Posts by murina

  • Evgeniya Artamonova Estes Retires

    Estes' husband Jeri has been the assistant coach at East Carolina University for the last 2 years. In that time the team is 4-52! In December the head coach was released and ECU is searching for a new head coach now. Jeri remains at the university until a new head coach can be hired. It is possible he could be promoted based on his CV, but I think it is unlikely because of the team's record while he was an assistant coach. There are probably quite a few changes about to happen for that family in the next few months! Best wishes to them!

  • Turkey NT 2011

    Interesting discussion going on here.


    I just want to point out that maybe you should frame the opposite/outside hitter discussion in a different way. Not every player/team fits into the traditional roles of outside hitter (pos 4) as receiver/attacker and opposite (pos 2) as a non-receiving point scorer.


    Sokolova with Russia is a perfect example of this. When she played opposite the setter and attacked mostly from position 2, she was also a primary serve receiver. Even as opposite she was a receiver/attacker.


    It took Mari three full years of playing as a receiver/attacker before she really became decent at it. Pesaro and Brazil were able to survive the rough spots while she was learning the skill of receiving, but those first couple of years were rough! Luckily for Mari/Brazil Pesaro hired Brazilian coaches who were well motivated to continue the experiment. And it was an experiment, there was no guarantee that she could learn to receive/attack at a high enough level. The Turkish national team has been doing the same thing with Seda, but the Turkish clubs have not been so willing to go through the ups and downs with her (and she has been injured some).


    Learning to receive after age 20 is not impossible, but it is hard. It takes a well motivated athlete, and especially a club that is motivated to go through the rough times that are inevitable in the process. This is hard for a club to do in a first division team with a lot of money tied up in their season. Every year past makes the project harder and less worth the effort.


    I don't know if Neriman is so motivated or if she can get in a club that will help her toward that end, but if it is going to happen it needs to start yesterday!

  • Aroma Turkish 1. League 2010/2011

    Quote from Sup_Rif

    for the funny text quoted above about eczacıbaşı match...that was one of the most sad days of this season...we lost the game and a player who served to turkish volleyball for many years had seriously injured...sorry if that didnt make me smile...

    Just to clarify: The part about Rasna being injured was in response to some people on this board who insisted that Neslihan injured her on purpose. An absurd accusation, and I wrote that to point out just how absurd. It was a very sad day and I'm sure we all hope Rasna returns to complete health soon - I certainly do.

  • Transfer news and rumors season 2010/2011

    Quote from Bartek

    Malgorzata Niemczyk maybe will be the new Coach of Budowlani Lodz. The Players from the Team don't want to work with Popik. So now We know why Olsovsky go away from the Team...

    Upon returning to the United States Olsovsky took a very good job. She is the Director of Operations for the University of Southern California womens volleyball team (the same team she played for in college). Because of the timing, I suspect she was offered the job before she left Poland.


    Maybe she didn't like the coach, but maybe it was as simple as she just wanted this job.

  • Transfer news and rumors season 2010/2011

    Quote from Bartek

    I have the off-topic question- which country is more richer- United Arab Emirates or Qatar?

    That is a difficult question to answer! The gross or net wealth of a country is not easy to figure out, and I don't know where such data exists. The size of a nation's economy can be used to make an estimate, but it has limitations. UAE has a much larger total economy, but there is more money per person in Qatar's economy. Here is a breakdown in terms of Gross Domestic Product (one measure of a nation's economy):


    http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=gdp+of+qatar+UAE

  • The best player/coach 2010 - voting

    Only because you make a big deal of it...


    Hooker has best performance in 2010? Are you giving NCAA greater weight than national team? :aww:

  • Aroma Turkish 1. League 2010/2011

    Quote from vblover

    I had a really good time Murina. I loved your post and congratulations for having so many patience for writing it.
    You just forgot to tell Naz had to set the ball while Fofao never did! Fofao only raises her hand and the ball sets itself. :P

    Oh, you're right! I did forget about Fofao setting without actually touching the ball. That's like the most obvious thing, and I still forgot! :drink:

  • Aroma Turkish 1. League 2010/2011

    Quote from Matthias

    Murina, your post is right on the spot!!! :thumbsup:
    I watched the match and yes, of course Fofao is still a better setter than Naz, but by no means Naz is to blame for the defeat. Eczaci just played better in that match and that's it. And about Cigdem's injury, yes it's really bad and I don't like it at all when players aren't careful when they attack so close to the net, but it happens and I'm sure it wasn't intentionally. Other players jump over the middle line in attack all the time (Gözde Kirdar being the absolute queen of that...).

