2015 FIVB World League

Earvin

The end! Good I didn't watch the last points. I was sure they could lose it. After Kurek's 3(!) errors I asked w.t.f? He's great but not for stressful situation because he can lose match alone. Congratulations for France. Although Antiga and Blain are happy. First set also should not have been lost. Antiga totally didn't react fast. I feel sorry now for Kurek. It's next match in his life while sorry but team lost in crucial situations actions just because of him. It was so noisy about France before and they trully deserved. It's only world league, but atmosphere of these world league is so special and all teams want so much win it. Drzyzga brainless like Christenson today.

After Germany last year, we are going to see two new names on the medals list after some years, Serbia got 2 bronze in 2010 WL and WCH, and France got a silver in 2006 WL last time.Another interesting fact this year is that Brazil is not going to be on the medals list of the year after 1999! According to their absence in the WC.

Earvin is a great player!!! So much skill. Still, France should thank Kurek.

And I know I'm moaning all day but the challenge system is a load of crap! Three wrong challenges per match and then you won't see every match point being challenged. Takes all the emotion from winning away. Imagine if Poland had won the challenge, then the emotionally exhausted French had to start playing a game they thought they already won...

Quote from triglav_kran

Earvin is a great player!!! So much skill. Still, France should thank Kurek.

And I know I'm moaning all day but the challenge system is a load of crap! Three wrong challenges per match and then you won't see every match point being challenged. Takes all the emotion from winning away. Imagine if Poland had won the challenge, then the emotionally exhausted French had to start playing a game they thought they already won...

Level of both teams are equal but I must agree... Kurek will be again called reason of loses however he was really nice generally but crucial actions are more important. He lost his mind and did even individual error coming out to France's side. He looks like shocked, out of control... It shows how Wlazły was mature player.

Kurek scored 28 points while Anderson in also with Serbia 21. It shows clearly Drzyzga is horrible and started to play like Żygadło. Drzyzga made Kurek crazy and with 3 blocks in tiebreak Drzyzga wanted to make Kurek scored 28+3=31 points in match. CONGRATS and let's add others not ended Kurek's attacks before because Drzyzga wanted make Kurek in all about 40 points. Mika is ended so far, he needs to eat more and get some muscles or he should leave volleyball. Zagumny should be even on a bench.

Quote from brahmin

When I saw the group breakout before the Final 6 started, I was a little surprised. The Pool winners from the Intercontinental round are in the same pool? Plus, the Group 2 Winner, have they seen France this year and last year?
So, Brazil basically screwed themselves, put all of the hard teams in our Pool. If Serbia or Italy was in their group, they would have won a match and probably gotten to the semifinals.

The FIVB should have put the group winners in opposite pools of the Final 6, and the 2nd place teams from the Intercontinental round be in the other pool, so Poland would not play USA and Serbia not play Brazil in the round robin. Italy and Group 2 Winner would be drawn to place them into a Pool.

FIVB usually gives the host a chance to pick who they want to play and when. Japanese women usually arrange to play their toughest match last in their tournaments. Hopefully by having a better record to encourage TV viewership.

Serbia is considered as the "winner" of the intercontinental round since Brazil was automatically qualified for the Finals as host. As a result, Serbia and USA are in opposite pools of the Final Round. Given that Serbia and Brazil are in the same pool during the intercontinental round, USA is assigned to the pool with Brazil.

Quote from triglav_kran

Earvin is a great player!!! So much skill. Still, France should thank Kurek.

And I know I'm moaning all day but the challenge system is a load of crap! Three wrong challenges per match and then you won't see every match point being challenged. Takes all the emotion from winning away. Imagine if Poland had won the challenge, then the emotionally exhausted French had to start playing a game they thought they already won...

I understand your frustration about the delay brought by the challenge system, and the unethical use of the system by some coaches. However, the challenge system has proved its value in the last couple of years. It did reduce home court advantage and referee bias to a remarkable extent. Not all coaches exploit the use of a challenge system like what Antiga does at set points or match points. Unfortunately, it's a legitimate use of the system, though it may not be justified from the sportsmanship standpoint.

In terms of the technology, the challenge system used in the Final Round system is the best, with ultra HD slow-motion and synchronous replay of shots taken from various angle (to help judge whether the ball lands or a player touches the net first). There is still room to improve in terms of the speed of execution, of course. Compared with the Eagle Eye system in tennis, the challenge system in volleyball needs to handle way more challenging situations, like players touching the net or the ball when blocking. This is somehow too complicated to rely on computer simulations to make the judgement. When human (referee) judgement is still needed in the challenge system, it's understandable that it would cause some delay.

