Germany - VBL 1. Bundesliga 2017/2018

  • In an interview our managing director Kim Renkema revealed, that Stuttgart's budget is currently 1.2 million Euro (a new highest value) and she aims for 2 million in some years to take the lead in this regard and to enable the team to participate every time it qualifies in the CL. She admits though, that our financial manager doubts, if this can be done in the foreseeable future, despite our city and region of Stuttgart are very rich, but the will to support sport teams financially aside from soccer is rather limited...

  • Today the league starts, as usual all matches will be streamed live on http://www.vbl.tv


    Sa, 14.10.17 19:00 Potsdam - Dresden
    Sa, 14.10.17 19:00 Wiesbaden - Suhl
    Sa, 14.10.17 19:00 Schwerin - VCO Berlin
    Sa, 14.10.17 19:30 Stuttgart - Aachen
    So, 15.10.17 14:30 Münster - Erfurt


    Potsdam-Dresden should be the most interesting match; also Stuttgart-Aachen could be good if Aachen has a setter (which according to their coach they do, having all players available for the match).

  • Potsdam - Dresden 3:2 (25:20 18:25 23:25 25:23 15:13)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2017-18/Women/&2001.pdf
    MVP: Ljubica Kecman (62% attack) / Ivana Mrdak


    Wiesbaden - Suhl 3:0 (25:17 25:18 25:22)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2017-18/Women/&2003.pdf
    MVP: Kimberly Drewniok / ?


    Schwerin - VCO Berlin 3:0 (25:15 25:19 25:14)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2017-18/Women/&2201.pdf
    MVP: Greta Szakmary (73% attack) / Vanessa Agbortabi (60% attack)


    Stuttgart - Aachen 3:1 (25:21 23:25 25:23 25:22)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2017-18/Women/&2002.pdf
    MVP: Nika Daalderop (24 pts with 56% attack) / Britt Bongaerts


    Tomorrow Münster-Erfurt.

  • The clear wins of Schwerin and Wiesbaden were no surprise.


    Dresden is as vulnerable as expected: no good reception, no effective outside hitters regarding attack, this is not enough to win the championship. And the loss in Potsdam is the first logical result of being underperforming on the OH positions.


    Another bad match of Stuttgart (not as bad as in Hannover, but still far below the expectations): setting is not working well enough, and most attackers are out of shape (especially Michaela Mlejnková, who has played too much for more an year now in important position and looks somewhat tired) or at least slightly injured (Perovic, Sandor). Because Aachen is no very good team (clearly lower half of the league), this was sufficient, but they still need to improve a lot.

  • Dresdner has a very good setter like Apitz and a very good prospect like Bugg. I wish they hired better OHs instead of wasting Madison on bench. :S

    Recently in some article was written that the plan is to hire another player, most likely an attacker, during the season (like Dresden always did in the last years), depending on injuries and player performances. I think with Jasper at least reception will be better. Hodanova today was so bad that Strumilo had to enter despite a back injury which made her miss the last few weeks of preparation :S
    By the way Dresden started with Michelle Petter as libero and Schoot as regular bench player due to lack of backup OHs, but apparently Petter was so terrible that in 2nd set Waibl decided to declare her as unable to play and nominate Schoot as new libero.

  • I will be watching Natasa Cikiriz, she spent the whole season in Poland on the bench but I think she has potential, she`s not ready yet and has a lot to learn, but I think she will improve a lot and she could be useful for Serbia for the next Olympic Cycle when Mihajlovic would probably retire from the NT.


    She`s really close with Boskovic and Mirkovic.


    I tried to watch the replay but it is not working. ;(

  • I think, this team from Erfurt is not on the level to play first Bundesliga (yet?). It is another case of a not fitting ratio of team budget (600.000 Euro is not at the minimum of the league, that's in vicinity of 450.000 €) and roster/team constructed with it. A set lost with one-digit points is just not acceptable in this generally very balanced league...

  • Münster - Erfurt 3:0 (18, 15, 9)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2017-18/Women/&2004.pdf
    MVP: Lisa Thomsen / An Saita


    Next highlight match on Wednesday Vilsbiburg vs Schwerin which is also the first match to be broadcasted on TV channel Sport 1. They also have a stream of their programme but only available with German IP. However vbl.tv will still prodive the usual 1-camera-stream too.

  • I will be watching Natasa Cikiriz, she spent the whole season in Poland on the bench but I think she has potential, she`s not ready yet and has a lot to learn, but I think she will improve a lot and she could be useful for Serbia for the next Olympic Cycle when Mihajlovic would probably retire from the NT.


    She`s really close with Boskovic and Mirkovic.


    I tried to watch the replay but it is not working. ;(

    Tijana is dating Natasa Cikiriz's brother. :mirror:
    And it's not certain Brankica will retire after Tokyo, though it is a possibility. She will be only 31 for the 2022 WCh, so she might decide to stay for it, especially if Serbia does not medal in the next year's Championship.

  • I see that Ivana Vanjak had a great game, hopefully she can keep improving and she could be useful for the NT in the future.

    The question is: for which NT? She has both German and Croatian passport and played in Croatian youth NT. However a tall powerful OH who can also receive on a decent level is exactly what German NT needs, so I hope Koslowski will talk to her. However a performance in a match against a very modest Erfurt team should not be overrated, let her play like this against stronger teams and then we'll see.

  • Schwerin won a no way easy away match in Vilsbiburg shown on sport1 free tv in four sets. Essentially the "Red Raves" produced too many errors (considerably more than Schwerin), so they couldn't gain an advantage of their slightly besser attack efficiency (41% to 38%).