Women's Club World Championship 2017

  • While maybe some of you expected that VakifBank might lose to GS when Rasic couldn't play. But personally before the game I thought they would still win even without Rasic. After all they beat GS with 3:0 twice during regular season. I thought they might struggle a little but should have no problem advancing to the final. But they got beaten up by 0:5! That's really unexpected for me. But GS played really well, serving at high level and VB just couldn't attack well. And of course without Rasic their blocking was terrible, plus the hostile environment also affected VB players. I think even Rasic was healthy, with the level GS played VakifBank probably couldn't win at GS home court (VB lost to Fener twice even with Rasic, and I think GS played as well as Fener against VB during semi-final).


    Vakif didn't unexpectantly lose in the Turkish League semi-finals. They played without Rasic who was injured for both games and her sub was a dramatically lower quality player. It showed that when it comes to the Turkish League with their 3 foreigner limit that the worlds best MB was a bigger loss then say Zhu as the best OH. You can only play 2 OH's at a time and it was more consequential not to have Rasic then to say have Hill instead of Zhu. One of the things VB gave up to sign Zhu was Robin at MB'er. She was a solid sub for Rasic when needed and probably would have been enough to put VB over Gala.


    The closeness in quality between the best teams is very narrow and the smallest changes can make a huge difference. Gozde is in the twilight of her career in the same way that larson is. Vb might well want to bring Hande over once she becomes available in the same way that they picked up Naz. To win in Turkish League having the best Turkish setter, OH, and MB is the key to success and it's that success that paves the way to participation in the CL. It was a huge fail for ECZ to miss the CL next year and it will be interesting to see how they recover from that in the future.

  • There are so many reasons led to VB's collapse against GS: GS played at a very high level, Rasic's injury, hostile environment, VB didn't prepare well before the game (thought it would be an easy win), and Giovanni's impatience during the game... But the most important one is that GS showed a very high level in both offense and defense. Their serving made VB hard to attack efficiently, and their offense was quick. VB had hard time deal with quick offense, it magnified when Rasic was not there. The game was just not in VB's tempo. While Volero is a very good team, I think their offense is not as fast as GS, plus Volero couldn't control their own error well against VB so VB was able to control the game for the most of time.


    I agree Rasic is a key player. But Vakif had no problem to beat Volero without Rasic. In my book, Volero is much stronger than Gala. Kubra is not as good as Rasic, but she become an excellent MB.

  • Klineman played together with Hill in Novara a few seasons ago. She was not good in reception but she was good in offense. As far as I can remember, she was listed as an Opposite in the US national team before.

  • At Novara she played as an OH with Hill and Barun was the opposite. That was the first year back from her injury and her PED suspension. Novara unexpectedly ran the table that year and lost the Scudetto in the fifth set against Pomi. It was a huge success for Novara and Hill's play was a spring board for her move to Vakif and Klineman went to Brazil.

  • I really really liked Eczacibasi's game in the very last 3 sets against Volero. That is the reason I really dont like Barbolini, he is always too late to make changes and doesnt like to take risks. We saw that when Kosheleva-Hande duo was playing, they sure had receiving difficulties but the team had more ambitions and looked like they were having fun. Barbolini was too late during the entire season to try this duo out. Besides, during the 4th set, he waited I dont know how many points to sub Hande and Kosheleva when they were in backrow. Simply, if you play with these 2 spikers, and if you have Simge (second libero) and Larson (defensive OH), that means you can sub Hande and Kosheleva the second time they come to backrow. That could probably bring the game easier to Eczacibasi. I am really happy Barbolini is leaving and I wish him good luck with his risk free, boring life :wall:

  • I just hope Zhu won`t spend her whole career in Vakifbank, from what I understand money is not her "goal" as she even donates a lot of her money, and she was offered even more money to stay in China. I hope after her 2nd year in Turkey, she goes to Brazil, and then Italy, even Poland, Japan, Russia. I think she could end up winning the tittle in every league she plays, especially if she plays for the Top team in each league.


