Russia will be playing in an easy group for the olympic qualifier with Korea being the only threat but with what they have shown so far, even Korea makes me nervous for them. With Kosheleva out for the rest of the year, hopefully Goncharova can inject some life with this team because even home court advantage doesnt seem to matter. With how the liberos and setters are playing, this team is in a big big trouble. They got really lucky with an easier pool for the olympic qualifier event
Russia NT without Kosheleva, Goncharova, Khodunova and Malykh beat Turkish NT (3-0) and without Kosheleva played 5 set against USA (2-3). Serbia, Netherlands and Italy are the best NTs in Europe. I dont think Poland, Germany, Belgium and Turkish NT are better than Russian NT. Russia got 8th place in WCH with minus 4 players, it means 7 NT currently are ahead of Russia NT. We play awful in VNL, but let's not forget we have OGQ and ECH this year, if Russian NT shows such performances next tournaments I'll agree with you. It's just VNL not barrier of Russian NT. We got silver medals of WGP but when they played well in WGP, they didnt show such performances in an important tournament. Russia is easy pool ? Bcz they played well and gained those points. They got gold medals of WCH and ECH. Even if we played in difficult pool and lost the game we still had a chance to make it OGs in continental OGQ. Russia is unlucky NT, they lost 4 players in WCH bcz of injury, still dealing with injuries. VNL ? Even no ranking points there. Come down it is just VNL, first tournament we have two important tournaments, if Russian NT will show such performances in ECH and OGQ, I will be first one to judge NT. But underestimating Russian NT is ridiculous, without 4 main players they got 8 place in WCH. Poland even didnt participate in WCH if I am not wrong, do you think they are better than Russian NT?