Netherlands NT 2024

My heart is divided....I love netherlands but canada too

Both deserve to be at Paris but only one gonna be there

Let's see what happen

Quote from VolleyOrange

Starting off the 2024 thread with this cool interview with Anne Buijs

https://www.volleynews.it/anne…rimo-obiettivo-di-novara/

Let's hope we can share an Olympic roster this year

Nice interview! I like how she describes her break, and that she would still want to help the team qualify instead of saying sth like "I want to go to Paris". Very humble of not assuming she would automatically make the team! Can't wait to see her back at VNL though

VNL is real important for Dutch NT this year, so I hope they will play with their strongest squad whole VNL and get a ticket for Olympic Games in Paris

IMO this will be the strongest squad for VNL:

S: van Aalen (Vakifbank) & Bongarets (Stuttgart)

OPP: Plak (Besiktas) & Buijs (Novara/ also OH)

OH: Daalderop (Milano), Marrit Jasper (Nantes), Knollema (Stuttgart), Marring (Schwerin/ also OPP) & Hester Jasper (Dresdner/ also Libero)

MB: Baijens (Schwerin), Lohuis (Casalmaggiore) & Timmerman (Stuttgart)

L: Reesink (Genève) & Knip (Draisma Dynamo Apeldoorn)

Players who should get a chance to train with the team and "steal" a spot:

S: Dijkema (Vallefoglia) , Klein Lankhorst (Vilsbiburg) & Meinders (Aachen)

OPP: Dambrink (Schwerin) & Scholten (Trentino)

OH: Savelkoel (Schwerin), Iris Vos (Asterix AVO Beveren) & Jansen (Pays d'Aix Venelles)

MB: Polder (Pinerolo) & Stuut (Vilsbiburg)

L: Brokking (Gent)

S: I'm not a big fan of Bongaerts but she is the most consistent. Sarah will hopefully be starter with her creativity. Dijkema always brings the necessary energy so she will for sure be used in VNL. I'm not sure if there's room for the younger setters to get much playing time in VNL this year unfortunately.

OPP: I can't imagine Koslowski not bringing at least one of Dambrink/Scholten, although I would as well prefer to have Anne as OPP Dambrink has improved over the past months from what I've seen, but it's difficult to compare the level of those opponents to VNL teams so I'm afraid she's not there yet for starter. Curious to see how Scholten will develop in Italy!

OH: I completely agree with those names. Nika is not playing a lot, but she's always proven herself at NT to be a leader. Jasper is having a great season with Nantes and Knollema/Marring can only grow from experiencing more VNL matches. Vos did a good job in CL, although I believe Asterix plays with receiving OPP. If Savelkoel gets back to pre-injury form I would love to see her, but I hope they don't force anything though. Anne and Celeste can also be added here ofc, Celeste started great this season as OH in Roma!

MB: I really hope Polder gets a chance to prove herself in VNL, she's being great at Pinerolo I do feel like she sometimes looks a bit clumsy when starting with a new setter, but once the connection is there she can be good. The other 3 seem logical, Stuut I haven't seen too much off. If there's room in the training group for some talents, I would love to see Rixt van der Wal or, if we go even younger, Suus Gerritsen/Roos Wessels from last year's EYOF squad!

L: I guess Reesink/Knip will mostly be used here, especially with the importance of VNL. I'm adding Hester to this category though because I think there's enough talent at OH already, and she can have a bigger contribution here! I really hope Felix reads this and listens to our suggestions. Let's all start manifesting

Quote from Sassy

S: I'm not a big fan of Bongaerts but she is the most consistent. Sarah will hopefully be starter with her creativity. Dijkema always brings the necessary energy so she will for sure be used in VNL. I'm not sure if there's room for the younger setters to get much playing time in VNL this year unfortunately.

Bongaerts is having a good season in Stuttgart, so she deserves to be there. Van Aalen should be the starting setter again, despite not having the most playing time this year. Dijkema her setting is not good enough anymore IMO and with the possible return of Buijs, her leadership/ experience is no longer decisive.

Quote from Sassy

OH: I completely agree with those names. Nika is not playing a lot, but she's always proven herself at NT to be a leader. Jasper is having a great season with Nantes and Knollema/Marring can only grow from experiencing more VNL matches. Vos did a good job in CL, although I believe Asterix plays with receiving OPP. If Savelkoel gets back to pre-injury form I would love to see her, but I hope they don't force anything though. Anne and Celeste can also be added here ofc, Celeste started great this season as OH in Roma!

Savelkoel defenitly deserves a chance if she's healthy, but game rythem is really important. Next to that I think both Knollema and Marring have a higher ceiling. Buijs can also be used as outside hitter, but I think she could have a bigger impact on the right side and Plak should have a decent back-up. Marring also could be a good option as opposite with her left hand.

Quote from Sassy

MB: I really hope Polder gets a chance to prove herself in VNL, she's being great at Pinerolo I do feel like she sometimes looks a bit clumsy when starting with a new setter, but once the connection is there she can be good. The other 3 seem logical, Stuut I haven't seen too much off. If there's room in the training group for some talents, I would love to see Rixt van der Wal or, if we go even younger, Suus Gerritsen/Roos Wessels from last year's EYOF squad!

I'm just not convinced by Polder in Dutch NT and she has a lot of clumsy moments indeed... With the other 3 middle blockers I don't think it will have any impact to have her with the team. An extra option on the outside hitter position will be much more valuable! I would like to see ten Brinke have a chance with the training group.

