CEV Women’s European Championship 2019 - hosts Turkey, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia

    Belarus was very disappointing in this tournament. They finished as 7th in last ECh and I thought we finally have another mid-level team rising. And two years later they ended up as last in such an easy group. As far as I know they are only missing Kavalchuk and Barsyevich from their roster from 2017 ECh:what:

    Yes, Belarus is definitely the disappointment of the tournament. Finishing dead last in that group is a horrible result, although I imagine they didn't care about the last mach vs Switzerland after all their chances of going through were gone.

    Another teams that should have done better are Ukraine and Hungary. Hungary seemed to be making some progress a few years ago, now they're eliminated after the group stage even as hosts. I guess replacing Dora Horvath is hard.


    I still don't like this format with 24 teams. If they wanted to expand it, 20 teams would have been enough. And although I agree that the mid-level teams are getting better, I think the main reason we saw some tight matches and (near) upsets in the group stage is that this is a very long tournament and top teams don't want to go out all guns blazing from the start and burn themselves out, but rather gradually play themselves into form.

    Quote from JoanaBG

    Yes, Belarus is definitely the disappointment of the tournament. Finishing dead last in that group is a horrible result, although I imagine they didn't care about the last mach vs Switzerland after all their chances of going through were gone.

    Another teams that should have done better are Ukraine and Hungary. Hungary seemed to be making some progress a few years ago, now they're eliminated after the group stage even as hosts. I guess replacing Dora Horvath is hard.


    I still don't like this format with 24 teams. If they wanted to expand it, 20 teams would have been enough. And although I agree that the mid-level teams are getting better, I think the main reason we saw some tight matches and (near) upsets in the group stage is that this is a very long tournament and top teams don't want to go out all guns blazing from the start and burn themselves out, but rather gradually play themselves into form.

    I agree with almost everything, except that the way things went, 24 teams are ok. No team was really slaughtered all the way, even Portugal and Estonia managed to put up a decent fight in some matches. I remember 12-team-ECHs with teams that did worse.


    Concerning Hungary, I believe they should have done better, and I'm totally not convinced of De Brandt. With the set of players he has available, the team should be much better.

    As for Belarus, I really wonder what went on inside their heads or even behind closed doors. The way they showed up against Germany when they still had the chance to rescue things was unforgiveable. OTOH, their play also showed the importance of having some solid receivers.

    I agree on Ukraine. After so many years, finally they gather a bunch of good players but they all underperfomed drastically. On paper, Rykhliuk, Kodola, Trushkina, Gerasymova, Peretiatko are all good players performing well in decent clubs but they flopped so badly as a team, which indicates a problem of poor preparation or tactics by the trainer

    While we are talking about underperformed teams, which teams do you guys think over-performed? To me, they are Slovakia and Germany. Slovakia doesn't have any single player on a decent level (Radosova is nowhere close to where she was before her injury) while we can point out a few good players in every other teams they have beaten.


    And I had serious doubts about Germany after Durr quit last minute while having a bunch of mediocre MBs in their roster. However, Pogany seems to be improving a lot and didn't make Durr be missed. Poll is also playing way better than I expected. If both Geerties and Lippmann could show their top game at the same day, they could beat Poland and reach to semis:white:

    Bulgaria was also heading for the disappointment of the tournament "award", but they managed to bounce back after that awful start. Finishing third behind Serbia and Turkey (and actually playing competitive matches against them) is just about what this particular group of players can expect. They desperately need a real OPP instead of Paskova, among other things. But I think they have a good chance against Azerbaijan, and if they reach the QF, it will be a successful tournament for them.


    Croatia should also be complimented. They had an easy group, but they screwed it up in similar situations lots of times in the past. Playing Azerbaijan close and winning against Romania and Hungary without much drama is a good outcome for them.


    It's also nice to see Spain and Romania put themselves back on the map again.

    I think Finland over performed too. I know they didnt qualify to the next stage, but most of all, they showed a good game for their standards. And one of the most important elements, they showed a lot of fighting spirit, something that many teams lacks, even the ones which advanced to the next round.

    I really liked finnish setter and libero. They have the level to play in any mid-level team of italian league.

    But so far, I agree that Germany is a "cindirella" in the making in this ECH. If they gets the semi, this would be more than an overachievement.

    Quote from serdar

    And I had serious doubts about Germany after Durr quit last minute while having a bunch of mediocre MBs in their roster. However, Pogany seems to be improving a lot and didn't make Durr be missed. Poll is also playing way better than I expected. If both Geerties and Lippmann could show their top game at the same day, they could beat Poland and reach to semis:white:

    I'm still not convinced about Pogany. IMO none of the opponents so far exploited her reception, in Bundesliga she was always the most served-to player of Schwerin :whistle: But yeah, she definitely tries her best and her defense is decent.

    Agree about Poll, with 31 years she's a starter for the first time and she justifies it with a balanced performance, being solid in all elements.


    As for the MBs, we're finally improving. Weitzel is very reminiscent of Christiane Fürst at the same age, plus she's already a better attacker than Fürst back then, and she only started her NT career. And we must not forget that Schölzel also is just 22 and missed most of last season due to injury, so IMO the position is not as problematic as it used to be.

    I thought the 24 teams format was successful from the point of view that the weak teams gave good impressions of themselves and didn't look totally out of place. But I think it's a lot of volleyball played to eliminate only 8 teams and the top teams could get away with not taking the matches too seriously, so I have mixed feelings about this format.

