2018 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League

Efimova again! Her blocking with her arms is so uncreative. She got to use her mind when blocking especially the pipe or attacks from the middle.

Russia will probably lose the points they made when Efimova comes back to the front.

I think Romanova is auditioning for the award of world's most boring setter right now.

Efimova is a disaster from every area of the court. Her overpass killed Russia's confidence.

Koolhas was amazing in this match. She's my MVP tonight.

Even Malykh wasn't getting any balls by the end as Romanova just set to position 4 every time.

Koolhaas 7/7 in attack, Balkestein 10/15, Plak 15/31, Buijs 13/28. Russia really have to block better than this, even Fetisova who I really like seemed slow and in bad positions today.

Congrats to the Dutch girls on a really good game and 3 victories

After 2015 ECH, Russia is going down and down.They can't find any solution.

Congrats to Dutch girls on a great victory!

Btw, I join everyone's praise of Zehra. Eda has found her heir! This girl will be special!

It also has to be said Boz is doing a great job so far. She might be the star of mediocre teams, and she might be underwhelming in comparison to the very best of Opp's in the world, but Gui is bringing the absolute maximum out of her, and she is in excellent form.

I would set to 4 as well. That's the money shot.

Trusting Malykh all the time can be a double edged blade and Efimova is too slow as a slider and Fetisova is not exactly that person.

I just feel Romanova should've given Malykh or the pipe attackers some crucial balls but she's technically correct going to 4 all the time.

I still think Russia's blocking with Efimova killed them. She was giving too big of a space for Netherlands to bring down the ball to their floor. That's not exactly a good habit for a middle blocker.

Quote from pope

I still don`t like the fact that the middles are being used more. Stevanovic - Popovic - Veljekovic - were all scoring a lot this season. Then they come to the NT and they play like cheerleaders. And they should be using these easy games to work on that...but I guess it will always be Mihajlovic-Boskovic only... and the whole world knows where the ball is always going.

I like Mirkovic...she did a nice job with Chemick and especially Veljekovic. She fits the NT because she`s tall and good at the net and when the pass is not good she`s always there to make something happen. Serbia could not handle a shorter setter for example. Russia is struggling lately having shorter setters...

You're comparing apples and oranges when you compare the role of our top middles in their clubs to their role in the NT (with exception of Rasic). The main reason why they get so many more balls in their respective clubs is because they don't have any terminators like Boskovic and Mihajlovic there, so they have to make up the difference.

In other words, waiting for our middles to get as many balls as they do in their clubs (again, Rasic is a case for herself) is akin to waiting for Godot.

Lang Ping did state before this competition that it'll be a test for their new players, their will be some challenges and losses to overcome. Korea's coach was very verbal while Lang Ping sat quietly examining her players self adjustment. Korea played their best match today while China did not, which is still a surprise, but I'm sure Lang Ping doesn't stress over it that much. She's very patient with her players and knows that mistakes aren't something you learn from overnight. Great job to Korea, onto the next week of matches!

Quote from Rains

I would set to 4 as well. That's the money shot.

Trusting Malykh all the time can be a double edged blade and Efimova is too slow as a slider and Fetisova is not exactly that person.

I just feel Romanova should've given Malykh or the pipe attackers some crucial balls but she's technically correct going to 4 all the time.

I still think Russia's blocking with Efimova killed them. She was giving too big of a space for Netherlands to bring down the ball to their floor. That's not exactly a good habit for a middle blocker.

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It's fine if 4 is her usual set, but Malykh was basically reduced to a spectator for the last half of the 3rd set except of course when she was at 4. Sure, the MBs aren't the greatest attackers in the world but a little more variety is all I'm asking for.

Quote from Sisko95

It's fine if 4 is her usual set, but Malykh was basically reduced to a spectator for the last half of the 3rd set except of course when she was at 4. Sure, the MBs aren't the greatest attackers in the world but a little more variety is all I'm asking for.

I agree but I still think the point of all of this is having Parubets and Voronkova with more confidence for the more important matches now that Kosheleva is out for this year. They really needed to have ball-killers at 4 which is probably the mission of Pankov for the VNL. Endless opposite setting will probably come back when Goncharova returns anyway.

Quote from Rains

I agree but I still think the point of all of this is having Parubets and Voronkova with more confidence for the more important matches now that Kosheleva is out for this year. They really needed to have ball-killers at 4 which is probably the mission of Pankov for the VNL. Endless opposite setting will probably come back when Goncharova returns anyway.

I hope that Startseva and Goncahrova can have a good connection as they haven't really played with each other, and as talented as Vorokova is, she's young and makes silly mistakes and Parubets' game is a big question mark especially among the big blocking teams due to her size (or lack thereof).

Is Romanova supposed to be the heir to Pankova? She doesn't particularly like to set the middles from the few games I've seen from her