Mediteranean Games Pescara 2009

turkey will come with almost all main players, so we are favourite but i don t know italy s roster?

Group "A".
Albania, Bosnia, Greece, Turkey.
Group "B"
. Italy, Croatia, France, Algeria.

Quote from Rainmaker

where can i see live results? what do you think who will be the winner?

the opening ceremony will be broadcasted live at 21 on Raisport+...if you go on rai website there's the streaming of this channel...they will also broadcast Italy matches

Quote from serdar

turkey will come with almost all main players, so we are favourite but i don t know italy s roster?

Giulia Rondon (Sassuolo), Paola Croce (Piacenza), Simona Rinieri
(Jesi), Taismary Aguero (Ankara), Monica Ravetta (Busto Arsizio),
Eleonora Lo Bianco (Bergamo), Francesca Marcon (Conegliano), Manuela
Secolo (Pireo), Francesca Piccinini (Bergamo), Jenny Barazza (Bergamo),
Martina Guiggi (Pesaro), Paola Cardullo (NOvara), Gioli Simona (Mosca)....

so today was the first day of the games.

people used to say that the reason Naz has been so obsessed with setting high balls to No. 4 position last year in Eczacibasi was that this was Beppe's request. however, i saw today that Naz still keeps on setting high balls, and playing incredibly slow. She kept setting high balls to Neslihan but totally forgot about Seda during the match. More importantly, she can't even make a decent set to the middle blockers.

If Naz keeps on becoming a below-average setter in Fenerbahce this season as well, I am almost sure Gamova and Osmokrovic will be sick&tired with playing such a setter.

paola cardullo is out from the team composition of ITA NT...

the 12-player roster of ITA

AGUERO Taismary 1977 OP Ankara/TUR
BARAZZA Jenny 1981 MB Bergamo/ITA
CROCE Paola 1978 L Piacenza/ITA
GIOLI Simona 1977 MB Mosca/RUS
GUIGGI Martina 1984 MB Pesaro/ITA
LO BIANCO Eleonora 1979 S Bergamo/ITA
MARCON Francesca 1983 OH
PICCININI Francesca 1979 OH Bergamo/ITA
RAVETTA Monica 1985 OP Busto Arsizio/ITA
RINIERI Simona 1977 OH Jesi/ITA
RONDON Giulia 1987 S Sassuolo/ITA
SECOLO Manuela 1977 OH Pireo/GRE

TURKEY 12

AYDEMIR Naz 1990 S
CELIK Pelin 1982 S
DARNEL Neslihan 1983 OP
DENKEL Ayse Gokcen 1985 MB
GUMUS Esra 1982 OH
GURESEN Gizem 1987 L
HAKYEMEZ Deniz 1983 OH
KIRDAR Ozge 1985 S
SOROGLU Ipek 1985 MB
TOKATLIOGLU Seda 1986 OP
TOKSOY Bahar 1988 MB
YELDAN Nihan 1982 L

CROATIA 12

BALIC Jelena
DELIC Mirela
DUGANDZIC Ilijana
DUJIC Cecilia
GLIGOROVIC Biljana
GRBAC Ana
JERKOV Mia
MILETIC Marina
MILOS Ivana
POLJAK Maja
POPOVIC Sanja
USIC JOGUNICA Senna

Match of Day 1

ALB vs BIH (A) 2-3 (15-25, 25-18, 19-25, 25-21, 11-15)
GRE vs TUR (A) 0-3 (17-25, 21-25, 23-25)
CRO vs FRA (B) 3-1 (25-16, 24-26, 25-16, 25-12)
ITA vs ALG (B) 3-0 (25-15, 25-14, 25-17)

ITA: Lo Bianco 6, Aguero 20, Secolo 7, Piccinini 11, Barazza 7, Guiggi 13, Croce;
Ravetta 1, Rondon, Marcon;
Ne: Rinieri, Gioli

