Germany - VBL 1. Bundesliga 2016/17

  • Stuttgart is better at every position than Dresden. And while it was not McMahon's fault alone that DSC lost, they have no chance of winning unless she has a strong game, which she didn't today.

  • Vilsbiburg - Köpenick 3:0 (30:28 25:21 25:19)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2016-17/Women/&2040.pdf
    MVP: Naoko Hashimoto / Nele Iwohn


    Ranking:
    1 Schwerin 7 7 21:2 21
    2 Stuttgart 8 7 22:8 21
    3 Dresden 7 5 17:11 14
    4 Potsdam 7 5 17:13 14
    5 Wiesbaden 7 4 17:12 13
    6 Vilsbiburg 6 4 13:6 12
    7 Münster 6 3 11:14 8
    8 Aachen 8 2 12:19 7
    9 Suhl 8 2 9:19 7
    10 Köpenick 7 2 9:17 5
    11 Erfurt 7 1 7:19 4
    12 VCO Berlin 8 1 8:23 3


    Slowly the picture is getting clearer: Schwerin and Stuttgart are the two best teams; Dresden, Potsdam, Wiesbaden and Vilsbiburg are fighting for the spots behind them, Münster is in the middle of nowhere and Aachen, Suhl, Köpenick and Erfurt are fighting to avoid relegation.

  • Stuttgart wins in four - and keeps contact to leader Schwerin. On the other hand, Dresden is only better in set ratio than Potsdam and will have to fight hard to keep third, maybe fourth place in table.


    Regarding the match: Dresden started with the maximum they can do in first set and nearly without faults and Stuttgart did them the favor to make enough mistakes to grant Dresden the first set a little lucky (28:30). After replacing Aiyana Whitney with the more reliable Deborah van Daelen and Jennifer Pettke with Micheli Pissinato, Stuttgart established control over the match and won finally in four sets and with three points. The statistics show some considerable differences: reception was definitely better with Stuttgart, also attack efficency and also the home team had twice as much aces by equal service faults. That means IMHO Dresden is effectively out of race of championship, because they can not rescue situation with just one good outside hitter still to hire - maybe Dutch national Maret Balkestein-Grothuis would be an option for them? Remember that Mancuso will leave in a few weaks.

  • Stuttgart wins in four - and keeps contact to leader Schwerin. On the other hand, Dresden is only better in set ratio than Potsdam and will have to fight hard to keep third, maybe fourth place in table.


    Regarding the match: Dresden started with the maximum they can do in first set and nearly without faults and Stuttgart did them the favor to make enough mistakes to grant Dresden the first set a little lucky (28:30). After replacing Aiyana Whitney with the more reliable Deborah van Daelen and Jennifer Pettke with Micheli Pissinato, Stuttgart established control over the match and won finally in four sets and with three points. The statistics show some considerable differences: reception was definitely better with Stuttgart, also attack efficency and also the home team had twice as much aces by equal service faults. That means IMHO Dresden is effectively out of race of championship, because they can not rescue situation with just one good outside hitter still to hire - maybe Dutch national Maret Balkestein-Grothuis would be an option for them? Remember that Mancuso will leave in a few weaks.


    Maret Balkestein-Grothues goes to Fenerbahce ISTANBUL, so it is one chance less for Dresden regarding valuable enforcements.

  • The Red Raves Vilsbiburg host the SC Potsdam - I think this will be a rather tough match, at home Vilsbiburg has not lost even a set this season.


    And Wiesbaden hosts Dresden - similar to the first one mentioned there is no favorite at all IMHO. Anyway both teams consider defending champion Dresden as favorite, but I'm not convinced of it and think, the very day of both teams may decide this match, where Wiesbaden has the home advantage.


    Regarding Münster vs. Schwerin: the last are the clear-cut favorites, despite Anja Brandt (middle, the replacement middle is not on the same level) and Louisa Souza-Ziegler are ill. The last means, that both outside hitters from German national team Jennifer Geerties and Maren Brinker can't be really replaced easily, only Ariel Turner-Gebhardt is an option - but this should suffice for those positions.

  • Suhl - Köpenick 0:3 (20:25 24:26 16:25)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2016-17/Women/&2048.pdf (a little better than Suhl's other stats sheets, but still not really good)
    MVP: Veronika Hroncekova / Sarah Wickstrom
    Important 3 points for Köpenick and Suhl will surely regret this result a lot.


