Germany - VBL 1. Bundesliga 2025/26

    I'm surprised that Kathleen Weiß is back in the Bundesliga and already playing for Hamburg today. With a series of serves, she led the team to victory in the first set.

    Fun Fact: since Hamburg and Flacht play against each other now the third year in a row (the two seasons before in second league pro) always the guests won and the hosts lost. But anyway, Flacht has improved a lot and was the clearly deserved winner at the end in Hamburg. - Borken is now last team in the table, despite they have a better ball point ratio than both Hamburg and Flacht, but this is only the fourth criterion for the table ranking you know (points before victories, set ratio and than ball point ratio).

    Quote from Matthias

    Borken - Dresden 0:3 stats

    MVP: Hannah Rudde / Emma Grome

    And Dresden also didn't play with their best lineup, won anyway in three sets: not used at all Marta Levinska, only in third set Miku Akimoto. It's rather obvious that Suhl and Dresden will throw everything in at cup semi final instead (Wednesday).

    Quote from StefanS

    And Dresden also didn't play with their best lineup, won anyway in three sets: not used at all Marta Levinska, only in third set Miku Akimoto. It's rather obvious that Suhl and Dresden will throw everything in at cup semi final instead (Wednesday).

    The scout's report is a bit misleading. It doesn't show which sets Marta Levinska played in, but it does show which points she scored. She finished both the first and second sets after a double substitution. The only players who didn't play were Amelia Van der Werff and Teresa Ziegenbalg. Everyone else got playing time, but of course, dosed.

    Looks like there might be some trouble in Münster. Brianna Ford missed the match vs Wiesbaden due to "personal reasons" and now it's clear that she travelled home for her brother's wedding. The article about it is paywalled but it hints that it's not clear whether the trip was allowed by the club or if there will be consequences for her.


    Considering that they let Strothoff play as OPP a week ago vs Borken hints that they might have known that they'd need this solution against Wiesbaden, but still I think it's unusual to let foreign players travel home and miss a match in the middle of the season :/

    That was a lesson for Schwerin today. I think they lost never before so badly in Stuttgart (?). But I'm convinced that the many young players will learn from this and continue to develop. It's not the end of the world. Last year's team would also have had a hard time today.


    Nevertheless, Patrica Llabres is badly missed. She is irreplaceable at the moment. In addition to mediocre receiving this season, the setting is obviously very predictable (even for other, smaller opponents). Jaksetic is far away from her best form before her injuries. She also seems to me to be very slow – both in her head and in her legs. Hölzig is a good, experienced all-rounder, but she is not a world-class volleyball player either; she cannot turn a game around on her own. In my opinion, all the young players need more guidance and confidence from the experienced players - Hölzig, Reesink, Jaksetic - who are (currently) unable to provide this. Last but not least, Artyshuk doesn't seem to be coping with Felix's playing system yet.


    Let's see if the team can show a reaction against Suhl – It's going to be tough. I'm curious.

    When Rivers, Segura and Koskelo retired and all three top teams changed a lot it was difficult to guess how they would perform against each other. This performance of Stuttgart came as a surprise for us Stuttgart fans too, they play very well together too. We didn't had high expectations, semi finals again seemed a realistic goal and looking for more if possible. But anyway Schwerin and Dresden might improve and neither cup nor championship are over yet.

    I wonder what Stuttgart will do once Kästner is fully healthy again. The team has been working very well with Shaffmaster as starting setter, so from that point of view there seems no need to change anything, but OTOH it's difficult to imagine Kästner being back-up for the whole season :/ In the long run it's going to be valuable to have two good setters but it's also a task for the coach to find the best solution for that.

    Quote from Matthias

    I wonder what Stuttgart will do once Kästner is fully healthy again. The team has been working very well with Shaffmaster as starting setter, so from that point of view there seems no need to change anything, but OTOH it's difficult to imagine Kästner being back-up for the whole season :/ In the long run it's going to be valuable to have two good setters but it's also a task for the coach to find the best solution for that.

    Is Pia going to be there beyond this season?


    If not, I don't see reason to switch from Melani unless things go south.


    But if Pia is a long term investment it would make sense, since Melani won't be.

    Quote from fire_erik_sullivan

    Is Pia going to be there beyond this season?


    If not, I don't see reason to switch from Melani unless things go south.


    But if Pia is a long term investment it would make sense, since Melani won't be.

    I think she signed until 2026, and at 27 I don't think a player is a "long term investment" anymore either way ^^ The main reason she went to Stuttgart last year was Vallefoglia releasing her due to her back injury, and considering she now missed a large part of the season for the same reason I don't think Stuttgart is too keen on keeping her if they have other good options :whistle:

    Quote from Matthias

    I think she signed until 2026, and at 27 I don't think a player is a "long term investment" anymore either way ^^ The main reason she went to Stuttgart last year was Vallefoglia releasing her due to her back injury, and considering she now missed a large part of the season for the same reason I don't think Stuttgart is too keen on keeping her if they have other good options :whistle:

    I guess I should rephrase to "does she have a multi-year contract" :lol:


    if she doesn't, I don't see a reason to switch unless Melani struggles or the team does.

    You can be sure Suhl will playing the final fighting like for their life, but if Stuttgart plays very high level, it might be not enough indeed.