Germany - VBL 1. Bundesliga 2017/2018

  • Wiesbaden deserved the win! Very good serving (Kosova) and defense (Stock).


    Oude Luttikhuis in 5th set 4 reception-errors in a row.. She is the key-person for Aachen, also in play-offs. If she plays decent, Aachen (with Bongaerts, hopefully) can beat Wiesbaden. If Wiesbaden succeeds in picking her in reception, Aachen will probably lose. Aachen's biggest weapon, also today, was their block. I think, together with Stuttgart, they are the best blocking team in the Bundesliga.

    No good match and a very disappointing performance by the Ladies in Black (except set 1). Wiesbaden really deserved the success.
    Lindsay Dowd in no way responsible for the defeat.
    Again a very very black day for Nicole Oude Luttikhuis. Is it really helpful for such a young player to stay on court even on such a day?
    IMHO Mrs. van Hintum is the only person fully responsible for the defeat. She replaced Oude Luttikhuis two times but by far too late. If she does not trust in the skills of Karolina Pisla, why doesn't she try one of the Opposites to play Outside/Reception. I do not have the impression, that Frauke Neuhaus and Jelena Sunjic are totally unable to receive.


    Last question: Why should Wiesbaden not continue in picking at Nicole Oude Luttikhuis in reception?
    They would have to be stupid ...

  • The statistics of Stuttgart vs. Schwerin show just one big difference: after bad reception Schwerin made 40% points, which is very high for this, while Stuttgart made only 10%, which is nearly nothing. All other differences were very small, only hint was in service some advantage for Schwerin, mainly due to Denise Hanke, who didn't make a fault despite her risky hard float serves.


    Remarkable is the low and not typical attack efficiency of both teams of 30 respective 31 % . There was good block-field defence to avoid many quick kills on both sides, but as mentioned Molly McCage was clearly missing at Stuttgart both regarding block kills and fast attacks.

  • No good match and a very disappointing performance by the Ladies in Black (except set 1). Wiesbaden really deserved the success.
    Lindsay Dowd in no way responsible for the defeat.
    Again a very very black day for Nicole Oude Luttikhuis. Is it really helpful for such a young player to stay on court even on such a day?
    IMHO Mrs. van Hintum is the only person fully responsible for the defeat. She replaced Oude Luttikhuis two times but by far too late. If she does not trust in the skills of Karolina Pisla, why doesn't she try one of the Opposites to play Outside/Reception. I do not have the impression, that Frauke Neuhaus and Jelena Sunjic are totally unable to receive.


    Last question: Why should Wiesbaden not continue in picking at Nicole Oude Luttikhuis in reception?
    They would have to be stupid ...



    Dowd played at her best, no doubt. But, Bongaerts can make the game faster and is a better blocker and especially server.


    About Oude Luttikhuis: I think there is a special deal, like with Daalderop last season; gaining as much as possible time on court, doesn't matter her performance. The polish girl must have felt like in a crazy during the whole season.

  • :white:

    Dowd played at her best, no doubt. But, Bongaerts can make the game faster and is a better blocker and especially server.


    About Oude Luttikhuis: I think there is a special deal, like with Daalderop last season; gaining as much as possible time on court, doesn't matter her performance. The polish girl must have felt like in a crazy during the whole season.

    Bongaerts is certainly the better player compared to Dowd. But Lindsay Dowd got almost no playing time during the last 1 1/2 years behind Stoltenborg and Bongaerts. Considering this fact her performance against Münster, Berlin and Wiesbaden has to be highly appreciated. I do not think that the difference between Bongaerts and Dowd was decisive. Many other players of the LiB were not in their best shape against Wiesbaden.
    Despite the very good performance of Dowd: some more playing time during the last months might have been better!


    Oude Luttikhuis: giving away the 4th place and the advantages for the playoffs in this way is really crazy :wacko: !

  • :white:

    Bongaerts is certainly the better player compared to Dowd. But Lindsay Dowd got almost no playing time during the last 1 1/2 years behind Stoltenborg and Bongaerts. Considering this fact her performance against Münster, Berlin and Wiesbaden has to be highly appreciated. I do not think that the difference between Bongaerts and Dowd was decisive. Many other players of the LiB were not in their best shape against Wiesbaden.
    Despite the very good performance of Dowd: some more playing time during the last months might have been better!


    Oude Luttikhuis: giving away the 4th place and the advantages for the playoffs in this way is really crazy :wacko: !


    I think for both Wiesbaden and Aachen it makes an huge difference, if they play at home or abroad. This way Wiesbaden has now a clear advantage in the playoff quarters.

