Netherlands NT 2022

    Quote from volleySrb

    Maybe he posted 3 courts on football field? :lol:


    VolleyOrange give us some insights from first hand :roll:

    There's not much more info to share yet since construction started after the weekend. Vitesse, which is the football club which uses Gelredome as their home stadium, played a competition match last Saturday. Anyway, one of the board members of nevobo shared a short video on his twitter from inside the stadium


    The original announcement included even 6 courts which would be played at simultaneously, but it is indeed 3 now. Based on the ticketing website, it will be an A court, B court and Main court

    Wednesday right after the Puerto Rico match, Dutch audience will be given the opportunity to say goodbye to Lonneke Sloetjes (okay I get that), Femke Stoltenborg (hmm last time she played for NT was in 2018..) and..... Judith Pietersen (she quit NT after Rio Olympics:lol::lol:)


    But anywayyy good to see that retired players get their deserved goodbye. I'm curious when it's De Kruijf, Belien and Grothues' turn


    https://www.volleybal.nl/nieuw…nborg-en-judith-pietersen

    one question,was cintha boersma invited to this organization? Watching netherlands famous players taking part and why not the only olympic mvp from this country

    I feel like somebody like Iris Scholten, who is no world beater, would be better than Plak and Dambrink combined right now.


    I would not invite Dambrink again to NT unless she plays a good pro season in international league. She looks unfit and barely moves off the ground when jumping.


    Also can't bear watching Plak flailing around anymore :(. It was funny 6 years ago when she was still scoring points. Now she brings nothing to the table.


    If Selinger had some vision he would follow BE example and built the team around OH attack. Anyone would be better in OPP position than actual OPPs in the team. Grothues could have played a big role this tournament.


    Also miss De Kruijf so much now nobody can score in zone 2. Lohuis on the slide doesn't even come close.

    Dambrink is one of those players who can play well because other teams don't know her but once teams figure her out she is easy to stop. If Indy baijens would be in the roster, I would say Ned should play like Belgium, at least they would have a strong block against outside hitter of opponent team

    Quote from Gashina

    If Selinger had some vision he would follow BE example and built the team around OH attack. Anyone would be better in OPP position than actual OPPs in the team. Grothues could have played a big role this tournament.

    Selinger can have Jasper playing as receiving Opp at anytime, to lessen the passing duty of Nika & Anne, but he just did nothing. Even in today’s match when Nika had troubles receiving Bosetti’s serves at the end of the 4th set, he still did nothing and just let Nika stayed at the back row and went on to lose the match.

    I wonder what will be Buijs's revenge later...







    :saint::whistling:

    imo nika and anne buijs were ot delivering,after having some retirements they should put the team on their shoulders and they didn't,they play so average


    Middles are young and first big tournament and are the best they have so still work with them


    Opposite is a big question mark...plak is not good...she's bad and dambrink have only moments of good volleyball


    Both setters were awful specially bongaerts...what happened to her? And bad decision to let knip at home,why?


    Imo selinger should be fired

    It's overrr:/ I think everyone agrees that we hoped for more in this tournament, I also think that it is possible with the current roster but somehow it never really worked out this tournament. The only match that stands out to me is the one against China. The level was very high even though there was a lot of pressure on that match. The match against Belgium was the most important in terms of reaching the quarterfinals but that one didn't go as planned unfortunately.


    Setters

    One of the three main problems imo this tournament. Bongaerts her development seems to have stopped. Her sets to position 4 were off a lot of times and her connection with Plak is horrific. There were a lot of sky ball sets, which allowed the opponents to setup their block, have a cup of tea, and slowly get ready to block Daalderop/Buijs. Of course this must be related to Selingers preferences, but I'll come to that later. We didn't see a lot of Dijkema (which is one of the many Selinger-related problems) but she showed she's able to turn around matches and is in my opinion better than Bongaerts now again. Dijkema is still very motivated even in this supporting role. She told in her interview today that she is absolutely open to go to Paris, and that's great news


    Opposite

    The next big issue. Plak did not fill Sloetjes footsteps. Not even one foot. For me she the biggest disappointment this year. I like her and her personality a lot off the court, but this just wasn't it for me. Very unstable in terms of level, and towards the end of the tournament her body language showed more and more she didn't want to be there. Got kind of negative vibes. She said in an interview after the Brazil match with tears in her eyes that she doesn't know what her future will be in the NT. The interviewer hinted that she might want to switch back to OH position. Or at least attacking from 4 instead of 2. And actually in today's match against Japan she had some real bombs from there, and she is way more comfortable from that side. But it would mean that we have to build a system with receiving OPP around just one single player, with a the implications that would have on other positions also (Buijs/Daalderop). I am curious if she will say goodbye for good to the NT.

