They play next in Xiamen 24-28 April.
Posts by Agguerro
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Taylor Sander (USA/OH) is moving from Sada Cruzeiro to Dinamo Moscow next season. Confirmed in a Brazilian broadcast.
Was this expected? His stay in Sada is rather short, he seemed to be liking it there. On the other hand Russian teams pay a lot..
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I do! Their real breakthrough year was last year. They pretty much won virtually every tournament they play. Andres Mol’s blocking is phenomenal - he’s literally a wall! He has been injured the last couple of months so this year they haven’t quite made headlines yet. They are definitely the future of beach volleyball, and seem genuinely nice guys who love their volleyball. I’m going to the Gita’s grand slam, hoping to meet them in person!
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I still don't get how a team with the most match wins and the least losses ends up 3rd place... this points system is a bit of a farce. Surely the award should be for the effort of winning a match, not winning it quickly...... makes the whole playoff ranking rather false.
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One of the best offensive matches by Leal. Given Juantorena was off today he led very well. Simon was very zoned into his blocking. Overall a very steady team performance without drama like We’re used to with Lube. Dinamo had no fight today... they looked tired or jet lagged. It didn’t help that Lube had a tight game and didn’t give them much in terms of errors.
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Shame for Dinamo for being totally outplayed but in the end the match went as expected.it was good for Dinamo to take advantage of Vaki’s below par play last week, but what Vakif bring to the table is generally a lot more than Dinamo can handle. Vakif have better ball control, better defence, and versatility in offence. They just beat you in so many different ways. A lot of top teams have experienced such similar domination from them. Maybe Egonu and Piccinini will bring out something special..
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yeah, I agree 100%. Bauru actually played like a really good and organized (!) team yesterday, which was a fun sight. Gabi Cândido is rising to the occasion too and I’m lowkey loving it. lol I do think Sesc will turn it around, but oh boy it’d be fun to see both them and Osasco (mostly Osasco though lmao) out this early.
I wasnt able to watch any of these matches- gutted! - Very surprising. what made the difference? Sesc have got all the skill and should have the tactical ability to tear apart Bauru's passing, and generally they have better block defence. I really thought these would be really telling in this match...wow. I am also surprised about Gabi - I haven't watched a lot of matches but the few I watched she didn't seem to be very effective, especially in her offence. Good to see the young players stepping it up
As for Thaisa- stats would suggest she is improving? I personally think Thaisa, along with Eda form Turkey are rare two middle players who also have good ball control skills, and can pass and set with precision - I quite like to see them playing, so I low-key hope Thaisa is getting better..
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Very hard day at the office for both teams and Kazan were lucky in this match. The referees certainly helped them a bit - but Gdansk helped them more- by slowly bringing them into the match and keeping them in the match by not just being able to have the right intensity and strategy at the right times. They really should have been more ruthless and stingy with errors in that 4th and 5th set. Anyhow, I am hoping to be able to watch Kazan in Berlin in the finals so at least I can selfishly be happy about that.
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Oh my God how many chances does Kazan get to save itself? Set 3, 4 and 5 and now we proceed to Golden Set. I think this match is now close to 3 hours..
Mikhaylov wont be enjoying this because its basically u to him to save his team.. He might need an iron arm after this match lol
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Very bad referee decision at 13-12 against Gdansk - well done for Gdansk to get through that set...
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This is a weird time in this match for Fener- do you fight to win the next 3 sets, or do you save yourself, get a bit of momentum this set and play the golden set? Do you potentially risk playing hard and tiring yourself out of the match.. or hope once you get the momentum it will keep you going?
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I would have liked to see a bit more urgency form Gdansk in this set - given that they are the underdogs. They are slowly allowing Kazan to dominant with some bad errors. I don't see them winning this tie if they lose this set
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Kazan are playing too much with a 'we are the better team' mentality. They are getting caught in trying to work out why Gdansk is winning and not just focusing on their own fundamental plays. They could be less arrogant and a bit more focused as a team.
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well now they've lost both sets. Now they cant lose anymore sets otherwise they are out!! This would probably be the biggest shock of the season..
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So Skra really did win, huh. Just like I thought, this match-up wasn't so one-sided in favor of the Russians after all.
These teams to me are quite evenly matched. They both have the same type of ups and downs. The Camejo situation is also a bit of a nightmare for Zenit. His return might slightly tip the advantage to Zenit, but of course, in what shape will he be in.. This is still anyone's to win - whoever can have the longest steady spell will win
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Chaumont played with very good concentration and a strategy that worked well - they basically made Leon work hard - they served on him and prevented him being involved in a lot of the attach - and once again Leon showed he could play with that pressure. It helps to have such a good player also being very steady throughout the phases of the match.
Unfortunately Chaumont's level dropped a bit in the 4th set after having been on such a high for a long time in the match, and they started making errors and changing their play. Even the 5th set, they lost a bit of concentration at the beginning. Interesting to see how they will turn up to the next match away from home..
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Take away the bad reception, Maja's setting needs to be better - better decisions and more precision. Both Liberos for Dinamo haven't been great either. Scherban's reception is not going to be great ,at least she has been able to make points from her bad reception when front court.
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I agree with you. I think some of Bruno's setting to Juantorena is even faster than last year Christenson's setting. Juantorena did a good job to kill those spikes. However, sometimes the balls are a bit too low.
Since Leal's passing is a nightmare, Bruno's consistency is really crucial for Lube. They need to score as long as the passing is okay during first tempo and seize the chances during transition.
True - and also Juantorena doesn't jump as high as he used to so maybe this is actually better for him (within reason of course). I feel that as much as passing can be a nightmare, its their consistency that is the issue. A lot of times they have been leading in matches and then they start to make silly errors, a mistake on a fairly easy transition ball, random hits out, bad set, etc, which takes away their lead, then they have to pass under pressure because the points are critical. If they can hold their concentration and intensity throughout the phases of the match this would put less pressure on passing. Most often the passing becomes an issue because they will have started generally making random mistakes. In this match, like most of their matches, they were 2 or 3 points up, then randomly lost them, not always because of bad passing - which meant they then had to pass under pressure. In fact, last time I checked Lube's passing efficiency is not the far from their rivals Perugia - but Perugia seem to be more consistent in playing to their strength.
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It was really good that Dynamo gave their fans a good show -after that first set they just continued playing their game. Berezhko and Kooy together with the libero seemed to really be enjoying this game. so close. For Lube I guess they will draw on the positive that yet again this season they have fought their way out of a hole they shouldn't have been in the first place. It seems from what they say these days that they are believing themselves to be very determined - and that is helping them. This will have to do for this season..
They also have the advantage of playing next time at home.
Of course there is a reason why Dynamo are ranked as they are- it means they haven't been able to make the important points as often. Lube would not have been so lucky against another high ranked team..
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Bruno setting super fast and short sets to Juantorena and Leal
Is he ok?Juantorena seems to like it (he is Bruno's N'gapeth replacement lol) , and that generally seems to dictate the outside attack. To be fair to Juantorena he makes it work most of the time. Leal is a bit of a nightmare because it seems to take a lot to get him into the game - fast set, low set, high set ,etc - He seems quite mentally fragile so its not so much about the setting it is about how he feels. I guess this is the problem Bruno also faces with him (together with Bruno's tendency towards manic style setting.
In this team there are few too many unstable people - Bruno with his setting, Leal with passing and hitting, Balaso with his passing and defence... this is why it takes them so much effort to win against consistent teams - because the other team doesn't need to do much more than keep being consistent - case in point whats hppening today.