  • Aftermath of the top match of yesterday in Stuttgart against Schwerin: only at most 100,000 spectators watched this match on TV (Sport1) at average, what is a pity, because it had deserved much more. But Saturday evening the contention between TV stations, especially also in sports, is high, so I think this was the main reason for the disappointing number. Still the highest numbers were in league round match Dresden vs. Stuttgart with 160,000 at average and 290,000 at peak.

  • With the regular season being over, I think everyone agrees that the race for the title will be played between the top 3 clubs. Many seem to count out Dresden already and see Stuttgart vs Schwerin as the final, but I am not so sure about it. Here's my opinion about the teams looking at positions...


    Setter: Mareen Apitz is the best for me, so that's already one position that Dresden "wins". Hanke and Stoltenborg have different styles but their level is similar, for me Hanke is a bit better though. Another factor is the backup setter, Schwerin and Dresden have very solid backups whereas Stuttgart has young Pia Kästner who definitely plays better than I expected before the season but IMO not good enough to make an impact in a playoff final series.


    OPP: Deborah van Daelen is definitely the weakest among the three starter OPPs of the big teams. She surely has improved throughout the season and does a very good job when she gets the balls in the right rhythm, but she's not a player who can kill difficult balls constantly. Lippmann and Korhonen are much better in that element plus they're both nearly unstoppable from good sets. For me Lippmann is a little better than Korhonen, but the difference is very small. On the other hand Stuttgart's backup OPP is better than the other two teams' backups...


    Libero: Not much difference there...I would say Carocci, Pusic and Schoot are on a similar level on reception but Carocci defends a bit better than the other two and is more experienced on high level. But again, I don't think this will be a decisive position to make a difference.


    OHs: Before yesterday's match I would have said that Dresden's OHs are significantly weaker than those of Schwerin and Stuttgart, but yesterday also their OHs had big trouble to score. I still think Dresden's OHs are the weakest, but as we saw in the Cup final, Dresden manages to play well even without much contribution from pos.4. Jennifer Geerties is surely the best receiver of all OHs, maybe even one of the best in Europe now, but she still can't attack. Szakmary has too many ups and downs. Mlejnkova this season isn't as good as in the last two years IMO, but Sandor is getting back to her pre-injury level and especially has become a very good defender. Daalderop is the player with the biggest potential in attack but her reception is a big liability. Overall I think the OHs of Schwerin and Stuttgart are on the same level and those of Dresden are weaker.


    MBs: IMO this is Schwerin's weakest position. Barfield is very good but not as good as McCage and not necessarily better than Dresden's MBs, and Dumancic and Schölzel are much weaker than all others. With the transfer of Paige Tapp Stuttgart now has a great MB duo, but also Mrdak-Planinsec (plus Wezorke as backup) are doing great, plus Apitz is very good at using the MBs. Stoltenborg also found a good connection with her middles but IMO is more prone to lose it under pressure than Apitz.


    Last but not least...
    Coach: Alex Waibl has shown many times in the last years that he is a master at tactical preparation and this season he constantly manages to make his team play beyond the individual players' abilities. Felix Koslowski is doing a very good job too, but eventually Schwerin might be too dependent on Louisa Lippmann when Szakmary has a bad day. Giannis Athanasopoulos is in his first season as head coach and faced some difficulties in the middle of the season but overall also seems to be on a very good way, but he surely has less experience at coaching big matches.


    So after all I think we can say that each of the top 3 teams has their own strengths and weaknesses, and for me it is impossible to predict who will be champion in the end. All of them have chances.


  • I disagree on the summary: for me Dresden has no chance at all this time to win the title, the total package is to weak despite having the best setter with Apitz. Last year we had a similar Dresden package and they failed in semis. Remember, Dresden would have to beat both Schwerin in the semis and Stuttgart in the finals and this is beyond their team strength, I'm sure. Especially Stuttgart is clearly superiour both with OHs and MBs. Lippmann is clearly better than Korhonen, the last is just that high in statistics, because she gets much more balls than Lippmann: Szakmary especially is a valid alternative to kill the ball in attacks.

  • Some first facts and hints for next season:


    the short Tanja Großer prolonged with Wiesbaden.


    Stuttgart: likely to stay are Molly McCage (!), Paige Tapp, Deborah van Daelen, Renata Sandor and already fixed Pia Kästner and Annie Cesar. Not likely to stay are Nika Daalderop (too good for this league), Michaela Mlejnková (wanted not to play after this season in VBL anymore, as she told already in summer 2017), Jenna Potts and Nikoleta Perovic (couldn't establish themselves in the team). No informations are available so far regarding Femke Stoltenborg, Teodora Pusic, Micheli Tomazela and Julia Schäfer.


