Germany - VBL 1. Bundesliga 2016/17

    Vilsbiburg – Schwerin 3-1 (20-25, 27-25, 25-22, 31-29) :white:
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2016-17/Women/&2067.pdf
    MVP: Liana Mesa / Lauren Barfield
    Lippmann 23%, Brinker 17%, Geerties 23%, Gebhardt 21% :aww: Schwerin was leading all throughout 4th set until 24:21 but couldn't close the set.


    Stuttgart – Aachen 3-1 (25-12, 19-25, 25-22, 25-23)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2016-17/Women/&2066.pdf
    MVP: Wanna Buakaew / Ioana Baciu
    Nika Daalderop probably is with Dutch junior NT for WCH qualifier now. The reception stats of Oude Luttikhuis are quite disastrous :what:


    Erfurt – Dresden 1-3 (22-25, 9-25, 25-21, 17-25)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2016-17/Women/&2070.pdf
    MVP: Lisa Stock / Liz McMahon
    Kadie Rolfzen made her debut but her stats don't look too impressive against the weakest team of the league who didn't even line up their best players, but then it's very normal that she needs time to adapt.


    Potsdam – Köpenick 3-1 (25-23, 16-25, 25-22, 25-22)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2016-17/Women/&2068.pdf
    MVP: Lisa Rühl (70% perfect) / Celin Stöhr


    Wiesbaden – Suhl 0-3 (20-25, 24-26, 22-25) :white: :white:
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2016-17/Women/&2069.pdf
    MVP: Tanja Großer / Marrit Jasper
    For me this is almost an even bigger surprise than Schwerin losing. Suhl without Hroncekova (tooth surgery), and since they have no backup MB, young Austrian OH Katharina Holzer had to play as MB.


    Ranking:
    1 Stuttgart 12 10 33:12 31
    2 Schwerin 12 10 33:10 30
    3 Dresden 12 10 32:16 28
    4 Potsdam 12 9 30:21 25
    5 Wiesbaden 12 7 27:23 20
    6 Münster 11 7 23:21 19
    7 Vilsbiburg 11 6 22:17 19
    8 Köpenick 12 3 17:29 10
    9 Suhl 12 3 14:28 10
    10 Aachen 12 2 18:31 9
    11 Erfurt 12 2 11:33 6
    12 VCO Berlin 10 1 10:29 3

    Quote from Matthias

    Nika Daalderop probably is with Dutch junior NT for WCH qualifier now


    Indeed. She left on Tuesday with the Dutch team to the WCQ-tournament.

    And destroyed France with 3-0 (12, 15, 17). Good result since the Dutch youth teams (both men and women) haven't achieved very much last years. Don't know anything about the French, but maybe they came with a very young team. This result will probably send them as 1st of the group to the second qualification round. Shouldn't interfere with her team since the second round is held in May.

    Quote from flyingdutchman

    Indeed. She left on Tuesday with the Dutch team to the WCQ-tournament.

    Four very interesting matches this weekend, all on http://www.vbl.tv:


    7. Januar 2017
    17:30 Dresden - Stuttgart
    19:00 Köpenick - Suhl
    19:00 Schwerin - Potsdam


    8. Januar 2017
    16:00 Aachen - Wiesbaden



    Dresden-Stuttgart and Schwerin-Potsdam means the top 4 teams playing each other and deciding who will head the ranking after the weekend. Köpenick-Suhl is important for both teams in order to stay away from relegation zone. Same goes for Aachen who urgently needs points while Wiesbaden has to make up for the disastrous performance against Suhl on Wednesday.

    Dresden - Stuttgart 3:0 (25:16 25:22 25:22) :white:
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2016-17/Women/&2071.pdf
    MVP: Katharina Schwabe / Micheli Tomazela
    Surprisingly clear win of Dresden with superb blocking (17 blocks in 3 sets). Kadie Rolfzen in starting six today and Lucie Smutna as setter instead of Apitz (sick). Stuttgart again with problems on OPP position and Waibl prepared Dresden very well for Mlejnkova apparently.


    Köpenick - Suhl 3:2 (25:20 17:25 25:17 13:25 18:16)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2016-17/Women/&2072.pdf
    MVP: Dominice Steffen / Miloslava Lauerova
    Köpenick with only 7 players incl. libero, so no substitutes at all :what: Luise Klein is with Junior NT and apparently the rest of the team is ill :white: But what a will to win they showed, defending 4 match points in tie-break to win eventually. Suhl again without Hroncekova and with Holzer as MB. Good game by Czech OPP Patockova who in the beginning of the season was just embarassing and also very overweighted but has improved a lot since then.