ALG: Oukazi 2, Tsabet 8, Abderrahim 3, Madani 4, Bensalem 4, Oulmou 10, Mansouri L;
Sub: Hennaoui, Boukhima 2;
Ne: Oudni, Aissou

Quote from deepblue

so today was the first day of the games.

people used to say that the reason Naz has been so obsessed with setting high balls to No. 4 position last year in Eczacibasi was that this was Beppe's request. however, i saw today that Naz still keeps on setting high balls, and playing incredibly slow. She kept setting high balls to Neslihan but totally forgot about Seda during the match. More importantly, she can't even make a decent set to the middle blockers.

If Naz keeps on becoming a below-average setter in Fenerbahce this season as well, I am almost sure Gamova and Osmokrovic will be sick&tired with playing such a setter.

How was she supposed to play not "incredibly slow" when there was no reception? Why should she set more balls to Seda when Neslihan scores 25 points in 3 sets? Why should she set more balls to middle blockers like Gökcen and Ipek who are no good attackers at all? Which leads me to the next question, why do Eda and Duygu who are much better middle blockers have to play stupid Euro League while Gökcen and Ipek play Med Games with the main team? And finally, in your opinion, who would be a better setter for Turkey team?

Certainly Turkey didn't have a very good match yesterday, but this applies for ALL players and it is, sorry, stupid to blame this on Naz. When Turkey played with its main team in Euro League Naz played very well, no high balls, many good combinations and sets to the middle blockers, but of course one bad match of the team turns her into a "below-average setter"...

Quote from Matthias

How was she supposed to play not "incredibly slow" when there was no reception? Why should she set more balls to Seda when Neslihan scores 25 points in 3 sets? Why should she set more balls to middle blockers like Gökcen and Ipek who are no good attackers at all? Which leads me to the next question, why do Eda and Duygu who are much better middle blockers have to play stupid Euro League while Gökcen and Ipek play Med Games with the main team? And finally, in your opinion, who would be a better setter for Turkey team?

Certainly Turkey didn't have a very good match yesterday, but this applies for ALL players and it is, sorry, stupid to blame this on Naz. When Turkey played with its main team in Euro League Naz played very well, no high balls, many good combinations and sets to the middle blockers, but of course one bad match of the team turns her into a "below-average setter"...

1. There were a lot of good receptions especially by Gizem and Gozde but all of them were poorly utilized by Naz. Most of the good receptions are generally wasted by Naz. It was the same thing in Eczacibasi. In Eczacibasi, the opponent team was always 100% sure that most of the balls would be set to Mirka and, that's why, good teams in the Champions League Final Four and Fenerbahce in the Turkish League final would block Mirka most of the time, leading to the team's loss - which was someting pointed out by her coach Beppe, team's manager Chabovta, and her teammate Vesna. This is the way Naz plays - it won't change.

2. If the other spikers in the team were mediocre spikers and Neslihan was the only good one in the team, then I would have nothing to say against Naz constantly setting to Neslihan. But that's so not the case! Gozde and Seda are great spikers. Of course, every spiker can't score the same. But if a team is directed by a good setter - for example Lo Bianco in Italy- some players like Tai Aguero would naturally be the highest scorer but there would not be such big gaps among the points of the spikers because the setter of team would set such good balls to the spikers that each of them would be able to hit with great accuracy and power. For example, if you recall the times the Turkish NT was playing with Bahar Mert, the sets were almost equally distributed and most of the times her sets were ensuring that her teammates would hit either without a block or at most with one block.

3. "Why should she set more balls to middle blockers like Gökcen and Ipek who are no good attackers at all?"
For example, while Eda was a very young player and playing in Besiktas she did not use to be that scorer but because Arzu Gollu insisted on playing with her, she improved herself and turned out to be the player she is now. Hence Ipek and Gokcen can also be good attackers if Naz only can use them better. For example, Pelin Celik -though I don't approve her game a lot either- was even better at playing from the middle with Gokcen, Bahar and Ipek in the tournament in China. Bahar, on the other hand, was usually finding double-digit numbers in the matches during the last season while she was playing with an outstanding setter like Arzu Gollu in Vakifbank Gunes Sigorta.

