2013 European Championship - Germany and Switzerland

    My happiness for Women World Volleyball that earned 3 very important persons after this ECH:


    1) Gert VANDE BROEK (head coach Belgium)


    2) Yury MARICHEV (head coach Russia)


    3) Igor LOVRINOV (head coach Croatia)

    Quote from Canter

    exactly!

    Pankova is an important PR asset for the CEV, as she looks like a normal (fairly nonsporty) girl. When they bring her onto the podium among the best players, it sends an easy message to the fans - "you can be there too!" - so I guess this works towards popularization of the game.

    As I thought CEV is conservative and they used old awards system :whistle: CEV was quite fair giving 2 awards for each country ^^ however officially (based on stats) Brakocevic was best scorer, Obmochaeva or Kosheleva should be best spiker, Suschke best server and Morozova best blocker :whistle: rest is ok, of course Kosheleva desrved to become MVP, however today she didn't shine on reception, but kept spike level ^^ I don't know how do you blame Pankova, because she's the best setter Russia ever has had in post Karpol era, maybe she had some mistkaes, but who didn't? Weiss and Dirickx had good performances, but Pankova wasn't worse :) Do you remember all these players which were used as setters in Russia? :tzz: : Babeshina (Sheshenina), Akulova, Surtseva (S. Akulova), Vetrova (Ulyakina), Uraleva, Zhadan, Startseva, Salina, Matienko (she could be first here more, but injury eliminated her) did I miss someone :tzz:

    Gold medal - World League 2013 Prediction Game
    Bronze medal - World League 2012 Prediction Game

    Quote from Canter


    i didnt like koseleva's final performance.Goncharova was a little better than her.

    It didn't look very obvious but in fact Goncharova showed how one can turn her poor moments into one of the best performances of the career. But Marichev obviously has a credit here too as well as the unorthodox blocking strategy of the German team. I can't recall seeing so many points being scored by hitting over the organized block before.

    Quote from powsoff

    Pankova is an important PR asset for the CEV, as she looks like a normal (fairly nonsporty) girl. When they bring her onto the podium among the best players, it sends an easy message to the fans - "you can be there too!" - so I guess this works towards popularization of the game.


    Well, could also a reward for Russia changing its game style. I don't know if many russian setters did receive this award based on subjective (=non statistical) parameters ;)


    Congratulation to Russia :rose: , I never thought they could reach the final when I saw them first this spring. Idem for Germany. Same for Belgium, they almost lost to Switzerland in preparation matches.

    Quote from kondzio

    I don't know how do you blame Pankova, because she's the best setter Russia ever has had in post Karpol era, maybe she had some mistkaes, but who didn't? Weiss and Dirickx had good performances, but Pankova wasn't worse :) Do you remember all these players which were used as setters in Russia? :tzz: : Babeshina (Sheshenina), Akulova, Surtseva (S. Akulova), Vetrova (Ulyakina), Uraleva, Zhadan, Startseva, Salina, Matienko (she could be first here more, but injury eliminated her) did I miss someone :tzz:

    I am not hostile towards Pankova, she is an outstanding sportsman (no irony) - superb coordination, solid thinking etc, the sporting excellence is simply in her blood.


    But I can't deny the fact that what we saw at this ECH vastly resembled "typical Russian volleyball". The MBs were underused (cf Matienko) and most attacks were agains organized blocks. Poor judgement of the width of the set - some sets were way too narrow, some were going behind the antenna. Good job that the shortest attacker (Pasynkova) is 190 cm, they all jump very well and there is no good block on the other side of the net.


    The worst was what Pankova was doing to Goncharova - the tempo was wrong most of the time. I understand that Marichev demands a faster game but this doesn't mean the sets need to be that low and that close to the net. Once everyone knows where the set is going to go, there is no need to reinvent the bicycle - just suspend the ball nicely and let your opposite, with her excellent physique, finish the ball. No, Pankova needlessly tries to speed things up thereby helping the blockers. Possibly the reason is that she never played in a team with a physically strong opposite...

    I just got home and couldn't watch the matches :(


    After all, I think Russia is a deserved champion. Of course I was hoping that Germany could make the surprise, but they can be happy with Silver medal and the way they presented Volleyball in Germany during this tournament :rose:


    Ever since I first watched the "new" Russian team of Marichev in Montreux, I liked their style of playing. I didn't agree with some of Marichev's tactics and decisions over the summer, but in the end he ALWAYS made good decisions! Saying goodbye to Borodakova and returning to a more "female" style of Volleyball after WGP was very good, and he formed a real team out of a bunch of very good individual players. He also took players to NT that played in weak clubs (Malova, Shlyakhovaya, Dianskaya) and they showed very good level. I hope the good work will continue, and congrats to them for deservedly winning the tournament! In some way I'm glad they proved me right because I've been saying all along they're a team to watch out for :whistle:


    And last but not least, congrats to Belgium for Bronze!!! Very happy that they got a medal and I'm sure they got it because they WANTED it more! It's always nice to see new teams coming up, like Turkey in 2003, Serbia in 2005-06 and now Belgium, I hope they'll also continue their good work and stay among the top 8 in Europe.

