Orthmann disrespectful towards the referee. It was clearly a carry by her!
It sure was, but the players aren't used to referees actually calling it. Luckily in women's game it's not (yet) as ugly as in men's.
Well, not sure what to think about the match. Losing 2:3 and 14:16 against the Dutch isn't bad, but when you have chances to win it is.
Yeah, it would have been a home sweep. That last shot of Lippmann walking off made me sad
Yeah, a volleyball night in Stuttgart with a win (especially against the Netherlands) would have been nice for the crowds.
Lippmann is in fact the leader of German team, I wish Orthmann and the MBs could help her a bit more.
Good practice game for the Netherlands, they used all of their players. Bongaerts and Plak showed they are good substitutes for respectively Dijkema and Sloëtjes. Jasper proved me wrong a couple of times last few weeks. If she becomes more stable in reception, she can be really useful in the backcourt. After a year of absence, I'm excited to see de Kruijf back in orange jersey next week!
I think all Germany needs is 1-2 Fürst level MBs, Orthmann has potential but with also having to receive I feel she has a lot of pressure on her shoulders and can't always deal with it. Lippmann has no problem whatsoever in dealing with pressure clearly and she doesn't have to receive, however volleyball is a team sport and she's simply not enough on her own. With good block-defense+offense everyone could breath a little. I have to say the MBs in this tournament have been better than usual imo but it is still not enough compared to other NTs.
Netherlands just needs time, I can tell they will be very good again very soon. Nice to see there is more options now in each position. It's good Plak will play as a starter in a team she is supposed to lead, it is the right step for her to take at this current moment in her carreer, leadership and confidence is the only thing she lacks tbh, talent it surely is not. Daalderop and Buijs are doing a great job btw.
Emil Ortolani and Mazzanti are married since 2016 if I remember correctly. Their lovely cute girl was already 2-3 years old 
In an interview, after Monza was eliminated in the league semifinals by Imoco, Serena said that she won't be in NT anymore. She wants to take care of her daughter, after last year, when both her and Mazzanti were away for long periods.
We are in trouble if Sloëtjes and Plak will keep in this shape! Maybe we ending with Buijs and Daalderop as outside hitters and Balkestein-Grothues as receiving opposite
How many games Sloetjes played in VNL, was it her first week? I think she will regain her power and form, because Sloetjes in NT is Sloetjes in beast mode
How many games Sloetjes played in VNL, was it her first week? I think she will regain her power and form, because Sloetjes in NT is Sloetjes in beast mode
Yes it was her first week and she will become better, I think and I hope🙈But with all the respect to the opponents, they were not the best of the best, so I expected more from her.
Next week is going to be fun fighting for the 6th spot. Couldn't have been scheduled better
Emil Ortolani and Mazzanti are married since 2016 if I remember correctly. Their lovely cute girl was already 2-3 years old
In an interview, after Monza was eliminated in the league semifinals by Imoco, Serena said that she won't be in NT anymore. She wants to take care of her daughter, after last year, when both her and Mazzanti were away for long periods.
Thanks for the info,
Their little girl indeed is lovely!
When I saw Serena in Italian NT, she was the youngest of the team (Rinieri the oldest) and now we won’t see her anymore wearing Azzure jersey, that would be weird.
VNL - WEEK 4
| TEAM | W | L | P | SET ratio |
POINTS ratio |
|
| 1 | ↑(1)  ITALY |
10 | 2 | 31 | 2.615 | 1.148 |
| 2 |
↓(1)  TURKEY
|
10 | 2 | 29 | 3.000 | 1.200 |
| 3 |
↑(3)  BRAZIL |
9 | 3 | 28 | 2.461 | 1.155 |
| 4 |
↓(1)  USA
|
9 | 3 |
27 | 2.000 | 1.105 |
| 5 |
↓(1)  CHINA
|
9 |
3 |
26 | 2.333 | 1.131 |
| 6 |
↑(1)  JAPAN
|
7 | 5 |
21 |
1.333 | 1.043 |
| 7 |
↓(2)  POLAND |
7 | 5 |
21 | 1.130 | 1.022 |
| 8 |
↑(1)  BELGIUM |
6 |
6 |
17 | 0.956 | 0.961 |
| 9 |
↑(1)  DOMINICAN REP. |
6 |
6 |
15 | 0.851 | 0.980 |
| 10 |
↓(2)  SERBIA |
5 | 7 |
15 | 0.750 | 0.977 |
| 11 |
↑(1)  GERMANY |
5 |
7 |
15 |
0.720 | 0.970 |
| 12 |
↑(1)  NETHERLANDS
|
4 | 8 |
13 | 0.703 | 0.913 |
| 13 |
↓(2)  THAILAND |
4 |
8 |
13 | 0.538 | 0.899 |
| 14 |
 RUSSIA |
3 |
9 |
10 |
0.517 | 0.890 |
| 15 |
↑(1)  BULGARIA |
1 |
11 |
4 |
0.294 | 0.870 |
| 16 |
↓(2)  SOUTH KOREA |
1 | 11 |
3 | 0.272 | 0.829 |
TBH I also find similing thai girls unusual, probably it is not proper to my notion.
