Italian Women's NT 2023

    Agree, not sure if mazzaro is an upgrade to chirichella though. She didn't show any promising performance throughout vnl

    Quote from Andreavillar

    Agreed with most points but I wouldn't be so surr about the match-up POL - TUR. I honestly think POL could win it and we could have ITA vs POL in the semis.

    What happened at the VNL certainly pains a picture but a lot can change. For instance, I only see POL getting stronger and I'm not sure how the Ebrar- Derya duo can hold up, especially in reception.

    Either case, I do see Italy making it to the finals and prevailing over Serbia. I would love for Antropova to make her debut in this tournament but at this rate is that even possible? Her name wasn't included in the wider roster as some shared but can changes be made?

    Again another biased comment from you, no surprise 🤦


    How come do you think Poland can get better while turkey wont? Turkey can literally do only better because they had very limited time with new coach, and Ebrar will have more time to adjust to her new position. Elif, İlkin and derya are very young players so every training counts in favour of them. On the other hand, Poland will only get Wolosz but they are playing so well with Wenerska already, I don't expect them to play better than they are when wolosz joins to the team.

    Quote from serdar

    Again another biased comment from you, no surprise 🤦


    How come do you think Poland can get better while turkey wont? Turkey can literally do only better because they had very limited time with new coach, and Ebrar will have more time to adjust to her new position. Elif, İlkin and derya are very young players so every training counts in favour of them. On the other hand, Poland will only get Wolosz but they are playing so well with Wenerska already, I don't expect them to play better than they are when wolosz joins to the team

    I do not agree. There is no player that can be an upgrade for Turkiye. They can only polish their game in the current squad. In case of Poland there is Wołosz, Smarzek and possibly one MB that can join the team. Wołosz is way better blocker than Wenerska, it was our big weekness throughout VNL. And she is Wołosz, the captain and one of the best setters in the world. Wenerska run the team very well but Wołosz is Wołosz.

    With Smarzek we can have very good double-sub. Jurczyk is great in attack, she is fast however she is not as good in block. Her block was used many times and she didn't score a lot in VNL in block (19 points). So generally we can improve a lot in block. Our serve was lets say unstable, here there is room to improve too. With better the serve, better the block, better the defence.

    Thinking that Wolosz is not game changer, my God :gone::gone::gone:

    Everyone would kill to have setter like her

    Confirmation comes from Conegliano that Moki De Gennaro will not be with the national team for the European championship and OC.

    Pier Paolo Zanasi, team manager of Prosecco DOC Imoco Conegliano, has entered his name (together with Gennari, Bugg, Piani, De Kruijf and Bardaro) in the list of players who will be present at the resumption of preparation for the 23/24 season of the next August 21st.

    Wolosz, Haak, Robinson, Plummer, Lanier, Fahr, Lubian and Squarcini are instead the players who will arrive after the commitments with the national teams.

    The inclusion of Squarcini is curious: does this mean that she will return to Team A? Or that Team B will stay training all summer long?


    https://www.volleynews.it/cone…-al-raduno-del-21-agosto/

    I don't think Squarcini not being on that list necessarily means she's staying with the national team, just that as she's still in the wide roster/the official team has not been announced yet she hasn't been included on this first announcement - it looks like they just included players who aren't joining the national team at all

    Quote from bobaas

    I do not agree. There is no player that can be an upgrade for Turkiye. They can only polish their game in the current squad. In case of Poland there is Wołosz, Smarzek and possibly one MB that can join the team. Wołosz is way better blocker than Wenerska, it was our big weekness throughout VNL. And she is Wołosz, the captain and one of the best setters in the world. Wenerska run the team very well but Wołosz is Wołosz.

    With Smarzek we can have very good double-sub. Jurczyk is great in attack, she is fast however she is not as good in block. Her block was used many times and she didn't score a lot in VNL in block (19 points). So generally we can improve a lot in block. Our serve was lets say unstable, here there is room to improve too. With better the serve, better the block, better the defence.

    I think Smarzek is a junk, she will hurt Polish team more than she will help. Wolosz is a good setter, but I am not sure she will make a huge difference to the current Polish team. After all we saw her during Imaco vs Fener games. Unless Poland has another player, who is a good blocker, I am not sure what is the ceiling of the Polish team. For Turkiye I want to see how Tuba will play. She had a good club season in Japan, and she could be good defensive player as well as a good attacker.

    Quote from mio

    the semi-finalists will be the same as in 2021, after that anything can happen

    I doubt netherlands gonna make semi final

    Quote from serdar

    Again another biased comment from you, no surprise 🤦


    How come do you think Poland can get better while turkey wont? Turkey can literally do only better because they had very limited time with new coach, and Ebrar will have more time to adjust to her new position. Elif, İlkin and derya are very young players so every training counts in favour of them. On the other hand, Poland will only get Wolosz but they are playing so well with Wenerska already, I don't expect them to play better than they are when wolosz joins to the team.