    For example in Brazil supposedly Bruno made and now William will make RSS 1 million, which is around U$$ 350. It is not even close to what Zhu makes, but once money is not a issue for her, she would be open to new adventures, culture and improve her game by being exposed to different styles. And giving the gift for fans around the world to watch her live.


    I wish Kim had done the same, I was excited when I heard she would leave Fener.

  • And in general Chinese players lack self-discipline outside the court. They are used to follow the order of coach, but when it's outside the court they tend to do whatever they like, i.e. they don't eat right, some of those spicy, fatty, oily Chinese dishes are just not good for elite athlete, but a lot of players don't know they should avoid those and take care of their bodies.


    Seems like a bold claim. But maybe you've lived in China and/or know a lot of Chinese personally. I dunno. I live in SF and eat with a lot of Chinese folks whose diet is an order of magnitude better than most Americans I know.

  • I just hope Zhu won`t spend her whole career in Vakifbank, from what I understand money is not her "goal" as she even donates a lot of her money, and she was offered even more money to stay in China. I hope after her 2nd year in Turkey, she goes to Brazil, and then Italy, even Poland, Japan, Russia. I think she could end up winning the tittle in every league she plays, especially if she plays for the Top team in each league.


    For example in Brazil supposedly Bruno made and now William will make RSS 1 million, which is around U$$ 350. It is not even close to what Zhu makes, but once money is not a issue for her, she would be open to new adventures, culture and improve her game by being exposed to different styles. And giving the gift for fans around the world to watch her live.


    I wish Kim had done the same, I was excited when I heard she would leave Fener.

    It would be really hard to see Zhu play in multiple leagues during her career. JLP chose VakifBank for Zhu because Turkish league is currently the best in the world and VB already has many good players. Most importantly, JLP knows Giovanni well, they are friends and she believes Giovanni can make Zhu a better all-around player. I think Zhu will stay in VB for quite a while unless the safety situation there get worse and worse or her home team really wants her back. Maybe Zhu will play in Italy some point in the future since JLP has connections there as well, but other leagues (Brzail, Russia, Japan, Poland...) seem unlikely to me.


  • Seems like a bold claim. But maybe you've lived in China and/or know a lot of Chinese personally. I dunno. I live in SF and eat with a lot of Chinese folks whose diet is an order of magnitude better than most Americans I know.

    I read news from Hong Kong media that before the Olympics last year when Chinese NT were playing at HK for Grand Prix, at one point the western trainer in the team got really mad at some of the players. Basically he saw multiple times that some players drink soda and eat too much outside court. He thinks some of them are already out of shape and need to control their weight to improve jump and moving speed. HK reporter saw during one practice the team lined up and the trainer 'yelled' at them for not watching what they eat. And the trainer later told reporter that that's the only time he got mad at players... Also after Olympics the trainer said that among all the players in NT, he thinks Zhu is the most athletic, that she knows how to take care of herself and work hard in gym.


    I think your Chinese folks are probably influenced by the western fitness culture, they learned that eat clean is good for their bodies in general. Also even SF has a lot of delicious Chinese food, but they are not considered as authentic as those in China.

  • I cant find the 2018 thread, but it is confirmed that Brazil will have two teams this year: Minas (south american champions) and Praia (wild card). There are three spots left, I guess theyll probably give to Eczasibasi, Moscow and Conegliano

  • The level of this Tournament won`t be any good... They will play in December....basically a month after the World Championship.... Players will be joining their clubs right after the WCH is over without getting any rest and I doubt anyone will want to jump on a plane and head to China just after they arrived in their respective clubs.


    Not to mention I heard that the Olympic Qualification will be played in January....but this is just a rumor.


    Anyways...I just hope Eczasibasi won`t get a wild card.....I certainly don`t want to see Boskovic playing 3 tournaments in a such short period of time.