    Regretfully Stuttgart seems to be unable to increase the budget (1.3 million Euro), what implies not being able to participate in the CEV CL financially (requires IMHO at least 1.5 million Euro budget, so only Schwerin and Dresden seem to be capable to participate there) - getting to the finals suffice now to qualify formally for the pool stage of the CL.

  • Nika Daalderop (too good for this league)

    I've read the article as well so I know that this argument isn't coming from you, but...Daalderop didn't exactly prove to be "too good for this league" this season :roll: Sure, she is a great talent, but she's only turning 20 this year and honestly I don't think she's ready yet to play in a bigger league. I'd rather see her another year in Stuttgart (or another German top team), being a starter and most of all improving her reception.

  • I've read the article as well so I know that this argument isn't coming from you, but...Daalderop didn't exactly prove to be "too good for this league" this season :roll: Sure, she is a great talent, but she's only turning 20 this year and honestly I don't think she's ready yet to play in a bigger league. I'd rather see her another year in Stuttgart (or another German top team), being a starter and most of all improving her reception.


    I fully agree with you and would have expected her to have a two year contract due to her age and the need, to improve her reception. But she gets for sure offers from stronger and better paying leagues...

  • Best Scorer:
    1. Louisa Lippmann 358
    2. Marta Drpa 351
    3. Piia Korhonen 335
    4. McKenzie Adams 310
    5. Kimberly Drewniok 282
    6. Dayana Segovia 262
    7. Erika Mercado 258
    8. Ivana Vanjak 234
    9. Molly McCage 231
    10. Deborah van Daelen 215


    Best Server:
    1. Britt Bongaerts 46 aces
    2. Jennifer Geerties 39
    3. Laura Künzler 34
    4. Kimberly Drewniok 34
    5. Jeanine Stoeten 32
    5. Ilka van de Vyver 32
    7. Andie Malloy 30
    8. Femke Stoltenborg 28
    9. Marta Drpa 28
    10. Jennifer Pettke 26


    Best Spiker MB (at least 150 attacks):
    1. Sasa Planinsec 61,5%
    2. Molly McCage 57,1%
    3. Ivana Mrdak 56,9%
    4. Jeanine Stoeten 50,2%
    5. Lauren Barfield 50,2%
    6. Krista DeGeest 49,3%
    7. Simona Kosova 48,5%
    8. Tessa Polder 47,2%
    9. Jennifer Pettke 46,0%
    10. Juliet Lohuis 43,7%


    Best Spiker OH/OPP (at least 200 attacks):
    1. Louisa Lippmann 46,8%
    2. Nika Daalderop 45,3%
    3. McKenzie Adams 44,3%
    4. Kimberly Drewniok 42,3%
    5. Piia Korhonen 41,5%
    6. Marta Drpa 40,2%
    7. Greta Szakmary 39,9%
    8. Lena Stigrot 39,4%
    9. Vanessa Agbortabi 39,1%
    10. Renata Sandor 39,0%


    Best Blocker:
    1. Molly McCage 61 blocks
    2. Krista DeGeest 48
    3. Jeanine Stoeten 45
    4. Sasa Planinsec 39
    5. Tessa Polder 39
    6. Lisa Gründing 38
    7. Leonie Schwertmann 37
    8. Ivana Mrdak 36
    9. Piia Korhonen 36
    10. Jennifer Pettke 36


    Best Receiver (% pos. receptions, at least 200 attempts):
    1. Kirsten Knip 58,0%
    2. Lisa Thomsen 57,0%
    3. Jennifer Geerties 53,9%
    4. McKenzie Adams 51,7%
    5. Jelena Oluic 48,6%
    6. Teodora Pusic 47,9%
    7. Myrthe Schoot 46,8%
    8. Renata Sandor 45,9%
    9. Lisa Stock 45,4%
    10. Lena Stigrot 45,0%

  • Serve (aces):
    1. Ladies in Black Aachen 179
    2. SSC Palmberg Schwerin 174
    3. Dresdner SC 170
    4. VC Wiesbaden 160
    5. Rote Raben Vilsbiburg 159
    6. Allianz MTV Stuttgart 150
    7. SC Potsdam 144
    8. VfB Suhl LOTTO Thüringen 119
    9. USC Münster 113
    10. Schwarz-Weiß Erfurt 103
    11. VCO Berlin 99


    Attack %:
    1. Dresdner SC 42,2%
    2. Ladies in Black Aachen 41,4%
    3. Allianz MTV Stuttgart 40,9%
    4. SSC Palmberg Schwerin 40,2%
    5. VC Wiesbaden 38,7%
    6. Rote Raben Vilsbiburg 38,2%
    7. USC Münster 36,8%
    8. VfB Suhl LOTTO Thüringen 36,6%
    9. SC Potsdam 36,5%
    10. VCO Berlin 34,7%
    11. Schwarz-Weiß Erfurt 32,0%


    Blocks:
    1. Allianz MTV Stuttgart 208
    2. Ladies in Black Aachen 198
    3. Dresdner SC 191
    4. SSC Palmberg Schwerin 172
    5. Rote Raben Vilsbiburg 160
    6. USC Münster 150
    6. VfB Suhl LOTTO Thüringen 150
    8. SC Potsdam 143
    9. VC Wiesbaden 134
    10. Schwarz-Weiß Erfurt 127
    11. VCO Berlin 118


    Reception (%pos):
    1. Ladies in Black Aachen 47,3%
    2. SSC Palmberg Schwerin 46,6%
    3. VC Wiesbaden 43,1%
    4. Allianz MTV Stuttgart 40,4%
    5. Dresdner SC 39,4%
    6. Rote Raben Vilsbiburg 39,2%
    7. USC Münster 38,3%
    8. SC Potsdam 38,0%
    9. VfB Suhl LOTTO Thüringen 37,9%
    10. VCO Berlin 35,2%
    11. Schwarz-Weiß Erfurt 31,9%

  • Major upset for Dresden: in front of 2.200 (own) spectators (not many, Margon hall capacity is 3.000 and often fully used) they lost in tie-break against 7th team of league round Potsdam. Main reasons were better attack efficiency and blocking by Potsdam, even in service the guests had an advantage, only more errors in total made by them, not enough to compensate for the other factors. Bad match by main setter Apitz, maybe Waibl changed too late to today better playing Bugg? Anyway, this might be also the outcome of unmatched arrogance sometimes seen in Dresden, especially regarding head coach Waibl. And they should have been warned by the loss in first league round match in Potsdam.


    A surprise, but not that big of course, was the relatively clear loss of Wiesbaden at home in three sets against Aachen, despite they won one week earlier the last league round match also at home against them. The second set was somewhat crucial, because the hosts lost it by 27:29.


    The two clear favourites for the final playoff series Stuttgart and Schwerin had no issues today, both won in three sets (against Vilsbiburg respective Münster).

  • Stuttgart - Vilsbiburg 3:0 (25:19 25:15 25:14)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2017-18/Women/2500.pdf
    MVP: Michaela Mlejnkova (6 aces) / Jennifer Pettke


    Dresden - Potsdam 2:3 (25:16 18:25 22:25 25:23 10:15) :white:
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2017-18/Women/2503.pdf
    MVP: Ivana Mrdak / Marta Drpa (31 pts)


    Schwerin - Münster 3:0 (25:22 25:14 25:20)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2017-18/Women/2506.pdf
    MVP: Louisa Lippmann (61% att) / Luisa Keller (16 years)


    Wiesbaden - Aachen 0:3 (22:25 27:29 17:25)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2017-18/Women/2509.pdf
    MVP: Tanja Sredic / Jelena Sunjic (weird choice, should have been Tessa Polder for me)


    So some surprises in the first round of QF. Aachen winning over Wiesbaden isn't necessarily a surprise but doing so 3:0 and in a very convining manner is. Potsdam beating Dresden definitely is a surprise though. After being simply terrible for large parts of the season, Potsdam won 5 of their last 6 regular season matches plus now also the first QF, mainly thanks to Marta Drpa finally playing up to her standards. For Dresden Korhonen wasn't so good today and with their terrible OHs they can't win without a dominant OPP. However I'm pretty sure they'll win the next two matches and reach semifinals, I just can't see Potsdam beating Dresden twice in a short time.


    Next matches on Wednesday.

  • Honestly I think this is now not without risk for Dresden, because second match is played in MBS Arena in Potsdam, where they have support by their fans. And exactly there Dresden already lost once this season. So it is far from clear, that Dresden will reach the semis IMHO, despite stil lbeing favourites for this quarter.

  • Is it best of 3?


    My beloved hometown Aachen, hope to see them in any CEV tournement next season :rose:


    Yes, quarters and semis are best of three series.


    And no, Aachen has neither enough money nor a suitable hall to take part in European Cups. Strictly speaking, only Dresden, Schwerin and Stuttgart can afford participating in CEV tournaments safely now, if they want also Vilsbiburg, the others not, if they not find some additional money for it. (Stuttgart can't afford CL financially, only Dresden and Schwerin can currently).