Those girls who people consider as ice queen (frozen Elsa), they are not indeed. You mostly see them on court and nothing else. I saw all of them on TV and Radio, they weren't as cold as depicted. As reserved ones, we probably understand their feelings easily than others here.
The subtleties of culture are intense. I live in a predominantly (southern, which is very different from northern to me) Chinese neighborhood with a big Russian chunk at one end. It's hilarious. My building is a Russian family across the hall, older Chinese couple below, and a Vietnamese ... monk of some kind kitty corner. One day I wanted tell the Chinese dude the electricity was out in our building before he went inside. I very gently grabbed his arm to get his attention. Now he won't talk to me 
I know that was uncool but it's a non-threatening, casual thing to do for me, as a touchy person. I lost my head for a moment. The subtleties of culture are intense.
. It's not related to be ice queen or etc, as I said it is related to our natures, even our commentators are like that, they also keep their coldness. TBH I also find similing thai girls unusual, probably it is not proper to my notion.
Those girls who people consider as ice queen (frozen Elsa), they are not indeed. You mostly see them on court and nothing else. I saw all of them on TV and Radio, they weren't as cold as depicted. As reserved ones, we probably understand their feelings easily than others here.
Even tho i don't understand her, Godina sounds to me like forever unimpressed and like if she is shading on every player, im scared of her lol . Is she always unimpressed?
Btw, i love how every Japanese player has short description on VNL site, like:
Sarina
is happy to go to bed and sleep well with relax in her spare time
sleep well with relax
That's poetry 
well, it seems at least no team will go home without one win... BUL beat KOR.
just like last year, ARG, which was relegated, also had one win, against KOR.
Is Bulgaria the best team to join this competition from the lower level teams?
well, they're missing some key players, but the way fivb overhauled the GP, it seems many teams are not interested in fighting it out in the challenger cup to be promoted to the main group. last year, BUL had to beat PUR, COL and CZE, i think, whereas many other strong teams seem to have sit out (CRO, AZE, UKR etc.).
After Goncha, the most beautiful opposite is definitely Lippmann
Ivana Nesovic 
> both of them
Maybe China spent too much time in the weight room buffing up and not enough ball practice
i'm not sure what you mean, they all look like they did before to me... they are not exactly buff and muscular...
about today's match: people did comment that carlini set the middles a lot, but i think it was only in set 1, she did set ogbogu a couple of times, but much less so in sets 2 and 3. maybe the passing was the problem. also i noticed her connection with washington wasn't so good. washington also seems to have an interesting attack, that sort of back slide (one-footed takeoff) but she doesn't go to pos. 2, she sort of hops at the setter and spikes the ball. i guess she gets a lot of height so it's hard to block.
That's strange. The libero was by far the problem in reception, and I'm not sure if Liu's reception is better than Zhang's anyways. I think Zeng might have been a better choice
CHN always plays with a mixed passing system, if you watch in some rotations, the OPP (zeng or gong) will receive serve, to spell zhu or the frontrow OH (or if zhu ting or whoever is struggling).
Did you see the stats for the match. China with only 3 errors! It's hard to describe. It all looked terrible but the stats don't reflect it.
i think it depends on what you think as errors.
if you look at the stats at the end of a set, you'll see # of kills/spikes, block (kills, i.e. resulting in a point), serves (i.e. aces) and opponent errors. these should add up to the team's total points. in other words, if a player shanks a pass but the ball is recovered and recycled (doesn't result in a point to the opponent), then it's not an error in the sense that it didn't result in a point.
so let's say a team wins a set, the stats might indicate 11 kills, 5 blocks, 3 aces and 6 opp. errors, adding to 25 pts.
dang, fivb, i wish i could watch POL x TUR or US x POL since i missed those matches, or BRA x SRB, or DOM x BEL.
someone posted this earlier, it has all the THA matches.
