Posts by Matthias

  • European Olympic Qualification

    All team rosters:


    Kroatien: Biljana Gligorovic (Chieri/ITA), Ana Grbac (Perugia/ITA), Maja Poljak, Katarina Barun (beide Bergamo/ITA), Sanja Popovic, Natasa Osmokrovic (beide Novara/ITA), Marina Katic (Forli/ITA), Matea Ikic (Imola/ITA), Senna Usic (Pioneer/JPN), Mirala Delic (Teneriffa/ESP), Zrinka Petrovic, Lucia Cigic (beide Bukarest/ROU), Marina Miletic (Le Cannet/FRA), Ilijana Dugandzic (Markopulo/GRE), Ivana Milos, Magda Maras, Paola Dosen, Ivana Kamenjarin, Ivana Kalebic (alle Rijeka), Jelena Balic (Split), Beta Dumancic (Osijek), Jelena Alajbeg (Kastela)
    Trainer: Mijo Vukovic


    Rumänien: Elena Butnaru (Sanse/ESP), Roxana Nucu, Carmen Turlea (beide Sassulo/ITA), Daniela Minca, Carmen Marcovici, Mihaela Selaru, Claudia Carstoiu (alle Dinamo Bukarest), Nicoleta Manu, Crina Hosu, Mihaela Herlea, Maria Elisei, Mihaela Truta, Andreea Nitulescu (alle Bacau), Adriana Dumitru, Alina Albu, Nneka Onyejekwe, Ioana Pristavu, Sabina Miclea-Grigoruta (alle Galati), Elena Zaharia, Alexandra Sobo, Maria Chivorchian (alle Neamt), Denisa Drimboi (Rapid Bukarest)
    Trainer: Florin Grapa


    Russland: Marina Akulova, Natalia Kulikova (beide Samorodok), Maria Borodakova, Ekaterina Kabeshova, Ekaterina Gamova, Elena Godina (alle Moskau), Maria Zhadan, Anna Simonova (beide Belgorod), Svetlana Kryuchkova, Yulia Merkulova, Liubov Shashkova, Olga Fateeva, Natalya Safronova, Tatiana Kosheleva (alle Odintsovo), Natalia Alimova (Leningrad), Yulia Sedova (Avtodor-Metar), Ekaterina Chernova (Balakovskaya), Olga Zhitova (Yantar), Marina Sheshenina, Evgenia Artamonova, Alexandra Pasynkova (alle Uralochka)
    Trainer: Giovanni Caprara


    Serbien: Ana Antonijevic, Ivana Djerisilo-Stankovic (beide Zürich/SUI), Aleksandra Avamovic (San Vito/ITA), Jovana Brakocevic (Spess Volley/ITA), Vesna Citakovic (Istanbul/TUR), Sanja Malagurski (Gorica/SLO), Brizitka Molnar, Maja Ognjenovic (beide Galati/ROU), Jelena Nikolic (Bamboo/JPN), Maja Simanic (Rijeka/CRO), Suzana Cebic (Usice), Marta Drpa, Ivana Isailovic, Ivana Nesovic, Nadja Ninkovic, Bojana Zivkovic (alle Zvezda), Amadea Durakovic, Jasna Maistorovic, Silvija Popovic, Natasa Siljkovic, Stefana Veljkovic (alle Belgrad), Jovana Vesovic (Jedinstvo)
    Trainer: Zoran Terzic


    Deutschland: Kathleen Weiß, Linda Dörendahl, Cathrin Schlüter, Berit Kauffeldt (alle Schweriner SC), Mareen Apitz, Kerstin Tzscherlich, Heike Beier, Corina Ssuschke, Anne Matthes (alle Dresdner SC), Maren Brinker, Julia Schlecht (beide TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Dominice Steffen (NA.Hamburg), Saskia Hippe (Köpenicker SC), