Germany - VBL 1. Bundesliga 2017/2018

  • Sm'Aesch Pfeffingen's website has her listed in their roster since yesterday.

    Andi Vollmer is their coach :whistle: And her former teammate from Köpenick Nicole Walch will play there too.


    Meanwhile, bad news for Suhl: their captain Claudia Steger broke a leg yesterday in a pre-season tournament and will be out for quite a while, maybe even the whole season :white:

  • Vanessa Agbortabi is on the official team photo of Vilsbiburg. She signed a contract with them for 2018/19 season and is supposed to spend this season in VCO Berlin in order to finish school there, but maybe plans have changed? Last season she joined Vilsbiburg for the playoffs...they sure need another OH/Opp.

  • MTV Stuttgart won a friendly match against Volero Zürich with 4:0. :) :win:
    Full match on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpy0H4RRMYg


    Since three important players are still missing in our roster due to the European Championships (NED: Stoltenborg, Daalderop and SRB: Pusic) this tells more about the weakness of current Volero team as anything else IMHO.

  • Is Antonjevic there? I watched the video but I can`t really tell.


    Anyway, Stuttgart had to play with inexperienced setter (in professional volleyball) and former junior NT player Pia Kästner (due to ECh final with Stoltenborg today), so this was no advantage for Stuttgart at all.

  • As you can see, Stuttgart made some (mostly dual license for 1. and 2. league) additions of youngsters to provide more backup especially for European cups:


    http://www.stuttgarts-schoenster-sport.de/team/spielerinnen


    Especially Julia Wenzel will have dual license as last year, (short) beach youngster Annie Cesar is added as receiver (hidden Libero :) ), and Lena Große-Scharmann also as dual license player (was together with Wenzel in opening match of second league), same holds true for the currently injured Sophia Bodlee (Libero backup).

  • Looking at the rosters, some teams still have vacancies but haven't made any more transfers:


    - Potsdam hasn't signed a backup OPP nor a 3rd MB, instead they added their Junior players Emilia Weske (OPP, 2001) and Natalie Wilczek (MB, 2000) to the team.
    - Vilsbiburg has only 3 OHs and 1 OPP, so only one wing hitter on bench. But as I said before, Vanessa Agbortabi is on their team photo, so probably she'll join them during the season.
    - Erfurt has only 3 OHs: Annalena Grätz who was weak in Köpenick, Ivana Dinic who played in 2nd league in France and missed most of the preparation due to problems with her visa, and youngster Friederike Brabetz (175cm, 1999). IMO that looks very weak :S

  • I guess it will be between Schwerin and Stuttgart again. Both have lost key players but made good transfers. Behind that, almost anything can happen. Dresden, Wiesbaden, Potsdam, Vilsbiburg, maybe even Aachen and Münster all seem on a similar level in terms of individual players.

  • I guess it will be between Schwerin and Stuttgart again. Both have lost key players but made good transfers. Behind that, almost anything can happen. Dresden, Wiesbaden, Potsdam, Vilsbiburg, maybe even Aachen and Münster all seem on a similar level in terms of individual players.


    I agree mostly, only Münster seems a little less strong IMHO, to many unexperienced young players.

  • I don't follow the German championship that closely. but Schwerin seem like the clear favorites for me with Hanke, Lippmanm, Geerties, Szákmary, Schölzel and Carocci.

  • Another remark: for the first time in years German Volleyball magazine had no favourite nomination for this season. They claimed Schwerin, Stuttgart and Dresden all on equal level to my surprise, because regarding outside hitters both Schwerin and Stuttgart are MUCH better in their rosters as Dresden, whose OHs are too weak to become champions IMHO.


    Regarding Erfurt: indeed, if you have no adequate roster (I don't understand this, with budget of 600.000 Euro Erfurt should do better this hiring job) like Suhl in season 2015/2016 had, you will get beaten the crap out of you of by the other, truely first league level teams - there are usually no really weak teams anymore.

  • I don't follow the German championship that closely. but Schwerin seem like the clear favorites for me with Hanke, Lippmanm, Geerties, Szákmary, Schölzel and Carocci.


    Believe me: Stuttgarts choice of international players with just two Germans is an extremely dangerous group even for Schwerin, if it works out well (new head coach) and no of the three major outside hitters get injured opposed to the last two seasons, they have a fair chance to dethrone Schwerin and become for the first time German champions (it would be not the first German championship for Stuttgart, because at begin of 90's CJD Feuerbach was three times in a row German champion, being a part of the City of Stuttgart).