Congrats to both Serbia and France for their hard-fought victories today. We'll have a new WL winner tomorrow

The performance of the Serbian NT in the first two sets of the semi vs USA was perhaps of the highest level for the team in recent years. Their block-defense system was working superbly well that it reminds me of the old very disciplined former Yugoslavian team in 2000-2002. Apart from direct kill blocks, the players playing the defense were positioned so well with super quick reaction (close to reflexes) to dig the Americans' spikes touched by their blockers, as if they have thoroughly analyzed the distribution of the US setter and the positioning of the spikers. Together with solid reception and very effective serves with few errors, their game is simply flawless. If Serbia could maintain such a performance in their matches, they're strong enough to win championships. In the latter three sets, the Serbians have dropped their level from unusually high to their "normal" level. The performance of the US team indeed has been quite consistent throughout the match, so it's likely that the intense focus from the Serbian players to deliver such a performance in the first two sets has cost them a lot of energy. Anyway, today the Serbian NT is rewarded with a victory of the match that ended in quite a non-Serbian way. I've noticed that the Serbian NT choked quite a few times when they're leading 3 points or so in set 5 of some important matches -- 2008 OG QF, 2009 WL F & 2010 WCH SF. Today, they finally exited the game from the other side, thanks to a more even offense among their spikers, compared with previous years.

I was wrong, Kurek gets 51(!) balls to attack. Polska: Drzyzga, Kubiak 11, Bieniek 5, Kurek 28, Mika 15, Nowakowski 11, Zatorski (l) oraz Konarski, Buszek 1, Łomacz, Możdżonek

Kubiak only 11 points, Mika 15. And again compared to first semifinal, Americans' OH Jaeschke 20. So no one of our OHs scored that much.

Now I started to doubt Drzyzga was setting like this because it was his whim. He's not such dumb. In his life he had more difficult matches like in club and he coped, best setter of champions league is also not accidental. Kubiak and Mika's tragic attitude forced him to sets like this. And here we have proof while Drzyzga was setting equally to each player the same number of balls and Kubiak didn't cope and Antiga took him off in first set.
With such indisposition of OHs we should be happy we reached a tiebreak.(!) Bieniek only 5 points for such long distance of match must be a joke. I appreciate his debut in national team and he played really well, but he has lack of experience and more experienced MB on rival side can destroy him so far. Why Antiga let Możdżonek with his huge height play only in the end of tiebreak and not earlier? His height could help in stop shorter French.
Now it came out that Kłos is so needed like no one!

Quote from YavorD

Serbia also won the ECH in 2011. Let's mention that they have 4 WL silver medals, two of them as Serbia and Montenegro.

I know, I considered last time medals and I considered World medals, not continental.

Quote from andrea

In terms of the technology, the challenge system used in the Final Round system is the best, with ultra HD slow-motion and synchronous replay of shots taken from various angle (to help judge whether the ball lands or a player touches the net first). There is still room to improve in terms of the speed of execution, of course. Compared with the Eagle Eye system in tennis, the challenge system in volleyball needs to handle way more challenging situations, like players touching the net or the ball when blocking. This is somehow too complicated to rely on computer simulations to make the judgement. When human (referee) judgement is still needed in the challenge system, it's understandable that it would cause some delay.

I would rather have a referee at the video station making the line calls. Hawk Eye looked a little off to me on occasion, and the deformation of the ball has to be evaluated each time.
To help cut on the time, let's just challenge the action where a point is awarded. In addition, what about stopping the play when an infraction (subject to video check) is noticed and either win the point (video check confirms) or lose it?
When the video check doesn't give evidence, what solution do you prefer: replay the point or stick with the ref's decision?

Are those Brazilians in hall really chearing for us?

Enough losing to USA, guys, please, play it with bigger hearts...

Quote from chagrin

I would rather have a referee at the video station making the line calls. Hawk Eye looked a little off to me on occasion, and the deformation of the ball has to be evaluated each time.

We just had another example, TV cameras showed that Drzyzga's serve was clearly out and on Hawk Eye it was just the slightest bit out, very close to a wrong "in" call.

Drama.

Release Szalpuk! I'm sure Americans would be confused We won't harm them playing with Konarski, rather we harm ourselves...

I love the way Bieniek serves. When he do his two-three steps before hitting the ball, I hear the music from The Pink Panther. He kinda creeps

Hey, not so bad! Wonderful pursuit, pity we didn't win this. One word: Konarski. He can only serve and block. Sometimes.

Poland challenging every second point is very annoying