Russia - Superliga 2011/2012

    Quote from Matthias

    Here: http://yatv.ru/vldinamo


    Kazan leads 16:13 in 3rd, I guess it will be over soon. Moscow managed to start well in 3rd set but Kazan came back very soon.


    thanks :flower:

    Wow, great fighting spirit from Moscow and they really take the set 26:24. Kazan must be careful now...


    Quote from DarkoMacedonia

    Is it me or Morozova really hits with one and serves with the other hand???

    She really does but just since a few weeks. Her right shoulder is heavily taped so I guess she has some problems there and serves with left hand to rest the shoulder...she has never been a good server anyway, so it doesn't really matter which hand she uses :D

    Quote from Matthias

    And again 25:16, but it could have been even clearer if Kazan hadn't relaxed in the end.


    About Sheshenina, I really don't think she is such a bad setter. Her problem is that she was never able to show her real performance in NT, there she always played rather bad. But in Uralochka and also now in Kazan I think she is doing a good job, she plays a modern and fast game, the quality of her sets is OK and also her tactical choices aren't bad.


    That's an interesting opinion, you don't often find that even in Russia. So for example, can you imagine Shshenina playing in any Serie-A1 team?

    Quote from semisonic


    That's an interesting opinion, you don't often find that even in Russia. So for example, can you imagine Shshenina playing in any Serie-A1 team?

    Well, yes I could imagine that. Not in the absolute top teams of course, but for example in Italy this season Valentina Serena and Katarzyna Skorupa played as starters in big teams and I think Sheshenina is on a similar level as they are. I think many people still think of her as Karpol's setter, the one from 2004 Olympics who could just set high balls to Gamova and Sokolova, and when Caprara was coach she was even worse, but I have to say I like her game in Kazan. Ulyakina in direct comparison plays with less precision, tactically it's impossible to compare because Kazan plays much faster and more modern game than Moscow, but I'm really not sure if Ulyakina could lead Kazan's game the same way as Sheshenina.

    Quote from Matthias

    Well, yes I could imagine that. Not in the absolute top teams of course, but for example in Italy this season Valentina Serena and Katarzyna Skorupa played as starters in big teams and I think Sheshenina is on a similar level as they are. I think many people still think of her as Karpol's setter, the one from 2004 Olympics who could just set high balls to Gamova and Sokolova, and when Caprara was coach she was even worse, but I have to say I like her game in Kazan. Ulyakina in direct comparison plays with less precision, tactically it's impossible to compare because Kazan plays much faster and more modern game than Moscow, but I'm really not sure if Ulyakina could lead Kazan's game the same way as Sheshenina.


    Agree about Ulyakina, probably not agree about everything else. Sheshenina can't set a good ball to MB all game, high sets to Gamova is still very much a strategy she relies on and that continues from one match to another, how could she ever play outside Russia... But anyway we'll never know)

    Quote from semisonic


    Agree about Ulyakina, probably not agree about everything else. Sheshenina can't set a good ball to MB all game, high sets to Gamova is still very much a strategy she relies on and that continues from one match to another, how could she ever play outside Russia... But anyway we'll never know)

    I don't agree either ;) I think Sheshenina plays OK with MBs, not in every game but I remember some games where she had great connection with Borisenko and in one CL match (I think for 3rd place) she gave a lot of good balls to Moroz. High sets to Gamova is a strategy any setter who plays with her would rely on because it is usually fairly successful, but this season she shows that she can also give good fast pipes to Gamova. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Sheshenina is a great setter, just that she is not a bad one. For me she is 2nd best setter in Russia behind Startseva. Today I watched Marina Akulova again and she is not convincing at all. Sometimes she plays well but in general...not often ;)

    Quote from Matthias


    I don't agree either ;) I think Sheshenina plays OK with MBs, not in every game but I remember some games where she had great connection with Borisenko and in one CL match (I think for 3rd place) she gave a lot of good balls to Moroz. High sets to Gamova is a strategy any setter who plays with her would rely on because it is usually fairly successful, but this season she shows that she can also give good fast pipes to Gamova. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Sheshenina is a great setter, just that she is not a bad one. For me she is 2nd best setter in Russia behind Startseva. Today I watched Marina Akulova again and she is not convincing at all. Sometimes she plays well but in general...not often ;)


    Didn't see that 3rd place game. Agree about Akulova. I think there lots of the same quality setters in Russia now Akulova, Matienko, Sheshenina, Uraleva, Pankova, Maslova - and they all aren't good enough for the top class NT, sadly..

    Quote from Matthias

    The match is not played in Dinamo's usual hall, anyone knows why?


    The reason is ridiculous - the hall was given to some dance event. once again it shows how insignificant volleyball is in Russia(((

    That's actually what I've always been meaning to ask - how popular volleyball actually is Russia? Does the average Russian know, say, Gamova and Sokolova? Do people follow the NT in major competitions?

    No official stats out yet, but here is the match best scorers:


    Moscow - Kazan 1x3 (16:25, 16:25, 26:24, 19:25)


    Dinamo Kazan: Gamova 28, Makhno 16, Jordan 11, Moroz 10, Borisenko 10


    Dinamo Moscow: Goncharova 20, Morozova 10, Grun 8, Makarova 8


    Spectators: 3100 persons

    Quote from Joana

    That's actually what I've always been meaning to ask - how popular volleyball actually is Russia? Does the average Russian know, say, Gamova and Sokolova? Do people follow the NT in major competitions?


    Gamova is very popular. She was chosen the best sports person of Russia in 2010, there's a lot of her images, interviews, etc. All other players - they are way behind in that area. Gamova alongside Isinbayeva in my opinion are two the most popular sports women in Russia by some distance.
    The main problem is a lack of TV coverage. There's a national sports channel (Russia2) - it didn't show Europeans at all and Worlds were shown from semifinals stage (if I'm not mistaken). Absolutely no TV channel - not national not cable has shown national championships. I get to see the games only from livestreams from some local stations with very bad quality (like from Omsk and Tyumen). I'm lucky to have local teams playing in Superligas now but then they were in the lower leagues I couldn't see the games of national championship for years, even the final ones. So even now I get to see more games of Brazilian and Italian leagues than from Russian. It's all very sad((( I can't tell why exactly it is so, because I feel volleyball has always been popular between average Russians...Russia is a country where a lot of things are very hard to explain(