of errors. She makes enough points to override all of those mistakes. Kudos to that. Carrying such a heavy burden at an early age, errors are going to appear and with no one to really handle left side hitting in a very bad transition and she basically being the most threatening spiker of Italy is going to be scouted and studied accordingly by all the other teams. She is only going to get better once she learns to use the block touch and the other OHs could be much better hitting not from a shoot set but with a high ball.

    Favorite players: M: Maxim Mikhaylov, Murilo, Serginho, Aaron Russell, Otavio, Simone Giannelli, Ivan Zaytsev, Tsvetan Sokolov, Michał Kubiak, Mariusz Wlazly, Pawel Zagummy W: Sheilla, Zhu Ting, Natalia, Fe Garay, Fofao, Gabi, Thaisa, Foluke Akinradewo, Wei Qiuyue, Ding Xia, Carli Lloyd, Fabi, Natalia Goncharova, Yuko Sano, Saoris Kimura and Sakoda


    #FreeBritney

  • but they don`t have the block,serve and defense that Boskovic has


    I agree on the defense, but I don't agree on block and serve: for me Egonu is technically at least as good as Boskovic in these elements.
    Still, imho during the final6/4 Boskovic did quite better than Egonu also in these compartments (not only in attack).


    BTW, for the future – and not such a remote one – I do believe Egonu will become even better than Boskovic, who is two years older (and it matters at this age!) and has already had experiences with an important Club and crucial international matches (both with Club and NT).


    Probably I believe that only because I'm an Italian and an Egonu fans, but we will see, I'm crossing my fingers! :)
    Anyway it's not sure they won't try her in 4 for the future, but I guess that will force to have a 2-player reception.

  • If you think about it...


    Egonu is still too young and can still improve. If she learns to pass the ball on a decent level... That is going to make Italy a much more frightful team to encounter. Having a tall blocker on the outside could also help counter some of the slide and the opposite attackers...


    Well no wants Diouf but maybe some other opposite could do like a receiver or one that likes a faster ball or if Diouf miraculously improve well that could really cause many teams some problems against italy.


    Anyway. I trust Mazzanti can do something really big with this team and you know Egonu is going to be a very massive core player for that dream.

    Favorite players: M: Maxim Mikhaylov, Murilo, Serginho, Aaron Russell, Otavio, Simone Giannelli, Ivan Zaytsev, Tsvetan Sokolov, Michał Kubiak, Mariusz Wlazly, Pawel Zagummy W: Sheilla, Zhu Ting, Natalia, Fe Garay, Fofao, Gabi, Thaisa, Foluke Akinradewo, Wei Qiuyue, Ding Xia, Carli Lloyd, Fabi, Natalia Goncharova, Yuko Sano, Saoris Kimura and Sakoda


    #FreeBritney

  • Tbh Egonu's serve is much better then Bošković's and I am a bigger fan of Tijana. Tijana serve is basically hit or miss. Egonu can actually serve really well and effective in important times.


    Also agree with Rains of Castamere. Tijana was resting a lot of the GP while Egonu was amazing from start to end and was carrying the Italian team at all times. Sure she made a lot of mistakes too but she is still just a teenager. I think we can expect a lot from Egonu in a few years especially when she can finally leave Club Italia.

  • Does anyone knows why teams were not given that "big sign check" to have with them on the podium?


    maybe to avoid comparison with men`s once they earn U$1M and the women earn less?


    How about cash prize for individual awards? WL gives MVP $30K and everyone else $10K...did the women get any??

  • Hi, im new here, and i spent sometime looking all the comments, so... i dont like so much to quote anyone words, i dont know, i think i wont use this quote button ever, lol, but...
    At first people was calling Brasil as a underdog at the grandprix... Hum, sorry but i want to know who was the top teams of this tournament? It was a great tournament because we had 5, 6, 7 teams able to beat the each others! Brasil won the powerfull Servia 2 times, but for the first time lose Thailand, 0-3, and after many yers to Japan 2-3... Sorry but i cant see any favourite, even china and servia with its A squads, able to assume the great team position by its on. I saw teams doing experiences with players, Brasil and USA putting lots of new faces to play... I think people has to study more about volleyball and learn that its a colective game, with 7 players acting all the time and other 7 ant the bech given all support needed. Put this or that team as a favourite just for one player talent or stas is so inocent and silly...
    And talking about superplayers... I used to look all the stats tables after the games to view how the players are playing to... And the numbers of Boscovic and Egonu are so similar of others players... They are tall, with good moviments to attack, great velocity to aproach the ball's time, great reach, strong at the spik force.. People used to say: WOWWWW 30 points at the game!!!! Ok, 30 points in 80, 90 actions... Rate by 35 30 40 % ... Talking abou Brasil we had Nat, Tandara, Rosamaria, doing 10, 15, sometimes 20 points in a game, but with rate between 45 60 % ... Babies, to win a team dont need one superplayer, to win a team needs to be A TEAM. And, in my poor opinion, i think Nat Tandara and Rosa are superplayers... They arent so tall, ok, they are strong, but they able to play as op ou oh, with good performance in pass and defense... I'd love to see Boscovic working well in pass, runinin to attack and doing 30 points at the end... Natalia does.
    I think people needs idols to be inpired. Our idols here in Brasil is our colective soul. Its win championships. Single players not.
    About brazilian players... Gabi is recovering of a medium knee injury... Jucy is in a recovering time too... Dani is in a baby plan... Fe Garay is getting a rest... Fabiana and Sheilla are retired and Thaisa is a big doubt... Some players could return to WGCC, as Garay, Jucy and Gabi. I dont know if Thaisa will return in the next year, but i think Dani will certanly do....