Germany - Volleyball Bundesliga (VBL) 2018-19

    Quote from TimHH

    ..... For sure they should be a more competitive team than 2015 but having seen Friedrichshafen beat Frankfurt on Tuesday i have my doubts that a victory is possible.....

    While the first part of the phrase imo is still true, in the end it did not reflect in the result. After an embattled first set, Friedrichshafen simply outplayed Lüneburg and the final became pretty onesided. As Lüneburg's coach put it, 2 or three players haven't performed as they are capable of and so there was no chance to beat Friedrichshafen this time.


    By the way, Heynen announced after the final that he will leave Friedrichshafen after the season, in order to focus on the polish NT.

    Quote from TimHH

    while Berlins ony tough match is the one in Lüneburg


    Berlin took that hurdle too and won in Lüneburg. Meanwhile its their 7th consecutive win in the league and in theory they even can still reach the first place.

    Ranking: https://www.volleyball-bundesl…tabelle/1blm_normal.xhtml


    Some impressions from the match:



    https://www.landeszeitung.de/s…ght-in-der-gellersenhalle

    The last matches of the main round were played yesterday and we have a final standing and the setting for the playoffs:


    VfB Friedrichshafen (1) vs. Bühl (8)

    Alpenvolleys (2) vs. Herrsching (7)

    Berlin (3) vs. Düren (6)

    Lüneburg (4) vs. United Volleys (5)

    final ranking


    Berlin's strong finish wasn't enough to climb any further but meanwhile they look like the team they wanted to be much earlier in the season. Grankin's addition made every player more confident and relaxed and suddenly they can win the tight sets/matches as well. Especially Ben Patch is playing like a boss now and can carry the team in difficult moments. Still, the quarter against Düren is not a no-brainer for them and they can't allow to start slowly.

    Best players of the main round, according to stats:


    Attack (attack efficiency):


    Opp.:

    1. Bartlomej Boladz (POL), Friedrichshafen

    2. Ben Patch (USA), Berlin

    3. Daniel Malescha (GER), Friedrichshafen

    4. Kirill Klets (RUS), Alpenvolleys

    5. Sebastian Gevert (CHIle), Düren


    OH:

    1. Ray Szeto (CAN), Lüneburg

    2. Cody Kessel (USA), Lüneburg

    3. Adam White (AUS), Berlin

    4. Samuele Tuia (FRA), Berlin

    5. Pawel Halaba (POL), Alpenvolleys


    MB:

    1. Nicolas LeGoff (FRA), Berlin

    2. Tim Broshog (GER), Düren

    3. Douglas Duarte (BRA) Alpenvolleys

    4. Andreas Takvam (NOR), Friedrichshafen

    5. Phillip Collin (GER), Friedrichshafen


    Best Scorer:

    1. Sebastian Gevert (CHI), Op, Düren

    2. Bruno Lima (ARG), Op, Bühl

    3. Jerome Clere (FRA) OH, Giesen

    4. Casey Schouten (CAN), Op, Netzhoppers

    5. Kirill Klets (RUS), Op, Alpenvolleys



    Reception (perfect/good reception)


    Libero:

    1. Ferdinand Tille (GER), Herrsching

    2. Dustin Watten (USA), Berlin

    3. Julian Zenger (GER), Frankfurt

    4. Urban Toman (Slovenia), Giesen

    5. Nicolas Rossard (FRA), Berlin


    OH:

    1. David Sossenheimer (GER), Friedrichshafen

    2. Björn Andrae (GER), Düren

    3. Dirk Westphal (GER), Netzhoppers

    4.Atanasios Protopsaltis (GRE), Friedrichshafen

    5. Tim Peter (GER), Herrsching

    I agree that Berlin is the hottest team heading into the playoffs. Grankin's arrival seemed to be a revival of sorts for Patch, who spent much of 2018 on a short leash or behind Russell. Berlin is 11-1 in 2019, its only loss coming back in January to Friedrichshafen.