    Schwerin - Potsdam 3:1 (25:13 23:25 25:22 25:19)
    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2016-17/Women/&2073.pdf
    MVP: Denise Hanke / Ivona Svobodnikova
    Schwerin back on 1st place after the weak matches lately. Lippmann and Brinker with a good game but young MB Marie Schölzel with 73% attack plus 6 blocks looks impressive today. Anja Brandt is still out with illness :S There is very little info about what's wrong with her, only in one article was mentioned that she suffers from migraine attacks. Potsdam shows again that they're still a bit away from the level of the top 3 teams. Today Wiebke Silge played the full match after being on bench almost all season, I don't know if Lisa Gründing is sick/injured.

    Quote from SHAME

    Any idea why Cross didn't play at all? I completely love this girl. :obey:

    She's just not good :S For me she's the weakest of Dresden's MBs, though Purchartova is not much better. Cooper and Johnson have established themselves as clear starters in the key matches for Dresden, Cross and Purchartova will get their playing time against weaker opponents.

    Quote from Matthias

    She's just not good :S For me she's the weakest of Dresden's MBs, though Purchartova is not much better. Cooper and Johnson have established themselves as clear starters in the key matches for Dresden, Cross and Purchartova will get their playing time against weaker opponents.


    I think "not good" is a little harsh. She and Purchartova are quite young and can contribute in certain spots. No doubt, however, that Cooper and Johnson have emerged as the first team in Waibl's mind. Today was the first match this season where I felt that Dresden's middles really stepped up and had a major impact on the match, especially Johnson with 6 blocks. With Rolfzen steadying the reception and contributing from the left side, Dresden has the potential to be dangerous down the stretch.

    Any replayes for the matches?


    I should starts watching volleyball again instead of reading stats and results.


    I'm really intrested about Dresdner, because there's another player there which is not as good as I expected; I'm talking about Birks, of course. :huh:

    Quote from SHAME

    Any replayes for the matches?


    I should starts watching volleyball again instead of reading stats and results.


    I'm really intrested about Dresdner, because there's another player there which is not as good as I expected; I'm talking about Birks, of course. :huh:


    I liked watching Birks in the NCAA. This is her first year playing pro and she is still young, so it would be wrong to write her off quite yet. But she may be among the long list of excellent NCAA outside hitters who have trouble receiving consistently at the international level. We shall see.


    But it might not be at Dresden.

    I'm watching Dresdner vs Stuttgart.


    Stuttgart needs Whitney in her best shape as soon as possible. Their passing was just terrible in the game. The real difference in the game was Liz McMahon. I wonder how the result would look like with Apitz on court: Smutna's setting, expecially to the OHs was just bad (high balls far from the net). Buakaew by far the best player of her team.

    I'm so happy for Aachen :drink: :drink:


    Femke is a real Glücksgriff for them! After her arrival their game improved a lot. I'm curious who will be benched next week, as Daalderop returns in the team.


    I'm confident Aachen will reach play-offs and could surpise the big teams.

    Quote from SHAME

    I'm watching Dresdner vs Stuttgart.


    Stuttgart needs Whitney in her best shape as soon as possible. Their passing was just terrible in the game. The real difference in the game was Liz McMahon. I wonder how the result would look like with Apitz on court: Smutna's setting, expecially to the OHs was just bad (high balls far from the net). Buakaew by far the best player of her team.


    Buakaew has been amazing this year. Every time I have watched Stuttgart she has been their best player. And I was very impressed with Stuttgart's effort on the defensive side in this match.


    If you have not seen Dresden play before this season, you might not appreciate that at least IMHO this was by far Dresden's best defensive effort. To my eyes, for most of this season the team has lacked a certain competitive spirit or emotion. Yesterday they put a lot of extra effort into tracking down bad passes and keeping balls in play. And their usually atrocious serve receive was much better. As for the setters, I have not been overly impressed with either Apitz or Smutna except in one respect: Apitz has been much better server and has subbed in to serve at critical points in the last two matches and done very well--making the coach look like a genius. But the timing, location, and deceptiveness of the sets of both players have left room for improvement.


    I agree that Stuttgart did not play their best. For the early part of the match the Stuttgart middles were dominating the Dresden pair, but by the end the Saxony middles responded, especially Johnson, who managed 6 block points. In the end the stats for the middles were about even.


    I think that with the addition of Rolfzen these two teams are much closer, and I look forward to more battles between them in the playoffs.


    I have seen this match live in Dresden and this was the worst performance of Stuttgart in this season overall. The enforced absence of Captain Kim Renkema seems to weaken the team from match to match even more, Mlejnkoá had her worst day of the season so far, even Grant was definitely not on her best. Also Sandor was physically not at her best (muscular issue in one leg). Maybe the unknown Rolfzen twins were a surprise Stuttgart couldn't really prepare for this first duel, but this will change. In usual matchup I see still Stuttgart in front of Dresden, not to speak about Schwerin, which is the clear-cut championship favorite in my view. If there is not a considerable improvement with Stuttgarts team effort rather quickly, they will have no chance to stop Schwerin from winning it's 11th title, Dresden has no chance at all to defend title IMHO.


    Don't forget, that Schwerin has the best remainder schedule for this season, and Dresden the worst, Stuttgart also a difficult one.