    Lol. I'm only writing what I see. Just because I dislike Karakurt that doesn't translate to disliking Turkey or their other players, especially Zehra, Eda and Cansu. It's not news that Derya and Ebrar are not good passers, especially Derya. They held up during the VNL yeah, but will they be able to repeat that in another tournament? I'm not sure. Also, just like happened with Brazil last year that they had many options in the OPP position that made the difference in difference matches like Lorenne against Japan or Tainara against China. Will this system Turkey is playing with Ebrar and Vargas hold up? Not sure as well.

    Poland, on the other hand, I see a lot of potential and their wings and Stysiak on a upward trajectory. I feel that Lavarini is giving her a lot of confidence and she's responding to it. Plus the addition of Wolozs will help a great deal too.

    Quote from voulter

    I don't think Squarcini not being on that list necessarily means she's staying with the national team, just that as she's still in the wide roster/the official team has not been announced yet she hasn't been included on this first announcement - it looks like they just included players who aren't joining the national team at all

    I agree I think Squarcini won't be on the ECH/OQT roster. I think she will be training with the B team alongside Graziani, Gardini, etc.

    poland have had a big improvement but is still raw in this kind of games/finals

    They need to continue to keep at this level and play finals to get experience

    Quote from Jules

    I doubt netherlands gonna make semi final

    So which team from their half would make it besides Italy?

    Croatia? France? lol

    Netherlands spot in semfinals is almost locked. I don't think they would lose in QFs against France, Bulgaria or Croatia


    Also, I can't imagine Italy not making it to F4 from this pool

    Quote from Aro

    After all we saw her during Imaco vs Fener games.

    I don't get two losses in CL against Fener have anything to do with evaluating her level. Unless we are judging the setter based on two matches.

    But I think she won't be a starting setter, not after her long absence due to injury and Poland has a good chemistry with the current setter. Not necessary to change setter when Poland is working well. Wolosz could still be very useful as backup setter and she is a natural leader, the team could benefit from her charisma.

    Quote from Jules

    I doubt netherlands gonna make semi final

    The winner of Pool D has a clear highway to the semis and the Netherlands can't help but win it: for them, losing to EST, FIN, FRA, SVK or ESP would be a total bust and I don't think it will happen. If it happened, it would be a real surprise and a total defeat for Dutch volleyball...

    Quote from Andreavillar

    I agree I think Squarcini won't be on the ECH/OQT roster. I think she will be training with the B team alongside Graziani, Gardini, etc.

    Currently there are two groups besides Team A (whatever it is): one is the one who has been training for two months in Milano and which includes the "youngsters", the other will be that of the "veteurs" from the VNL.

    It is still unclear whether the team that will make up the University Games will be made up only of the young group or if there will also be some from the VNL group: Mazzanti has said nothing about this too. Logic would say the second hypothesis but it's useless to go too far with him...

    In any case, the University Games will end on August 8 and I don't think a group will be required to train after this date...

    IMHO, after a whole summer in the gym and no tournaments to play, it is very likely that the players will be left free, for a bit of vacation and then join their teams and some of them will be called up for OC just in case of injuries in the group of the European championship...

    Quote from Sentenza_69

    I think that now, after the VNL, we can start making serious predictions about the European Championship…


    These are the groups:

    • Pool A: BEL, SLO, SRB, POL, UKR, HUN
    • Pool B: ITA, ROM, BUL, CRO, BIH, SUI
    • Pool C: GER, AZE, TUR, CZE, SWE, GRE
    • Pool D: EST, FIN, NED, FRA, SVK, ESP

    Looking at the calendar and the competition formula, I think we can make these basic considerations:

    1. Pool A is balanced: it will be a battle for first place between Serbia and Poland, but Ukraine could also make some surprises… whoever wins the pool will easily go to the semifinals, the second, in the quarterfinals, will have to face Turkey...
    2. In pools B and C, it will be a walk for Italy and Turkey: Italy will go straight to the semifinals, while Turkey, in the quarterfinals, will find one between Serbia and Poland;
    3. pool D is a Golden League group: the Netherlands should have the road cleared up to the semi-final;

    My predictions:

    1. Serbia will win pool A and, after defeating the Netherlands in the semifinal (it will be like eating a piece of cake), they will be a finalist FOR SURE...
    2. The other semifinal will be Italy against the winner between Turkey and Poland, so it will be Italy-Turkey...
    3. Italy will be confirmed as European champion...

    There are many of your takes I agree with, but I'm far more pessimistic about us: we look good on paper, but I feel we're dealing with way too many issues both on and off the field to experience a successful campaign. Having a relatively easy path to the semifinals might even amplify the well-known problems we had to deal with in the past events.


    It's simple to have a good match if there's little in front of you, keeping a high level of play when you're put under pressure it's a total different story. Considering the last relevant match the main team has played is the WC semifinal against Brazil, I have way too many question marks to feel confident about a repeat.