    Quote from TimHH

    VfB Friedrichshafen (1) vs. Bühl (8)

    Alpenvolleys (2) vs. Herrsching (7)

    Berlin (3) vs. Düren (6)

    Lüneburg (4) vs. United Volleys (5)


    All higher ranked teams won the first encounter of the quarterfinals. All in all, most matches went as expected. Berlin survived a tough moment in the first set but showed afterwards that they are the better team. Düren will need Gevert on fire and a perfect day from the service line, if they want to bring the series to a third match.


    Frankfurt's performance in Lüneburg/Hamburg was a bit disappointing. Not only that they lost, but the way they did should make them think. For Lüneburg, finally, canadian opposite Ryan Sclater had a great match (31 points) and deservedly was named MVP of the match.


    Tonight and tomorrow (Herrsching vs. Alpenvolleys,18.30 CET) the second matches will be played. Most interesting matches should be Düren vs. Berlin (19 CET) and United Volleys vs. Lüneburg (19 CET). Streams will be available on sporttotal.tv.


    On other news, Friedrichshafen has confirmed that Michael Warm will be new coach for next season. Not the most glamorous solution but we will see.

    Tonight, 19 CET, third and deciding matches:


    BR Volleys vs. Düren

    Lüneburg vs. Frankfurt


    stream: https://www.sporttotal.tv/live…AD-4355-9C7E-A25D1B9D0329


    Both Düren and Frankfurt won great 5-set-battles on Wednesday and well deserved this third match. While it is hard to imagine that Düren can repeat their performance from Wednesday, Frankfurt may have a slight psychological advantage, coming back from 0:2 to tie the series.

    Quote from TimHH

    Tonight, 19 CET, third and deciding matches:


    BR Volleys vs. Düren

    Lüneburg vs. Frankfurt

    Berlin and Lüneburg advanced to the semis.


    Schedule (best of five):


    10.04. Friedrichshafen vs. Lüneburg (20 CET)

    13.04. Lüneburg vs. Friedrichshafen (20 CET)

    17.04. Friedrichshafen vs. Lüneburg (20 CET)


    10.04. Alpenvolleys vs. Berlin (19 CET)

    13.04. Berlin vs. Alpenvolleys (17.30 CET)

    17.04. Alpenvolleys vs. Berlin (19 CET)

    As expected, Berlin and Friedrichshafen advanced to the finals. In both series quality prevailed in the end. Both adversaries, Lüneburg and Alpenvolleys gave decent resistence but overall missed their chances when they were there. So Berlin won in 4 and Friedrichshafen in 3 matches.


    Especially Lüneburg should have won a couple of more sets in the series but whenever the score was close, Friedrichshafen was their usual self and either served aces (Boladz), defended well or simply waited for Lüneburg to make the error. Very frustrating..... :mad:I would say that this kind of play will not be enough for a final series against a newly confident Berlin. So it will be interesting to see, whether they can find a path towards more aggression without loosing their normal strenghts (risk management, block/defence). They failed to do this in last years finals and accordingly lost. So overall, i would see Berlin as a slight favourite but i do hope for a tight and exciting series.


    Schedule (best of five):

    Sat, 27.04 Friedrichshafen vs. Berlin (17.30 CET)

    Thu, 02.05 Berlin vs. Friedrichshafen (18.30 CET)

    Sun, 05.05 Friedrichshafen vs. Berlin (14.30 CET)

    LOL, what an scandal in the 2nd match of the finals in Berlin:white:.

    With 7-8, block for Friedrichsafen 1/2 meter inside and the referee gives the point to Berlin, and with 13-12, kill for Friedrichsafen and once again he gives it to Berlin.


    These two teams have played Champions League (with video-check), I don´t understand why they don´t have it in the finals, Leagues with less budget like the Czech Republic or Greece have it.

    Don't exaggerate. Yes, that block was in, but not 1/2 meter as Heynen indicated, but replay showed that ball was exactly on the line. And that "kill" at 13:12 was not Volleyball, it was the worst throw you can imagine, so totally justified that Berlin got the point.

