World Class? Kawika Shoji was 2nd setter for US National Team last year. Micah Christenson played as starting setter for most of the season and he will be the one to lead the US boys to Rio 2016. The place behind him is still open. Yes, Kawika has his chances to be on the Olympic team, but there are others (especially James Shaw) who cold also be in the mix. If Kawika gets his game together he is at least International Class. World Class? Perhaps in his best moments but not consistently so.
Germany - Volleyball Bundesliga (VBL) 2014/15
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Wrong Shoji, sorry. I was thinking about the libero position.
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Here is my preview of the VfB/Berlin match including words from Nick Vogel CLICK HERE
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I am really looking forward to this match. Hope I'll be back home in time.
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17.01.15 /19.30/ SWD powervolleys DÜREN vs. TSV Herrsching 3:0 (25:16,25:22,25:19)
http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2014-15/Men/&1084.pdf17.01.15 /19.30/ VSG Coburg/Grub vs. NETZHOPPERS KW-Bestensee 1:3 (18:25,25:23,20:25,20:25)
http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2014-15/Men/&1089.pdf17.01.15 /20.00/ SVG Lüneburg vs. TV Rottenburg 3:0 (25:21,25:20,25:15)
http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2014-15/Men/&1088.pdf
Laane scoring 22 points in 3 sets, including 6 Block points
Today, at 15:00 CET, Berlin vs. Friedrichshafen live on http://www.vbl.tv
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Today, at 15:00 CET, Berlin vs. Friedrichshafen live on http://www.vbl.tv
The match has started, VfB wins the first set 25:19. Berlin is playing good defense, but they have problems on the wings. Especially kromm is underperforming so far. Nice to see Simon Tischer in good shape again..... -
And we have a fifth set
Sets 2 and 3 were rather boring, as Friedrichshafen just stopped playing. But they came back in 4th set and made this match quite enjoyable again.... -
24.01.15 /19.00/ TSV Herrsching vs. BERLIN RECYCLING Volleys 0:3 (34:36,17:25,16:25)
stats: http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2014-15/Men/&1030.pdf
Carroll again with problems, got subbed for Dünnes after first set.24.01.15 /19.30/ SWD powervolleys DÜREN vs. TV Rottenburg 3:0 (25:13,25:19,25:18)
stats: http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2014-15/Men/&1100.pdf24.01.15 /19.30/ VSG Coburg/Grub vs. SVG Lüneburg 1:3 (21:25,27:29,25:18,19:25)
stats: http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2014-15/Men/&1099.pdf
7th victory in row for Lüneburg. Interesting battle of young opposites in this match. Pörner (20 years /50 %) for Lüneburg and Moritz Karlitzek ( 18 years / 57%) for Coburg/Grub, had both good matches. Especially Karlitzek, who is usually playing OH, is making a good impression in his first Bundesliga season24.01.15 /20.00/ TV Ingersoll Bühl vs. CV Mitteldeutschland 2:3 (28:26,21:25,25:17,24:26,14:16)
stats: http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2014-15/Men/&1097.pdf
Very surprising loss for Bühl. It looks like, as if both MBs underperformed yesterday.They are now at a point, where they cant allow wasting points anymore. -
This weekend:
30.01.15 /20.00/ TSV Herrsching vs. VSG Coburg/Grub
31.01.15 /19.00/ NETZHOPPERS KW-Bestensee vs. BERLIN RECYCLING Volleys (one-camera-stream http://www.vbl.tv )
31.01.15 /19.00/ TSV Herrsching vs. TV Ingersoll Bühl
31.01.15 /19.30/ CV Mitteldeutschland vs. VfB Friedrichshafen (one-camera-stream http://www.vbl.tv )
31.01.15 /20.00/ SVG Lüneburg vs. SWD powervolleys DÜREN (one-camera-stream http://www.vbl.tv )The match in Lüneburg probably is the most interesting one. If they can beat Düren once again, they could even attack the third position, even though they still have hard matches to play. But chances are reduced, as main hitter Falko Steinke picked up an ankle injury and is out for some weeks. In Lüneburg, they hope, he will be back latest for the cup final. For Düren, OH Steve Hunt has resolved his contract and returned to his canadian home.
Last but not least i have the pleasure to link you, once again, to good piece from Yavor about the Bundesliga on the Volleycountry blog
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As it was already mentioned in the transfer thread, Benjamin Toniutti has obviously signed a contract for the rest of the season in Friedrichshafen. There is still no confirmation about this transfer. If it turns out true, VfB will have a nice setter duo especially if you consider that Toniutti is only allowed to play Bundesliga. This is a bad situation for Jan Zimmermann, but i guess Moculescu wanted to avoid a situation like in last year play-off finals where he had to play only with Zimmermann, when jovovic was injured.
The Toniutti transfer is officially confirmed now.Moculescu:
"If you have the opportunity to sign such a player, you would be very stupid not to do it." ...."We are not sure, whether Simon Tischer will be able to play two matches per week during play-offs and i always want to have two healthy setters."Thats not really a sign of confidence towards Jan Zimmermann, but Moculescus first statement probably says it all. Toniutti won't demand too much money as well and his ability to play a fast game could eventually suit VfBs wing spikers.
http://www.vfb-volleyball.de/medien/news/2015/2015-02-02.php
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Friedrichshafen also signed Polish middleblocker Alan Wasilewski.
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Yesterday there was an interesting report on german tv on the difficult economic situation of the clubs and league in the light of a "masterplan", implemented by the league and clubs.
http://www1.wdr.de/fernsehen/i…dungen/volleyball238.html (probably only visible with german IP)
Amongst other points the "masterplan" foresees that the clubs have to fulfill certain requirements like:
- Halls with a capacity of at least 1000 places and a certain height of the hall
- Full-time management
- a certain minimum budget
The manager of the VBL made it quite clear that in the near future, teams will be excluded if they don't fulfill these requirements. That will probably lead to a smaller league as especially the smaller clubs will have big problems with these requirements.
The clubs themselves complained, that the VBL board so far hasn't delivered yet any assistance. For example, there is no TV contract or a title sponsor for the league which could create some additional revenue for the clubs.
Some numbers, mentioned in the report, which show the state of the Volleyball league compared to other sport leagues in Germany:Turnover by leagues: Ice Hockey (106 mio.), Basketball (91 mio.), Handball (89 mio.), Volleyball (8 mio.)