    Quote from henry75

    Are you joking right ? Pankova did her best to convert todays shitty receptions to something that Russian hitters could attack

    Agree, with 23% positive reception Russia had 46% spike, while Germans with 45% positive recption had 34% spike. Just a coincidence? I don't think so. Pankova did good job, delivering good balls to her hitters, especially Obmochaeva and Kosheleva. With this game to middles couldn't be more often. I don't know what could do Weiss or Dirickx with reception like that :whistle:

    Gold medal - World League 2013 Prediction Game
    Bronze medal - World League 2012 Prediction Game

    Quote from henry75

    Are you joking right ? Pankova did her best to convert todays shitty receptions to something that Russian hitters could attack


    I absolutely agree with you, Pankava had a lot of pressure on her shoulder after Matienko's injury and do not forget this is Russian's new playing style, new coach . Russian players had little time with this new tactic but somehow they pulled it off . To be honest I dare any setters in the world to be in Pankova's shoes, I would like to see if they can do any better than Pankova or not.
    - About the best players, IMHO the most ridiculous award is the best blocker .

    At the end some stats (prove for choosing best players by CEV not only by stats), included only players from Top4:
    Best Scorers:
    1. Jovana Brakocevic 139 - winner
    2. Lise Van Hecke 114 - got award
    3. Margareta Kozuch 112
    4. Natalya Obmochaeva 109
    5. Tatiana Kosheleva 90


    Best Servers (Aces/Set):
    1. Corina Ssuchke-Voigt 0.57 - winner
    2. Margareta Kozuch 0.52 - got award
    3. Natasha Krsmanovic 0.39
    4. Charlotte Leys 0.38
    5. Jelena Nikolic 0.35


    Best Blockers (Blocks/Set):
    1. Yulia Morozova 1.33 - winner
    2. Anastasia Shlyakhovaya 1
    3. Christiane Furst 0.96 - got award
    4. Laura Heyrman 0.77
    5. Natalya Obmochaeva 0.62


    Best Receivers (Pos. %):
    1. Svetlana Kryuchkova 61.8 - winner
    2. Jelena Nikolic 58.3
    3. Suzana Cebic 55 - got award
    4. Tatiana Kosheleva 54.3
    5. Lenka Durr 53.4


    Best Spikers (Spike%):
    1. Tatiana Kosheleva 49.7 - winner
    2. Natalya Obmochaeva 47.6
    3. Jovana Brakocevic 42.3 - got award
    4. Lise Van Hecke 40.6
    5. Margareta Kozuch 39.8


    In all cases best player in ranking didn't get an award :!:

    Gold medal - World League 2013 Prediction Game
    Bronze medal - World League 2012 Prediction Game

    Quote from kondzio

    Agree, with 23% positive reception Russia had 46% spike, while Germans with 45% positive recption had 34% spike. Just a coincidence? I don't think so. Pankova did good job, delivering good balls to her hitters, especially Obmochaeva and Kosheleva. With this game to middles couldn't be more often. I don't know what could do Weiss or Dirickx with reception like that :whistle:

    The obvious answer here is the (massive) difference in spikers between the two teams. Only Kozuch was able to spike all the way down to the floor for Germany. Dare I remind that some time ago Kozuch was considered an overall failure by her club from Odintsovo. That team seemed to be happy with Isaeva instead who was warming the bench for Russia. at this ECH.


    I agree that there is not much the setter can do when the reception is that poor, so there can be no blame on Pankova for making her spikers attack against organized block. But there was many spiking into the net - and this is all about Pankova's needless acceleration. I did not like the way Pankova was using Goncharova at ECH, the latter was spiking more efficiently with Matienko.

    congratulations to Russia, 2-time recent world champion, finally reclaim the european title and coming back to WGCC after a 12 year wait.
    during the past 12 years, RUS never got any privilege in an international competition, even a single wild card for WGP, WC or WGCC.
    last nite, :dance6: Russia is back showing its overall dominanting capacity, its been a good start anyway. :super:

    i may not be the tallest,
    the fastest, or the strongest,
    but at least i can do one thing better than anyone else,
    to be me...

    Congrats Russia!!!
    And Pankova is the best. I'm happy for her and Kosheleva.


    :heart: