Olympic Games - 2016 | 8 | 6

  • Those serve errors are a big pain in the ass for Russia. Nicely done by Samoylenko and Voronkova as subs on the other hand. Goncharova somewhat not playing as spectacular as she could but what matters is that the team won.


    I also don't understand why Ezhova is there, she can't serve or Marichev doesn't want to use her as passing specialist for Kosheleva or Shcherban either. I think they desperately need a good server now with Startseva and Pasynkova gone.

  • Russia struggled with reading Korea's sets throughout the match but Samoylenko made a difference in the 4th. They really got Kim's number in the 4th and read the korean attacks better. Korea's defense was really good in the first 3sets but mentally destroyed in the 4th. Voronkova, surprisingly, is a very good sub for Shcherban. Reception was good and attacking was better than Shcherban. Still no idea why Vetrova and Ezhova are in the team. Pankova had moments of brilliance turning horrible receptions into good sets.

  • I don't know why you said this about Murphy. She played well. She had the team high in total points, more kills in less sets to her than Hill and Larson. She tied with Glass for a team high with 3 blocks. And she played good floor defense. She won the last point in two sets. I hope Adams doesn't fall block into her old habits, service errors and being late to the block as she was today. Harmotto is a non factor. Overall USA played hard and fought.
    NED was missing another dominating hitter. Robin made too many errors and their serving was a downfall. If they can find another pin hitter they will be good in the years to come.

  • Just got to watch NED-USA. It seems like I underestimated them too much because I expected them to be beaten 0-3 by both China and USA. I love how De Kruijf has been playing, in general I wasn't comvinced by her but in last two matches she contributed a lot. I wouldn't agree if someone says she's a good blocker but obviously is an excellent attacker.


    So sorry for Balkestein, too many injuries for such an important player. There's realistically no one who could replace her and A team never works good without the captain, thus I hope for the best for her :rose: If she can't recover on time, maybe we will see Schoot as OH? Pietersen also could be attempted but I don't believe she's going to be able to manage such a big number of reception...

  • Just got to watch NED-USA. It seems like I underestimated them too much because I expected them to be beaten 0-3 by both China and USA. I love how De Kruijf has been playing, in general I wasn't comvinced by her but in last two matches she contributed a lot. I wouldn't agree if someone says she's a good blocker but obviously is an excellent attacker.


    So sorry for Balkestein, too many injuries for such an important player. There's realistically no one who could replace her and A team never works good without the captain, thus I hope for the best for her :rose: If she can't recover on time, maybe we will see Schoot as OH? Pietersen also could be attempted but I don't believe she's going to be able to manage such a big number of reception...

    Isn't Debby Stam a better option as OH since she actually played so in her club? In case Schoot is terrible as libero, they can replace her with Stam anyway.

  • Schoot is 1,84cm just like Stam, very tall for a libero. She actually played as OH in her club too.


    Now they have Italy, Serbia and Puerto Rico, definitely not an easy journey, but I'm quite optimistic.

  • Just looked at the livescore of RUS vs KOR match. Korea won 2nd set and it's currently the 4th set 21-9 for Russia. The first three sets were close. I'm unable to watch the video so any feedback from you guys what happened? :)


    The game went by the predictable scenario whereby Korea were defending fantastically well while Russia were dominating above the net. Things went fairly close as long as Korea could receive well as (as of yesterday) they had no spikers able to work against an organised block. In the first three sets Rus were able to generate a 3-point difference by the 20th point. In the second set, Korea was able to come back from 19-23 to 25-23 thanks to the tough service and questionable decisions by Kosianenko. In the fourth set, Rus stopped serving into the libero, which had an immediate effect.


    Overall, Kosheleva was very much unstoppable. Goncharova had more problems but once again she would frequently receive a faulty set. Voronkov's daughter performed very well. Russia static in defense on many occasions, bizarre second touch during the transition play but bery solid block. They won most of the long rallies but did so via the block or opponent's errors rather than their own attack. Korea was poorer than expected in recycling the balls off the block. No10, their iconic captain was trying hard and showing some leadership skills but in fact she scored more points for Russia than Korea in offense. The impressive comeback in the second set was engineered by a different player who was serving at that moment.

  • I think they can beat Italy without Grothues.
    And talking about using Schoot as the libero and Stam as OH: I'm not sure if this is possible, considering that normally you can't change the libero unless there is an injury.

  • If Maret's injury is not serious and I think Netherlands will be serious opponent. Netherlands NT can beat Italy and Puerto Rico without Maret's help. But future games are very hard without her receiver and fast spikes. I really like game of Netherlands NT in Olimpic Game. I would like to see them with medals in Rio. It is very difficult but not impossible.

  • Italy must take their chance tomorrow, without Grothues they can beat NED and stay on the road of the QF... But they will have to bring some fire !


    Talking about injury, Yang Fang-Xu seems to have injured her knee again in the last point vs Italy. Any news about her ?

  • In these Olympics nothing is certain and nothing is impossible. I really would not be utterly surprised if the Dutch lose to Italy without Grothues. Tomorrow is Italy's last chance to show some character, and if they decide to do so they are definitely capable of winning that match.

  • Maret had her scan this morning and she has no broken bones. That's all I can say for now...


    Dutch websites say that it's her calf? Hope I understood correctly.. :S

  • Dutch websites say that it's her calf? Hope I understood correctly.. :S

    That's what Google Translator told me too, but it's not very reliable for Dutch...I think she landed on the foot of an American player after her attack and twisted her ankle. Since she was wearing ankle braces she might have got by without too big damage, even though she looked very much in pain. But ankle injuries are damn painful even when they're medically not too serious.

  • Yes, volleybalkrant corrected the previous news and volleybal.nl wrote about the ankle. Everything's clear now. :) Anyway, I hope we'll see Maret in the tournament.