4. "why do Eda and Duygu who are much better middle blockers have to play stupid Euro League while Gökcen and Ipek play Med Games with the main team?"
Eda is not 100% healthy and she has pains in her feet and legs. Hence they didn't want to risk her a lot and save her for the upcoming tournaments, and most importantly, for the European Championship. As for Duygu, she was the captain of the Euroleague team and I think going out onto the court as a leader and helping, guiding the younsgters in tough situations would be much more helpful to her character as a player than taking place in the Med Games roster and, to add, not being completely sure that she would be on the starting 6 in the Med Games.

5. I wish Arzu Gollu or Bahar Mert would still play in NT because there is no youngster who can match their setting skills. Though I think Pelin and Naz are both, at maximum, average setters, I would give a chance to Pelin next time and see how she leads the team.

6. As you might have noticed, I didn't talk about Turkey's performance at all. The team of course played below-average as well. Yet, I am talking about a fact - that Naz is not playing well. She was playing perfect in the European Olympic Qualification Tournament in Germany but, time after time, her level in that match deteriorated progressively. I really feel sorry for her.

Quote from deepblue

1. There were a lot of good receptions especially by Gizem and Gozde but all of them were poorly utilized by Naz. Most of the good receptions are generally wasted by Naz. It was the same thing in Eczacibasi. In Eczacibasi, the opponent team was always 100% sure that most of the balls would be set to Mirka and, that's why, good teams in the Champions League Final Four and Fenerbahce in the Turkish League final would block Mirka most of the time, leading to the team's loss - which was someting pointed out by her coach Beppe, team's manager Chabovta, and her teammate Vesna. This is the way Naz plays - it won't change.

2. If the other spikers in the team were mediocre spikers and Neslihan was the only good one in the team, then I would have nothing to say against Naz constantly setting to Neslihan. But that's so not the case! Gozde and Seda are great spikers. Of course, every spiker can't score the same. But if a team is directed by a good setter - for example Lo Bianco in Italy- some players like Tai Aguero would naturally be the highest scorer but there would not be such big gaps among the points of the spikers because the setter of team would set such good balls to the spikers that each of them would be able to hit with great accuracy and power. For example, if you recall the times the Turkish NT was playing with Bahar Mert, the sets were almost equally distributed and most of the times her sets were ensuring that her teammates would hit either without a block or at most with one block.

3. "Why should she set more balls to middle blockers like Gökcen and Ipek who are no good attackers at all?"
For example, while Eda was a very young player and playing in Besiktas she did not use to be that scorer but because Arzu Gollu insisted on playing with her, she improved herself and turned out to be the player she is now. Hence Ipek and Gokcen can also be good attackers if Naz only can use them better. For example, Pelin Celik -though I don't approve her game a lot either- was even better at playing from the middle with Gokcen, Bahar and Ipek in the tournament in China. Bahar, on the other hand, was usually finding double-digit numbers in the matches during the last season while she was playing with an outstanding setter like Arzu Gollu in Vakifbank Gunes Sigorta.

4. "why do Eda and Duygu who are much better middle blockers have to play stupid Euro League while Gökcen and Ipek play Med Games with the main team?"
Eda is not 100% healthy and she has pains in her feet and legs. Hence they didn't want to risk her a lot and save her for the upcoming tournaments, and most importantly, for the European Championship. As for Duygu, she was the captain of the Euroleague team and I think going out onto the court as a leader and helping, guiding the younsgters in tough situations would be much more helpful to her character as a player than taking place in the Med Games roster and, to add, not being completely sure that she would be on the starting 6 in the Med Games.