    I'm glad someone got the joke. I was wondering if anyone would :)

  • Aroma Turkish 1. League 2010/2011

    Just watching the Eczaci v. Fener match and noticing how bad Naz makes the team when Fenerbahce has to play without Fofao. I decided to keep track.


    Match started on the video at 2-0 Fenerbahce lead in set 1.
    Set 1
    2-0 Naz dumps a perfect pass that is recovered and hit out of bounds.
    3-0 Eda serves into the net. She never whould have done that if Fofao was in.
    3-1 Nihan shanks low to outside of zone 4. Fofao totally would have gotten to it and set it perfect.
    3-2 Sokolova tips a set that is about 15cm wide. If Fofao sets that ball Sokolova hits it for a kill.
    4-2 Naz misses serve. Fofao hasn't missed a serve since she was 13 years old.
    4-3 Naz sets very tight pass about to about 2m off the net. Kasia deals with this wretched set by tiping for a kill.
    5-4 Pass 5m from net Naz sets a pipe, Sokolova hits it out - must have been a bad set because Sokolova never hits Fofao's sets out.
    5-5 Perfect pass, Naz sets Nati who hits it off one blocker for a kill. If Fofao had set it Nati totally would have hit the ball to the floor.
    7-6 Sokolova shanks pass into service zone and Naz can't get there. Slow poke. Fofao would have disappeared and re-appeared right under it.
    7-7 Naz takes low fast pass and sets to zone 4 and it is not a kill. Then Eczaci tips to zone 4 and Nihan can't get it. Fofao would have run all the way across the court and got that ball.
    7-8 TTO Jose Roberto having problems talking to Naz. She should have quit university studies and leaned Portugese when he was hired. Selfish child.
    8-8 Kasia serves ace! She saw Fofao sitting beind the bench and knew it was time to serve a great ball!
    9-8 Kasia serves out. She saw Naz in the first line just before she hit the ball. Naz is to pale, she creates a glare that blinded Kasia in the moment of the serve. Fofao doesn't have that problem, except when she sweats, but she's so good now that she never sweats anymore.
    9-9 Sokolova aced straight to floor. She saw Naz running to target. Naz is to tall, Sokolova sees right over Fofao.
    9-10 By some miracle there is a perfect pass and Naz sets Eda who kills the ball. First thing Naz had done right since she got up in the morning. Well, since she went to bed the night before - if Naz was a team player she would have stayed in bed today.
    11-10 Naz and Eda block the ball over Nihan's head in zone 5. Fofao would have run over there and made the dig.
    12-11 Eda serves out. I don't think this one was Naz's fault - but maybe the TV didn't show something. (see I'm totally fair)
    12-12 Pefect pass sets Kasia pipe for kill. It looked pretty good, but the ball was touched on its way. When Fofao sets the defense never touches the ball.
    13-12 Naz easy serve Bown hits quick for a kill. Fofao never would serve to a good pass.
    13-13 Neslihan aces Sokolova. Liuba would never be aced twice if Fofao were in.
    13-14 Bad pass to zone 4, somehow Leadfeet makes it there and sets her best friend Kasia not once but twice! Kasia hits second out. Fofao knows Kasia can't hit two perfect sets in a row.
    13-15 OMG Naz gets aced AGAIN! I mean Sokolova and Nihan got aced, but Naz was to tall and got in their vision again.
    13-16 TTO Jose Roberto trying sign language to communicate with Naz...
    13-16 Perfect pass so good even Naz can't mess it up. Step-out to Sokolova who kills it dead. INSHALLAH maybe this will happen again before the game is over!
    14-17 Late in rally Naz finally stops setting her best buddy and Nati gets a kill.
    15-17 Naz digs an easy ball and Kasia gets blocked because Eda has to set.
    15-18 The college genious finally figures out Nati is a good hitter. Another kill for her.
    16-18 Jose Roberto finally comes to his senses and switches setters. Naz and her best friend are on the bench.
    16-18 Zülfiye ALMOST digs a wicked quick set but can't quite make what would have been a spectacular play.
    16-19 Zülfiye sets an (almost) perfect quick set for a kill. Fofao didn't even tell her to do it.
    17-20 Sokolova overpass by 3m. She's already better than when Naz was in! In same rally Zülfiye lets someone else dig and makes a perfect set to Liuba.
    18-20 Zülfiye makes spectacular dig and because she loves Zülfiye so much, Sokolova kills a not so good set from Nati.
    19-21 Nati overpasses by just a few cm. Passing is much better with Zülfiye in the game. She could not quite reach this one though. Zülfiye is so small and cute!
    20-22 Oh goodness, Jose Roberto is putting Naz and her doubles partner back in. OMG Naz didn't hug and kiss Zülfiye when she went in the game!!! Naz is probably jealous that Zülfiye has more boys who are taller than her.
    20-23 Sokolova passes another ball over the net and this time out. Fofao would have used her magic to one hand set position 4 on that pass.
    Game over.


    Set 2
    0-0 Naz serves pretty good, but it doesn't mean anything because Mirka gets a kill anyway.
    0-1 Sokolova over passes again, and Naz is called for back row block. She's to tall, Fofao would never get called for that.
    0-2 Sokolova with decent pass, but then Naz sets her and Sokolova is rightfully admiring the first good pass she made all night and isn't ready. Fofao knows Liuba gets distracted sometimes.
    1-2 Naz makes another dig and Sokolova gets a kill even though she has to hit off of a Nihan set (I think).
    3-3 Kasia almost digs cross court, but sees Naz out of the corner of her eye just an instant before the ball gets to her and shanks. Or maybe she didn't see Naz, but she knew she would be right there and that distracted her.
    4-5 overpass that Naz blocks. Fofao would have used her magic to keep that pass on Fener's side.


    I can't take any more of this, but did you see when Rasna got hurt?


    Elif set Neslihan a tight set, and instead of stoping mid-rally so no one could possibly get hurt (she should have called time-out), she tried to hit the ball anyway! Then when Rasna got hurt and was lying there on the floor Neslihan looked at her for a few seconds!!! Like Neslihan was really concerned about the pain of someone she has known for years, who she played with on the national team, and who she's played against almost all her life! I mean you can totally tell from the replay that right when Neslihan saw that set she thought "oh I can totally take out Cigdem right now and maybe even end her career!" She probably thought that it was OK even though Cigdem is her friend, because Cigdem is playing for Fenerbahce now and Cigdem would probably be happy she did, because Naz never sets her anyway! Oh, and because everyone from Fenerbahce is evil. And Neslihan is a Galatasaray fan which means she totally hates even the people she likes in Fenerbahce.

  • First Division Sports Halls (Google Earth)

    I've made a Google Earth file that shows the sports halls for many first division womens volleyball teams. This forum will not allow me to attach files large enough so I'm going to link this to another forum where I was able to post it:


    http://www.volleytalk.net/inde…tion=display&thread=36607


    Instructions are in the first post in the thread, the most correct file is currently in the third post in the thread.


    I would appreciate help with corrections, and adding teams/leagues. I wish i could post it here directly - this is a better forum for getting feedback/help.


    Enjoy!

  • 2010 USA NCAA Division I

    Quote from joanamss

    Hi Murina,


    I read this year that AVCA had a project to creat a professional volleyball league in US. There was even a video with Sykora talking about it and everything, but after that I didnt hear anything anymore, do you know how is that going? do you think is possible we see a professional league in USA soon?

    I don't think it will be ready to go soon. They are still trying to generate fan interest. I think they are up to almost 20,000 facebook fans. There is very little news outside of that. I doubt much will get done until the economy gets a lot better.

  • 2010 USA NCAA Division I

    1. It's hard to say for sure, but I suspect that the NCAA's top 10 might fit in Spanish Superliga 2 range. I think this was a little bit of a weak year in the NCAA, compared to the last two years. It seems to be a bit of a weak year in Spain also, so maybe this analogy would hold in other years also.


    2 & 3. USA Volleyball can only invite athletes to participate in national teams. It is up to the university and the player to decide if she wants to play in the NT program while she is in college. The university can prevent it if they choose.