Posts by jexxed

  • Sarah Pavan, Canadian or Italian?

    Pavan grew up in Kingston, ON however has spent close to 5 years in the US under Nebraska scholarship. She currently plays for Congeliano in Serie A1. It's possible for her to play for the US NT if she has had dual citizenship between CAN and US. In fact it might be more likely for her to play for US then ITA. Assuming she resides in the US during professional off-season, she could qualify for US citizenship in a reasonable time frame.

  • CHINA NT Roster officially announced!!! 2012's new hope !!!

    No good. There is no stable reception on the team. The loss of Zhang Na as a Libero, Zhou Suhong and Liu Yanan will undoubetdly affect the teams tempo and ball movement. Li Juan has the best ball reception on the team now.
    Also, Wei as starting setter is questionable. She did not have the offensive cabailities as Feng and does not commit the amount of blocks or digs either. Despite possibly having better ball placement, China's move seems to be heading towards a more Italian/Serbian style of play.
    Last I remember J.L Chu was cut for being too out of shape. I really doubt that this has changed much recently. She does add to China's ability to play more of a 'power' style volleyball as she has one of the best jump serves in the CVL and can attack with similar power to that of Wang. Digging and reception are lacking however.
    Xu Yunli, despite playing as a blocking and middle substitute over the past 3 years, did not yield any productive results. She may have the height of Rui but she does not have any versatility as a middle attacker or blocker. She makes many unforced errors as an attacker too and even free ball reception has seemed questionable. Wei and Feng's lack of confidence in her is shown through how few sets she gets.
    Ma Yunwen and Xue Ming are a solid duo however China has historically used the middle attackers as 'go to' hitters through Rui. Neither hitters are capable of filling this role. Xue Ming maybe, but definitely not Ma Yunwen.
    Wei is going to be running all over the court with this team. It will be like watching Akulova try to throw the ball as high as possible to Gamova because she can't do anything else with the ball. Lets hope she has been marathon running this season.
    Either this coach will be the unpredicted success in Chinese womens vball, or he will fail terribly in his attempt to play a style of volleyball that China is unaccustomed to.