EuroVolley 2021-Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria & Croatia

    I do believe Germany is gone make upsets. They are fresh, they have really good team.


    Top teams doesn’t looks 100% ready and this is what Germany can take as advantage.

    Slovakian Roster:

    S: Barbora Kosekova, Anna Kohútová

    OH: Nikola Radosová, Mária Žernovič, Karin Palgutová, Karolína Fričová

    MB: Jaroslava Pencová, Michaela Abrhámová, Tereza Hrušecká, Ema Smiešková

    Opp: Karin Šunderlíková, Romana Krišková

    L: Michaela Španková, Skarleta Jančová

    Coach: Marco Fenoglio


    Swedish Roster:

    Setters
    Vilma Andersson, Sm'Aesch Pfeffingen, Schweiz (Tuve VK)

    Sofia Andersson, Örebro Volley (Norsjö VK)

    Liberos
    Sofie Sjöberg, Örebro Volley (Kungälv VBK)

    Gabriella Lundvall, Sollentuna VK

    Middle Blockers
    Julia Nilsson, TI-ABC-Fliesen-Volley, Österrike (Ystads VK)

    Dalila-Lilly Topic, VC Wiesbaden, Tyskland (Smålandsstenar VBK)

    Linda Andersson, Pölkky Kuusamo, Finland (KFUM Örebro)

    Elsa Arrestad, Örebro Volley (Lindesbergs VBK)

    Spikers
    Isabelle Haak, Vakifbank Spor Kulübü, Turkiet (Engelholms VS)

    Diana Lundvall, JymyVolley, Finland (Sollentuna)

    Anna Haak, ASPTT Mulhouse, Frankrike (Engelholms VS)

    Alexandra Lazic, Radomka Radom, Polen (Svedala VBK)

    Rebecka Lazic, Nantes, Frankrike (Svedala VBK)

    Hanna Hellvig, Schwarz-Weiss Erfurt, Tyskland (Lidingö SK)

    Coach: Ettore Guidetti

    Group C

    italy: they shouldn't havd problems in this round and be invict and without sets drop i hope


    Croatia:They must be 2nd in this pool,finalist in last golden leagues,lead by Samantha Fabris the host gonna try to challenge Italian team


    Switzerland:I like this swiss young team,last years they were impressive and they're in second ech in a row,lead by an outstanding Maja Storck that imo can put in a shadow the other opp of the pool,they gonna fight for the next round

    Also another interesting girl is katarina perkovav,I like jer


    Hungary:The hungarian team was golden league finalist 2 years ago and they have the return of an important piece as Nemeth,they're lead by experient and best player Szakmary,also other players as pallag or talas.

    Gonna fight with swiss and belarus for 3rd spot


    Belarus:This country is developping their volleyball so fast,take part in last under age wch and in 2017 make a huge upset eliminating czechia and going to the qf in that ech.

    They were semi finalist in 2019 golden league

    After that,some dissapointments as in this goldean league where they were fav and finish so bad and in qualifiers they were merciless.


    Slovakia:I like this team,radosova and pencova are the most known for me,they did good in qualifiers,they gonna fight for next round

    After croatia and italy,all teams are so tied and with possibility to advance

    Greek roster


    S:Stella Christodoulou (Olympiakos), Olga Vergidou (AEK)

    OPP: Martha Anthouli (Thetis)

    OH: Anthi Vasilantonaki (Galatasaray), Olga Strantzali (Alba Blaj), Konstantina Vlachaki (Postdam), Eva Chantava (Panathinaikos), Sofia Kosma (AEK)

    MB: Katerina Giota (Olympiakos), Tzina Lambrousi (Mulhouse), Ioanna Polinopoulou (PAOK), Melina Emmanouilidou (Olympiakos)

    L: Marialena Artakianou (AO Thiras), Penny Rogka (Panathinaikos)

    How would you assess their chances against Bulgaria?

    Quote from hakin12

    How would you assess their chances against Bulgaria?

    I don’t know what needs to happend that they beat Bulgaria.

    Bulgaria is strong team and I think only Bulgaria can beat them self against weaker teams at ECH.

    Quote from crovolley

    I don’t know what needs to happend that they beat Bulgaria.

    Bulgaria is strong team and I think only Bulgaria can beat them self against weaker teams at ECH.

    Greece is highly improved and has impressed immensely in their preparation-games, I would not rule out an upset here tbh. They have a very strong trio in attack with Vasilantonaki-Strantzali-Anthouli and solid MBs, hence its not a weak team at all.

    Quote from hakin12

    Greece is highly improved and has impressed immensely in their preparation-games, I would not rule out an upset here tbh. They have a very strong trio in attack with Vasilantonaki-Strantzali-Anthouli and solid MBs, hence its not a weak team at all.

    And most of all they have an excellent setter with Christodoulou. I also think Greece can be a pleasant surprise in this tournament if they can use their potential.

    14 players of Bulgaria (per CEV)


    S: Kitipova, Barakova

    OPP: E. Dimitrova

    OH: G. Dimitrova, Yaneva, Paskova, Vasileva, Milanova

    MB: N. Dimitrova, Saykova, M. Todorova, Vuchkova

    L: Z. Todorova, Karabasheva


    Except for Rabadzhieva I guess this is the best possible roster for Bulgaria...