    Vilsbiburg - Potsdam 1:3 (21:25 25:21 20:25 13:25)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2016-17/Women/&2044.pdf
    MVP: Kerley Becker / Roslandy Acosta


    Wiesbaden - Dresden 1:3 (20:25 25:22 22:25 17:25)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2016-17/Women/&2046.pdf
    MVP: Molly McCage / Liz McMahon


    Münster - Schwerin 0:3 (22:25 23:25 22:25)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2016-17/Women/&2045.pdf
    MVP: Kaisa Alanko / Lenka Dürr
    Kaisa Alanko was Münster's top scorer as setter (together with OPP Wilson) with 11 pts (5 aces - 4 attacks - 2 blocks) :lol: Schwerin without Brandt and Souza, also Lippmann played only as substitute.


    Erfurt - Stuttgart 0:3 (21:25 5:25 12:25) :white: :aww:
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2016-17/Women/&2047.pdf
    MVP: Friederike Brabetz (from Erfurt's youth) / Renata Sandor
    After a balanced 1st set Stuttgart completely ran over Erfurt. Not exactly a good advertisement for 1st league volleyball...


    Ranking:
    1 Schwerin 8 8 24:2 24
    2 Stuttgart 9 8 25:8 24
    3 Dresden 8 6 20:12 17
    4 Potsdam 8 6 20:14 17
    5 Wiesbaden 8 4 18:15 13
    6 Vilsbiburg 7 4 14:9 12
    7 Köpenick 8 3 12:17 8
    8 Münster 7 3 11:17 8
    9 Aachen 8 2 12:19 7
    10 Suhl 9 2 9:22 7
    11 Erfurt 8 1 7:22 4
    12 VCO Berlin 8 1 8:23 3


  • Even considering that Stuttgart is a very strong team this was no first league adequate performance by Erfurt...

  • Now Dresden and Potsdam virtually announced not unexpectedly the demand for going into the semis in the playoffs. Dresden improved IMHO in the last possible moment to avoid a bad outcome in Wiesbaden.

  • Schedule for the weekend:


    10. Dezember 2016
    17:30 Dresden - Erfurt
    18:00 Suhl - Wiesbaden
    19:00 Köpenick - Münster
    19:00 Aachen - Potsdam
    19:00 Schwerin - Vilsbiburg


    11. Dezember 2016
    18:00 VCO Berlin - Münster


    All matches except VCO live on http://www.vbl.tv. Schwerin-Vilsbiburg should be interesting.


  • The most intersting match is supposed to be Schwerin vs. Vilsbiburg - can the guests (Red Raves) win at least a set or even more?

  • Schwerin was totally superior, despite Anja Brandt still could'nt play and Louisa Lippmann had not the usual attack efficiency - but both German national outside hitters played extremely well in reception and attack. In Totals Schwerin was way better in service, blocking and considerably in attack efficieny and reception, Vilsbiburg had no advantage in any relevant area. This explains the rather clear victory in three sets of the ten times German champion. Even if Stuttgart would win in three against Schwerin in one week, due to their loss in Potsdam they have no chance to get past Schwerin in the table that way, and it will be not easy to win at all, I think - despite it is absolutely possible.

  • We are approaching the mid-point of the VBL regular season. I have watched maybe a dozen matches online, and have seen every team at least once except Potsdam and Vilsbiburg.


    My impression is that the overall level of play has dropped off this year. Especially in serving . . . so many soft float serves simply soaring past the end line.


    For those who watch the league more closely than I do, what do you think? Am I correct?


    If so, why is this happening? Is it a temporary situation where many good players have retired or transferred recently? Has the allure of other leagues weakened the VBL? Have the league financial requirements and reduction in available sponsors reduced the budgets that teams have to acquire top players?


    I'd be very interested in your thoughts about this . . . especially if my impression is wrong!

  • Dresden - Erfurt 3:0 (25:22 25:10 25:18 )
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2016-17/Women/&2049.pdf
    MVP: Lucie Smutna / Katlin Winters


    Suhl - Wiesbaden 1:3 (19:25 25:27 25:22 20:25)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2016-17/Women/&2053.pdf
    MVP: Marrit Jasper / Irina Kemmsies


    Köpenick - Münster 2:3 (25:22 22:25 13:25 25:23 7:15)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2016-17/Women/&2050.pdf
    MVP: Sarah Wickstrom / Bogdana Anisova


    Aachen - Potsdam 2:3 (25:21 15:25 25:19 14:25 10:15)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2016-17/Women/&2051.pdf (soon)
    MVP: Nicole Oude Luttikhuis / Lisa Gründing


    Schwerin - Vilsbiburg 3:0 (25:21 25:17 25:21)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2016-17/Women/&2052.pdf
    MVP: Lenka Dürr / Liana Mesa
    Vilsbiburg rested Hashimoto and Koljonen because of physical problems, so Schwerin had an easier job than expected.