Quote from Sassy

L: I guess Reesink/Knip will mostly be used here, especially with the importance of VNL. I'm adding Hester to this category though because I think there's enough talent at OH already, and she can have a bigger contribution here! I really hope Felix reads this and listens to our suggestions. Let's all start manifesting

I'm not convinced by both Reesink and Knip either, but Reesink proved she can be a stable option last year en Knip has the experience. If I had to choose, Hester Jasper would be the starting libero, because her defense is great! I just don't think Koslowski will consider her as a libero...

VNL and possibly OS are the only tournaments this summer, right? Because if it were a small tournament like OS/ECH the balance in the group would also be important like you said, have a good mix between experience and talent - so at least one of Buijs/Dijkema/Knip, but maybe not all three. 5 OHs of which one is a defending specialist would be priority over 4th MB for sure! But one of those (Polder/Stuut/MTB/Rixt) might be useful for rotating at VNL week 1 - although they will probably not play much anyway...

Speaking of which, this year's VNL is Türkiye - China - Japan iirc. I would only expect changes between week 1 and 2 then (unless they travel to Asia with 16 and have two of them return after week 2, like Britte/Elles did last year). I don't know the exact dates of when play-offs end for everyone, but I'm already anxious about the lack of rest for example the 6 Stuttgart/Schwerin players will have - if they make it to the finals. In this case, week 1 could be used to give some of the key players rest and replace them with the "net-niet" players (i.e. Dijkema > Bongaerts, Polder > Baijens). And to try Hester (with double libero system) as long as the starting 7 is OG-worthy (but preferably more than 7 of them lol)

By the way, I didn't know the name of Jansen which you mentioned so I just looked her up, what's her specialty? I randomly clicked one of her team's matches in dataproject and she was a starter so that's nice! It also reminded me of Schut who transferred to Schwerin, I can imagine Felix will add her to the training group as well. I think she was even part of Papendal group already until recently.

Quote from Sassy

By the way, I didn't know the name of Jansen which you mentioned so I just looked her up, what's her specialty? I randomly clicked one of her team's matches in dataproject and she was a starter so that's nice!

I haven't watched one of her matches in France this season, but in her last season of NCAA she was more of an allround outside hitter. She is decent in both attack and reception, but curious how she will perform on international level. She was with the training team on Papendal during VNL last summer.

I couldn't watch the game today because of carnaval, but Iris Scholten made her starter debut for Trentino today

I didn't expect her to take Dehoog's place that quickly, but looks like she did okay with 12 points. Can't wait to see her in action next week

Random question, but maybe someone here can give me an answer

Based on the teams Elke Wijnhoven played for, she seemed like a great libero. As far as I remember Janneke van Tienen always was the main libero for Dutch NT in the past. For the ones who watched them both play: which one of the two was the better libero?

Quote from Let's go orange

Random question, but maybe someone here can give me an answer

Based on the teams Elke Wijnhoven played for, she seemed like a great libero. As far as I remember Janneke van Tienen always was the main libero for Dutch NT in the past. For the ones who watched them both play: which one of the two was the better libero?

Wow that's loooong ago As far as I remember Wijnhoven was better and Van Tienen only became main libero of NT once Wijnhoven retired there.

Quote from Let's go orange

Random question, but maybe someone here can give me an answer

Based on the teams Elke Wijnhoven played for, she seemed like a great libero. As far as I remember Janneke van Tienen always was the main libero for Dutch NT in the past. For the ones who watched them both play: which one of the two was the better libero?

Elke was better. Janneke became the starter because Elke left NT at a relatively young age ( I think right after she was transferred from Dela to Pesaro and she is indeed younger than Janneke) she could have been the starter libero in dutch nt for another Olympic cycle if she was willing to play. Pity that she quit volleyball at a young age like many other good dutch players did in last years.

I remember I asked here why she wasn't playing in NT in one of the first years I signed up to this forum.

question

How is savelkoel doing? After a great year with postdam and dutch team she suffered and injury and didn't heard about her after

Quote from Jules

question

How is savelkoel doing? After a great year with postdam and dutch team she suffered and injury and didn't heard about her after

Looking at her instagram it seems like at times she is doing some ball training with the team (like serving), but also still doing rehabilitation exercises with their fysio Marta. During games she's with the injured squad next to the court. I hope for her that she will be able to see some court still this season (even if it's just one serve) but not sure if she'll make it in time for it to be completely safe.

Quote from Let's go orange

Random question, but maybe someone here can give me an answer

Based on the teams Elke Wijnhoven played for, she seemed like a great libero. As far as I remember Janneke van Tienen always was the main libero for Dutch NT in the past. For the ones who watched them both play: which one of the two was the better libero?

Polish tv commentators quite often named Wijnhoven that „legendary” libero who made the difference.

Thanks everybody! If someone knows a replay where I can watch Wijnhoven play, you are welcome to share it

Quote from Let's go orange

Thanks everybody! If someone knows a replay where I can watch Wijnhoven play, you are welcome to share it

Quote from VolleyOrange

Maret Grothues played as libero last week, she can't jump due to an injury. If you know where to rewatch the match lmk It was Final Four of the Greek cup

Good one, I got curious after hearing it in the podcast as well! So I tried to YT search and I think this might be it?!