    Group D

    Turkey:They're the main favourites.of the pool,after being at Olympics and last ech silver,they gonna be one of strongest teams here


    Netherlands: Perdonally I like what I see from NL in VNL,they did an amazing job and fail to make it to Top 4

    The only add to this team gonna be dijkema and grothues but imo they could keep the same vnl team

    I like a lot what bongaerts is doing and I hope Plak is in shape


    Rumania:The host gonna try to makenit to next round ,personally I see rumania ony this year after a long time,they have a world class player,and one that is in elite volleyball ungureanu ( that isn't really consistent) and carutasu that carry the team,in rest of position they're kind weak,maybe alupei is promising at middle but nothing great so let's see is Alexia can lead as she did in Yesilyurt


    Sweden:Lead by amazing Isabella Haak this swedish team can resume to her but they have some important pieces as sister Lazic and anna haak,middle blockers are so weak and setter uff so pins need to play like Russia of some years ago,all balls gonna pass through them.


    Ukraine: I didn't like them in ECH qualifiers or golden league,they underperform

    Now some veterans are back as Trushkina and Rykhlyuk

    I'm surprised as the bad performances of Anisova and Gerasymova,they did great in Russian and Turkish League but with NT nothing

    Another important piece of this ukranian team is Melyushkina the mb that is good .


    Finland:I expected more from them in qualifiers,then they quit for covid I think,best players are pia korhonnen and kokkonen.they're an interesting team

    Croatian roster


    S:Klara Peric, Lea Deak

    OPP: Samanta Fabris, Dinka Kulic

    OH: Matea Ilic, Laura Milos, Karla Klaric, Lucija Mlinar

    MB: Martina Samadan, Bozana Butigan, Ema Strunjak, Beta Dumancic

    L: Nikolina Bozicevic, Rene Sain

    Quote from Jules

    Rumania:The host gonna try to makenit to next round ,personally I see rumania ony this year after a long time,they have 2 world class players as ungureanu ( that isn't really consistent) and carutasu

    Ungureanu is a world-class player?

    I was going to ask "where is Ruseva?" but since I have seen her on pictures for the NT during the summer I sensed some explanation related to the names:) Finally I am aware of her new surname.

    Finland was very good between 2016-2017 or so when they finished second in the European League gold div. However, they are no longer any real force or threat anymore. The reasons are partly that their main weapon (together with Korhonen) in attack, Vilponen, retired as a 25-year old back in 2017. Vilponen was a standout academically and opted to allocate her resources into this endeavour instead. The other reason is that Korhonen, haunted by injuries, no longer is able to lead the team post-injuries as she once did in the past. Thus my assumption is that Sweden should be able to defeat them and prevail over them in the group as well. However, it should be said that Finland still is a more complete team than Sweden technically; they have a vastly superior setter coupled with a better block and defense as well. But without remotely as much firepower in attack it will still be difficult to win for them, I guess.

    Quote from saishuu

    Ungureanu is a world-class player?

    My mistake

    I tried to say a player who's in elite volleyball (italian league) gonna correct that

    Quote from hakin12

    Finland was very good between 2016-2017 or so when they finished second in the European League gold div. However, they are no longer any real force or threat anymore. The reasons are partly that their main weapon (together with Korhonen) in attack, Vilponen, retired as a 25-year old back in 2017. Vilponen was a standout academically and opted to allocate her resources into this endeavour instead. The other reason is that Korhonen, haunted by injuries, no longer is able to lead the team post-injuries as she once did in the past. Thus my assumption is that Sweden should be able to defeat them and prevail over them in the group as well. However, it should be said that Finland still is a more complete team than Sweden technically; they have a vastly superior setter coupled with a better block and defense as well. But without remotely as much firepower in attack it will still be difficult to win for them, I guess.

    Sorry, but Vilponen has never been a "main weapon" for Finland. She was hitting hard but had a terrible technique and zero reception. Many players in Finland NT who came after her have been doing a better job.


    Their main absence this time IMO is Roosa Koskelo who was simply amazing in ECH 2019, I wonder why she's not there ?(

    Quote from Matthias

    Sorry, but Vilponen has never been a "main weapon" for Finland. She was hitting hard but had a terrible technique and zero reception. Many players in Finland NT who came after her have been doing a better job.


    Their main absence this time IMO is Roosa Koskelo who was simply amazing in ECH 2019, I wonder why she's not there ?(

    Well, she was - from my memory at least - their most proficient player scoring-wise before Korhonen came into the scene, so she might very well have been their main weapon in that sense. However, its plausible there are better players now ofc. I remember watching Finland vs Sweden back in 2017 and Vilponen dominated immensely in that game, being the force who separated the two from each other. But since she played in Bundesliga for a couple of yrs its surely very likely you have watched her far more than I have:) My view of her might be highly lop-sided since I only watched a minor amount of NT-games where she was involved, thanks for providing a more complete account.