    Ranking from Pools round


    Top scorers

    1 HERBOTS Britt BELGIUM 109

    2 ESCAMILLA Ana SPAIN 106

    3 EGONU Paola Ogechi ITALY 102

    3 SMARZEK-GODEK Malwina POLAND 102

    5 RAHIMOVA Polina AZERBAIJAN 101

    6 STORCK Maja SWITZERLAND 91

    7 VASILANTONAKI Anthi GREECE 88

    7 FABRIS Samanta CROATIA 88

    9 MLAKAR Iza SLOVENIA 84

    10 MIHAJLOVIC Brankica SERBIA 78


    Top servers

    1 RAHIMOVA Polina AZERBAIJAN 21

    2 EGONU Paola Ogechi ITALY 16

    3 FABRIS Samanta CROATIA 12

    3 RIVERO Jessica SPAIN 12

    5 JANSSENS Marlies BELGIUM 11

    5 KARHU Salla FINLAND 11

    7 ESCAMILLA Ana SPAIN 10

    8 WEITZEL Camilla GERMANY 10

    9 LOHUIS Juliet THE NETHERLANDS 9

    9 SOROKAITE Indre ITALY 9

    9 POLL Jana Franziska GERMANY 9


    Top blockers

    1 KOROLEVA Irina RUSSIA 24

    2 ERDEM DÜNDAR Eda TURKEY 21

    2 HASANOVA Olena AZERBAIJAN 21

    4 KAKOLEWSKA Agnieszka POLAND 19

    5 KULLERKANN Liis ESTONIA 18

    6 PLANINSEC Sasa SLOVENIA 17

    6 DIMITROVA Nasya BULGARIA 17

    8 KALINOUSKAYA Hanna BELARUS 16

    9 PEKÁRIK Eszter Anna HUNGARY 14

    9 LAAKKONEN Roosa Helena FINLAND 14

    9 TODOROVA Mira BULGARIA 14


    Top receivers (perf%)

    1 PUSIC Teodora SERBIA 52,33%

    2 ISMAILOGLU Meliha TURKEY 45,10%

    3 KARHU Salla FINLAND 44,79%

    4 STENZEL Maria POLAND 41,67%

    5 CAZAUTE Héléna FRANCE 40,59%

    6 KOKKONEN Suvi FINLAND 40,22%

    7 GIARDINO Amandine FRANCE 39,56%

    8 STRANTZALI Olga GREECE 38,79%

    9 SCHOOT Myrthe THE NETHERLANDS 37,50%

    10 TODOROVA Zhana BULGARIA 35,54%


    Top spikers (%)

    1 DE KRUIJF Robin THE NETHERLANDS 71,05% 27 / 38

    2 SYLLA Miriam Fatime ITALY 65,00% 52 / 80

    3 ERDEM DÜNDAR Eda TURKEY 59,49% 47 / 79

    4 BELIEN Yvon THE NETHERLANDS 58,82% 20 / 34

    5 SAMADAN Martina CROATIA 58,49% 31 / 53

    6 EGONU Paola Ogechi ITALY 56,30% 76 / 135

    7 JANSSENS Marlies BELGIUM 55,56% 35 / 63

    8 DIMITROVA Nasya BULGARIA 54,17% 39 / 72

    9 BERBEL Aina SPAIN 53,03% 35 / 66

    10 STYSIAK Magdalena POLAND 52,27% 46 / 88

    Quote from volleykovic

    Renata Sandor and Rita Lilliom Bokorne end their sport careers. Huge loss for hungarian NT :(

    I thought Sandor stayed in Stuttgart, She is still young...

    Quote from Leonardo.D

    I think Finland over performed too. I know they didnt qualify to the next stage, but most of all, they showed a good game for their standards. And one of the most important elements, they showed a lot of fighting spirit, something that many teams lacks, even the ones which advanced to the next round.

    I really liked finnish setter and libero. They have the level to play in any mid-level team of italian league.

    But so far, I agree that Germany is a "cindirella" in the making in this ECH. If they gets the semi, this would be more than an overachievement.

    There is actually a specific word in Finnish describing a high dose of spirit, called "sisu". Regularily when an athlete or a team plays well from Finland the Scandinavian neighbour countries refers to his, her or their success as an effect of "the Suomi sisu". This legendary force was particulartily put up at test in the WW2 when Finland sustained mighty hardships against an, on paper, overwhelming opponent in the Soviet Union with a population about 100x greater and vastly superior artillery. Girls as young as 12-13 years old took voluntarily to out-of-date arms in order to defend themselves against the Soviets with modern Molotov-cocktails etc and won several battles, humiliating their opponents initially. In the light of this, its not hard to see they could put up noticeable upsets in contexts such as volleyball as well. The degree of fighting spirit and patriotism among Finnish people might be second to none, hence it will be intriguing to follow these girls in the future, could they improve technically I see "sky as the limit".

    Quote from hakin12

    There is actually a specific word in Finnish describing a high dose of spirit, called "sisu". Regularily when an athlete or team plays well from Finland the Scandinavian neighbour countries refers to his, her or their success as an effect of "the Suomi sisu". This legendary force was particulartily put up at test in the WW2 when Finland sustained mighty hardships against an, on paper, overwhelming opponent in the Soviet Union with a population about 100x greater and vastly superior artillery. Girls as young as 12-13 years old took voluntarily to out-of-date arms in order to defend themselves against the Soviets with modern Molotov-cocktails etc and won several battles, humiliating their opponents initially. In the light of this, its not hard to see they could put up noticeable upsets in contexts such as volleyball as well. The degree of fighting spirit and patriotism among Finnish people might be second to none, hence it will be intriguing to follow these girls in the future, could they improve technically I see "sky as the limit".

    I have lived the past two years in Finland and they’re pretty much motivated in a beautiful way by this word “sisu”.

    Even playing amateur championship at university :);)