5. I wish Arzu Gollu or Bahar Mert would still play in NT because there is no youngster who can match their setting skills. Though I think Pelin and Naz are both, at maximum, average setters, I would give a chance to Pelin next time and see how she leads the team.

6. As you might have noticed, I didn't talk about Turkey's performance at all. The team of course played below-average as well. Yet, I am talking about a fact - that Naz is not playing well. She was playing perfect in the European Olympic Qualification Tournament in Germany but, time after time, her level in that match deteriorated progressively. I really feel sorry for her.

Display More

ı absolutely agree with matthias and ı can t understand why you are trying to show every mıstake is Naz's fault.
Firstly, you are wrong about receiver. which good receivers are wasted by NAZ? mirka or seda? in eczacıbaşı all receiving burden was esra and gülden' responsibility. the same situation in NT, but gizem is not as much good at receiving as gülden. sometimes she plays incredible but another day she is awful. and gozde is also not a Queen of receiving
so naz never wasted good receivers.
secondly, you are wrong agaın about Naz's spiker choice of setting. ıf you look at statistic of italy. you will see aguero 20 points and the nearest player guiggi has 13 points as you see, lo bianco is not average setter but skorer player is aguero and there is no problem although secolo and barazza are not bad spikers. besides, seda is not great attacker as a OH. she ıs good at only OPP. and gözde has not healed yet.
lastly eda was allways great spiker, so arzu trust her look at bahar and duygu why arzu can t make them very skorer players? the basic needs to be skorer is having telent like eda..
and bahar give up volleyball career and arzu will also give up next year so they are useless now

Does anybody knows, when we can watch this tournament? Any TV brodcasting it?

Quote from Stusi

Does anybody knows, when we can watch this tournament? Any TV brodcasting it?

There is no surprise. Turkey and Italy will play to win the golden medal. Both teams lost only 1 set in 4 games. The game is scheduled on Saturday 18.30 and you can watch it live on the following link. But it's Turkish and I'm not sure if it's permitted people outside Turkey to watch the broadcast. You can try maybe it works for outsiders.
http://www.trt.net.tr/Canli/anasayfa.aspx?kanal=TV3&slv=0

Yes it does, I have watched semifinal from Germany
Seda does not play well at all as outside hitter, Turkey should surely play with Esra and Gözde. And the middle blockers are really pure blockers, and Ipek is not even good in that element...I certainly don't understand Chiappini.
Croatia did not play as well as they should with these players. Popovic seems a bit overweighted and none of the three wing spikers could score consistently. Usic had to quit with a back injury in 3rd set but she didn't play well at all anyway...

Quote from Matthias

Yes it does, I have watched semifinal from Germany
Seda does not play well at all as outside hitter, Turkey should surely play with Esra and Gözde. And the middle blockers are really pure blockers, and Ipek is not even good in that element...I certainly don't understand Chiappini.
Croatia did not play as well as they should with these players. Popovic seems a bit overweighted and none of the three wing spikers could score consistently. Usic had to quit with a back injury in 3rd set but she didn't play well at all anyway...

Well, it's not Turkey's main roster. There are many players who will be added to European Championships' squad especially including Eda Erdem as MB. Actually Ipek Soroglu was one of the most successfull blockers of the last season but she has no scoring abilities enough especially as compared to Eda. However I think today she didnt play as bad as you think. She had some vital blocks plus 8 points.
As long as Neslihan plays there is not much option for Seda and I think she is a very essential player for NT and her club team. Probably next season she will also have to play in Fenerbahce as OH because of Gamova. So she needs to get used to it. As far as I know Seda wants to play in different positions to improve herself and she seems to be satisfied this situation instead of complaining about it by now.

And we came to the final. On Saturday we are going to watch a match, I think fun and contentious. Two archipelago success. Italians try to use the advantages of home ownership will be. Hopefully Turkey will win. Hopefully the tournament's most valuable player is Naz Aydemir.