Germany - VBL 1. Bundesliga 2020/21

    Wiesbaden is playing with one OH as OPP and both OPP as OH :what::white:
    I know they are missing Großer as OH and have switched their OH and OPP before, but is Runjic really that bad at reception that they prefer both OPPs over her? And why is Lena Vedder on the bench?

    Curious to see how that works out for them.

    Quote from Smaash

    Wiesbaden is playing with one OH as OPP and both OPP as OH :what::white:
    I know they are missing Großer as OH and have switched their OH and OPP before, but is Runjic really that bad at reception that they prefer both OPPs over her? And why is Lena Vedder on the bench?

    Curious to see how that works out for them.

    Runjic was very bad at reception in the matches she played as OH, so I can imagine that Neuhaus and Bjerland are indeed better than her. Vedder was there during warmup, so no obvious reason why she's on bench...

    Sossenheimer is definitely the king of weird line-ups :aww: In 4th and 5th set he entered the backup setter for the OPP like in a double sub, but let Evans play as attacker in front row, and when Wiesbaden was on serve she even attacked from pos.4 :rolll: And the backup setter set her ball after ball in tie-break which probably was the key for Wiesbaden to lose :gone:

    Dresden - Potsdam 3:0 (24, 15, 20)

    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2020-21/Women/2067.pdf

    MVP: Camilla Weitzel / Lindsey Ruddins (Freezing during the awarding :rolll:)


    Erfurt - Straubing 1:3 (11:25 16:25 25:18 14:25)

    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2020-21/Women/2068.pdf

    MVP: Meghan Barthel / Noemi Oiwoh


    Wiesbaden - Münster 2:3 (25:20 15:25 25:23 17:25 10:15)

    http://live.volleyball-bundesliga.de/2020-21/Women/2069.pdf

    MVP: Frauke Neuhaus / Helo Lacerda

    All teams except Schwerin (8 matches) have 10 or 11 matches so I thought I'd post the current best player rankings...


    Best scorer:

    1. Anika Brinkmann 172

    2. Jana Franziska Poll 161

    3. Maja Storck 151

    4. Danielle Brisebois 148

    4. Iris Scholten 148

    6. Kristina Kicka 144

    7. Lindsey Ruddins 142

    8. Anne Hölzig 133

    9. Frauke Neuhaus 131

    10. Jodie Guilliams 128


    Best spiker:

    1. Marie Schölzel 64.2%

    2. Madeleine Gates 56.8%

    3. Lauren Barfield 55.8%

    4. Klara Vyklicka 55.2%

    5. Camilla Weitzel 51.2%

    6. Symone Speech 51.2%

    7. Nina Herelova 50%

    8. Barbara Wezorke 49.2%

    9. Laura de Zwart 49.1%

    10. Kayla Haneline 48.8%


    Best blocker:

    1. Kelsey Veltman 39

    2. Camilla Weitzel 31

    3. Laura de Zwart 30

    4. Jasmine Gross 24

    5. Juliet Lohuis 21

    6. Laura Emonts 21

    7. Eline Timmerman 20

    8. Lena Möllers 20

    9. Jana Franziska Poll 20

    10. Anna Wruck 18


    Best server:

    1. Camilla Weitzel 18

    2. Luisa Keller 14

    3. Anika Brinkmann 14

    4. Jennifer Janiska 11

    5. Sara Kovac 11

    6. Maria Segura 10

    7. Anne Hölzig 10

    8. Symone Speech 10

    9. Claudia Provaroni 9

    10. Jana Franziska Poll 9


    Best receiver (%pos):

    1. Lenka Dürr 59%

    2. Anna Pogany 54.2%

    3. Jana Franziska Poll 52.1%

    4. Jennifer Janiska 50.9%

    5. Aleksandra Jegdic 50.7%

    6. Myrthe Schoot 49.2%

    7. Justine Wong-Orantes 47.7%

    8. Nele Barber 45.7%

    9. Claudia Steger 44.9%

    10. Linda Bock 44.9%


    Some interesting team stats:

    Dresden scores avg. 2 aces per set, Wiesbaden only 0.8, all other teams between 1.0-1.3.