    Let's see how Berlin will react now to that first set defeat, having dropped a 24-20 lead! Does anyone know if Kyle Russell started later with volleyball or if he has practiced something else before that? I am asking because he is extremely well-built and athletic but his (attack) technique is not pure, leading to many attacks/serves going out of bounds. He has a decent shot but no wrist practically, which is typical for players who started late or missed important beginners' classes. Similar is the case with Teodor Todorov, the Bulgarian NT MB, for instance, who started with high jump and only later switched to volleyball, making him very tall and athletic but his attack (technique) is just ridiculous for someone his height.

    Russell started playing volleyball during his school days and played some club volleyball too.


    NB: club volleyball in the USA is youth competition.


    In high school he played basketball too for few years.

    I haven't seen much of the series so far but from what i have seen and read, it is a very good and exciting series. Friedrichshafen seems to be the more solid and balanced team and it pays out that, apart from the setter, the core of the team is playing together already in their second year. Man of the playoffs so far is Bartek Boladz. He was great in the quarters and has also delivered in the finals.


    Opposites for Berlin seems to be another topic. Russell has taken over from Patch and the fact that young german player Linus Weber was favoured for the double subs let me assume that coach Enard has somewhat given up on Patch. If we just talk about the performances this is a really hard call from Enard. I don't think that Russell in fact is a better player than Patch so reasons for that downgrade are a bit dubious.

    But still, Berlin has enough individual quality, especially from the service line to win the next match on home court. And then lets see what happens in a deciding 5th match.


    4th match:

    Wed, 08.05, Berlin vs. Friedrichshafen (18.30 CET)

    The commentator of yesterday's match made a very interesting remark regarding Heynen's Friedrichshafen. He talked in general about their style, patience, defence, and attempts to reduce errors at any cost, and he questioned whether this approach is destined to work in a best-of-5 final series. He mentioned their record regular season last campaign and yet it was still not enough to beat Berlin in the play-offs where Heynen dropped the 5th and last match at home. We have a similar scenario this year where, although Friedrichshafen did not really dominate the league completely, are heading to a decider at home. It would be way too cruel if they miss it again in the same fashion, especially with Berlin's massive letdown throughout most of the campaign and with Heynen leaving. He is a guy who delivers and usually won't leave unfinished business, this is why I think he will find a way to beat Berlin on Sunday, but I am curious to see Friedrichshafen perform in the very last match.

    Quote from YavorD

    The commentator of yesterday's match made a very interesting remark regarding Heynen's Friedrichshafen. He talked in general about their style, patience, defence, and attempts to reduce errors at any cost, and he questioned whether this approach is destined to work in a best-of-5 final series. He mentioned their record regular season last campaign and yet it was still not enough to beat Berlin in the play-offs where Heynen dropped the 5th and last match at home. We have a similar scenario this year where, although Friedrichshafen did not really dominate the league completely, are heading to a decider at home. It would be way too cruel if they miss it again in the same fashion, especially with Berlin's massive letdown throughout most of the campaign and with Heynen leaving. He is a guy who delivers and usually won't leave unfinished business, this is why I think he will find a way to beat Berlin on Sunday, but I am curious to see Friedrichshafen perform in the very last match.


    Yeah, all true. With Heynen and, as i assume, key players like Sossenheimer and Boladz leaving, the chances of winning the title won't be bigger next season. So for Friedrichshafen it is probably "now or never".

    Regarding yesterdays match (stats), we saw Berlin's OHs taking more swings than usual. Especially Reichert had a great game and contributed a lot to the victory. Patch was starting again over Russell, who reportedly felt slightly ill. And, i was critical in the past, it needs to be said that german MB Georg Klein is doing really well in the finals, while LeGoff is warming the bench.....


    5th match

    Sun, 12.05. Friedrichshafen vs. Berlin (14.30 CET)