    Dambrink is still young and a completely different player than Plak. She had some very good moments this tournament and for sure looked better than in VNL. Next to that I love her attitude both on and of the court with a lot of energy. She is also very well spoken in media etc. despite her age, which is also something Grothues and De Kruijf complemented her for in their WCH podcast.


    Outsides

    Daalderop wasn't good in the beginning of the tournament, but finally got to her old self towards the end and that was good to see. She has a bright future as leading lady of our NT. Buijs was generally good, but with her usual flaws in reception. Attacking wise very important for the Netherlands. Unfortunately she was sick in the last week, which explains kind of why she was so bad against Brazil. Marrit Jasper had her usual role as serve/backcourt specialist and did well in that. I am also positive about Savelkoel, Knollema didn't see a lot of court but I am sure the experience has been valuable for her.


    Middle blockers

    Both Lohuis and Timmerman did their job well in my opinion. They are the best MB duo in terms of blocks according to the stats and that's great given De Kruijfs and Beliens departments. I think Polder deserved more chances and today against Japan she showed why. Her slide is very good and I look forward to see her development in Italy. The MB attacking performance is also more dependent on the setter, and she wasn't the best.

    I really hope that Lohuis injury is not too bad and that she can start her season in Italy soon!


    Libero

    We are very lucky that Schoot found her old self. She was pretty good throughout the tournament and provided the much needed stability. It also means that Selinger was lucky because cutting Knip in such a way didn't come back like a boomerang in his face (yet)


    Coach

    I hope we get rid of Selinger asap. He may be a great developer for young talents, but what we need is a COACH who can fire up a team in timeouts, think outside the box and someone who is able to make changes during matches. There were many, many moments in different matches that screamed for a direct setter replacement, or outsides or opposite and he. did. nothing. Yeah asking for a time out and than stay silent. His tactics are also weird and not logical. Almost every team started to play fast(er) volleyball and we started to insist on almost Russian style high balls to position 4. Our setters can do better than that. I don't know who should replace him but this is not it for me. I don't know what assistent Reitsma brings to the team. Except for walking around with an attitude like he is Karch Kiraly himself. That they brought back Gil Ferrer Cuttino this year speaks facts for itself. Huurman, as female, is valuable for the team according to what some players said about her in interviews.


    And the future

    Anne Buijs is unsure about her future in the NT. Last time she said she would´ve wanted to play with Buijs da Silva on her jersey, so the reporter asked today if that was a hint that she is gonna quit the team, but she said she is very tired now, and usually decisions she make in emotion aren´t the best for her. She is gonna take her time and see later. I think there is a big possibility she will leave. But personally I would love the see her in Paris


    Speaking about Paris. We dropped to 11th in the world ranking now, so it is more important than ever before to have a good VNL next year. We need to get up some places to have a better chance. Unfortunately the NT lost their A-status from the Dutch Olympic committee now. An A-status gives you access to better facilities and financial support etc. in Dutch sports, but you need to be in the top 8 in international tournaments. This is a big blow for the team and it is very important to get that status back as soon as possible.


    I am curious if we will have to post goodbye announcements her in the next days or weeks. Potentially Knip, Plak, Buijs and Schoot. The only one I'll be happy with is Selingers.

    Timmermans/Lohuis block performance is inflated from the block parties vs. African teams/Puerto Rico/Argentina. Timmermans had 11 blocks in the Argentina match. Lohuis 8 against Puerto Rico.


    From 4 matches that matter, against Italy/Belgium/Japan/China Timmermans has 5 blocks combined.


    Some matches she looked asleep on court and needed to be subbed badly. I was actually more impressed with Lohuis this tournament who didn't completely fade against better teams.

    Quote from Gashina

    Timmermans/Lohuis block performance is inflated from the block parties vs. African teams/Puerto Rico/Argentina. Timmermans had 11 blocks in the Argentina match. Lohuis 8 against Puerto Rico.


    From 4 matches that matter, against Italy/Belgium/Japan/China Timmermans has 5 blocks combined.


    Some matches she looked asleep on court and needed to be subbed badly. I was actually more impressed with Lohuis this tournament who didn't completely fade against better teams.

    That is a very good point. There is a lot of room for improvement indeed