    Dresden also is the best attacking team with 40.6%, Erfurt the worst with 32.1%.

    Potsdam and Schwerin are the best blocking teams with 2.8 blocks per set, Straubing is the worst with 1.8.

    Dresden is the best receiving team with 46.3% positive receptions, Erfurt is the worst with 32.8%.

    Speaking of NT, even though this is the league topic, here are my names for the near future:


    S: Denise Imoudu, Pia Kästner, Magda Gryka, Sarah Straube

    OPP: Louisa Lippmann, Kimberly Drewniok, Marie Hänle (there are very few young OPPs coming and I liked Hänle whenever she came on court for Straubing, I think she can develop into a good player)

    OH: Hanna Orthmann, Lina Alsmeier, Jennifer Janiska, Emma Cyris, Lena Stigrot, Valbona Ismaili, Anne Hölzig, Ivana Vanjak, Vanessa Agbortabi (Jana Poll is playing very well but she's already 32 so it's questionable how much longer she'll be in NT)

    MB: Marie Schölzel, Camilla Weitzel, Josepha Bock, Lea Ambrosius, Monique Strubbe

    L: Anna Pogany, Linda Bock, Sophie Dreblow, maybe Elisa Lohmann


    I hope there will be some more young talents coming up especially at OPP and MB position.

    You forget Nele Barber or you didn't add her on purpose?

    I'm not Matthias but I'm surprised by Lina Alsmeier. That girl is great.


    I saw her for the first time almost two years ago, and I was like, another tall player with potential. Let's wait what she can show in 4-5 years. However, she has already made great progress. I hope to see her in NT next year (if I remember correctly she was with the German team on EuroVolley 2019 but played only few minutes).

    Quote from Marisaala

    Who are the players that surprised you the most this first half of the season, positive and negative? :)

    Positive: Denise Imoudu, Lina Alsmeier, Anna Pogany (because she keeps getting better in big steps), Lindsey Ruddins, Eline Timmerman (though lately her shape declined), Magda Gryka, Marie Hänle, Ashley Evans, Laura de Zwart.


    Negative: Hayley Spelman, Mira Todorova, Ana Tiemi, Brittany Abercrombie (she's only a shadow of her last season self, but I think it has a lot to do with setting), Annie Cesar, Claudia Provaroni, Sara Kovac.


    In terms of team performances, the positive surprises for me are Schwerin and most of all Suhl, the negative surprises are Münster and in some way also Stuttgart. Even though they lead the league, I'm just not convinced by their game, they're impressive when they use their full potential but they show many times that it's all very fragile and that they're also capable of playing very bad.

    As a fan Stuttgart is definitely a disappointment this season despite being first place. They look good on paper, but have a lot of difficulties showing it on the court and playing consistently. That messy play makes it hard for me to root for them even when they are winning :whistle:

    Curious how much the new coach will be able to clear them up. I do not see much of a chance for the championship if they can barely even show their potential for two sets in a row.


    Potsdam started strong in the season, but somehow they have had some problems in the last few games. I am hoping they will find back to the shape they started until the cup finale, because I am rooting for them to win just so that someone other that the usual suspects (read Schwerin, Dresden, Stuttgart) wins something :lol:

    Quote from Matthias

    Positive: Denise Imoudu, Lina Alsmeier, Anna Pogany (because she keeps getting better in big steps), Lindsey Ruddins, Eline Timmerman (though lately her shape declined), Magda Gryka, Marie Hänle, Ashley Evans, Laura de Zwart.


    Negative: Hayley Spelman, Mira Todorova, Ana Tiemi, Brittany Abercrombie (she's only a shadow of her last season self, but I think it has a lot to do with setting), Annie Cesar, Claudia Provaroni, Sara Kovac.


    In terms of team performances, the positive surprises for me are Schwerin and most of all Suhl, the negative surprises are Münster and in some way also Stuttgart. Even though they lead the league, I'm just not convinced by their game, they're impressive when they use their full potential but they show many times that it's all very fragile and that they're also capable of playing very bad.

    I'am agreed with the most but i didn't see Spelman so negative.