2024 Paris Olympic Games

    Quote from Sassy

    No idea if it's an unpopular opinion, but I think Karakurt is playing better as OH than OPP. I don't know if it's because she has "less pressure" as OH to be carrying the team, or if it's some Santarelli magic that made her improve from Novara times, but I am still amazed how comfortable she looks out on position 4 in such a short time :super:

    She is playing like a true power spiker but still keeps a decent level of reception :rose:


    As opposite, she can get too heated at clutch points. It is still very remarkable that she made the position switch so quickly so smooth :obey:

    Quote from Sassy

    No idea if it's an unpopular opinion, but I think Karakurt is playing better as OH than OPP. I don't know if it's because she has "less pressure" as OH to be carrying the team, or if it's some Santarelli magic that made her improve from Novara times, but I am still amazed how comfortable she looks out on position 4 in such a short time :super:

    I think the same. Vargas is much more killer and decisive in the OPP position and Ebrar works well as support to her as OH.

    That rally was AMAZING :obey:

    Bergmann seems not to improve even a bit since 2 years

    Quote from Sassy

    No idea if it's an unpopular opinion, but I think Karakurt is playing better as OH than OPP. I don't know if it's because she has "less pressure" as OH to be carrying the team, or if it's some Santarelli magic that made her improve from Novara times, but I am still amazed how comfortable she looks out on position 4 in such a short time :super:

    That's not unpopular at all! As an opposite, she was nowhere close to Egonu, Boskovic, Vargas and Haak, was probably competing with Stysiak and others for the 5th spot.


    As an OH though, especially as an offensive OH, she is definitely top 3, most likely the best among the other OHs right now. I mean players like Kosheleva and Neriman took more than 10 years to receive fairly ok, but Ebrar is already better than them. What I expect from her is to be more dominant in attacking in future but I am sure she will learn to hit better angles with more practice at zone 4.


    Btw, well done Brazil, it was a nice match to watch. Especially Gabi and Thaisa did their best to keep their team alive but 2nd OH and Rosa Maria were playing more for Turkey than Brazil. I question the attacking ability of OHs when they get blocked by Cansu Özbay and today she blocked Bergman and Pri Daroit. Ana Cristina is badly needed by this team.


    On Turkish side, Eda was on fire! Probably the MVP of the match. She did not just score a lot but also adapted well and blocked Gabi 2-3 times from backrow attacks. In overall, that was the best Turkey I watched so far in this tournament.

    Quote from litolapid

    Brazil definitely misses the presence of Ana Cristina. I do not think Bergmann would be ready for 2024 Paris but I have heard BRA's coach would be playing in TUR league - may she grow there.

    Right now, she's too tentative and unconfident inside court.

    I think she is very lucky that Ze will coach THY this season and transferred her. I am sure she and Macris will have a lot of court time as well as Diana. Don't think his priority will be THY's success this season which I understand very well (they wouldnt win the league title anyway).


    Any other coach would not have the patience for Bergman in a top club. I am curious to see how she will reach/develop by being on the court most of the season in a good league.

    Turkey 3-0 Brazil :box:


    When turkey has beaten Brazil in VNL WITHOUT Vargas, people came up with lame excuses like Kisy is not there as if she is Egonu🤦 or Gabi wasnt in shape (she was in a great shape today) etc. I wonder what they will come up this time:rolll:


    Turkey showed one more time they are the best team in the world proving their place in world ranking:super:


    Perfect team game. Especially block defense was amazing. 14 blocks in 3 sets is a great stat! Even Cansu made 3 blocks 😂 eda was in Queen mode again (12/16 attack + 4 blocks and zero mistake:obey:)


    I'm scared of Japan though. It will be a tough game tomorrow 🙏

    Quote from taylor10

    Well, simply they don't have quality kkkkkkk


    Julia is the biggest flop ever. When AC returns, she might not even be considered for bench.

    Not that they have better options for bench. Next best in line is Daroit, imagine😂

    AMAZING match by Turkey and terrible coaching by Ze. As about Bergmann she is just bad and people overvalued her a lot her first season in VNL. If she is going to play like that probably she will lost her place in Paris.

    As about Serbia Guidetti is a top coach but his obsessions and stubbornness can destroy a team. It is obvious and even an unrelevant person would understand that the choice of Maja can not lead anywhere. She has no connection with the players and for this reason she just setting to one player all the time. Just let Drpa to start the next year please.

    Turkey only needs one win to clinch ticket to Paris. Should get it against Japan. Japan needs to beat Belgium to basically make Saturday a win and in position for either team.

    I was hoping y'all would drop this "Turkey against the world" nonsense for one fucking second and have some respect, but I guess that's too much to ask from this forum.


    The girls just found one of the best players our country has ever seen and a good friend of many of them has passed away. They were very strong and did their best to show up today but everyone was crying after the match. I can assure you no one in Brazil cares about this shit right now, we all mourning and we are proud of our players for being brave and honouring her memory.

    Quote from Sassy

    No idea if it's an unpopular opinion, but I think Karakurt is playing better as OH than OPP. I don't know if it's because she has "less pressure" as OH to be carrying the team, or if it's some Santarelli magic that made her improve from Novara times, but I am still amazed how comfortable she looks out on position 4 in such a short time :super:

    Well, when she was playing OPP in NT, she had two medicore OHs next to her so all pressure was on her. Now that 50% of balls go to Vargas and also each opponent is mainly focusing on blocking Vargas then it is much easier to perform better. Also she is covered in reception quite well.

    In order to judge this we would need to see club performance as OH otherwise….

    Well Türkiye's winning streak makes me curious. I asked the following to Google Bard and it came with the following answer:


    Question: What is the longest winning streak of a national team in women's voleyball?


    Answer:

    The longest winning streak of a national team in women's volleyball is 56 consecutive wins, held by the Soviet Union women's national volleyball team from 1964 to 1968. This streak is the longest winning streak in any international volleyball competition.

    The Soviet Union women's national volleyball team was one of the most dominant teams in the world during the 1960s. They won the gold medal at the 1964 and 1968 Olympic Games, as well as the 1960 and 1962 World Championships. The team was known for its strong defense and its ability to win close matches.

    The Soviet Union's winning streak came to an end on December 21, 1968, when they lost to Japan in five sets at the 1968 Olympic Games. However, their winning streak remains one of the most impressive accomplishments in the history of women's volleyball.

    It is important to note that the Soviet Union women's national volleyball team was a state-sponsored team, and it is possible that some of their wins were not entirely fair. However, the team was still very talented and well-coached, and their winning streak is a testament to their dominance of the sport.

    Quote from clara

    I was hoping y'all would drop this "Turkey against the world" nonsense for one fucking second and have some respect, but I guess that's too much to ask from this forum.


    The girls just found one of the best players our country has ever seen and a good friend of many of them has passed away. They were very strong and did their best to show up today but everyone was crying after the match. I can assure you no one in Brazil cares about this shit right now, we all mourning and we are proud of our players for being brave and honouring her memory.

    djokovic was very close friends with kobe and was devastated after his death but still went on to win australian open, professional sports is so intense that no one thinks anything other than their immediate goal during the match, if you can't do that and are distracted by off-court situations, then you're not an elite athlete anyway.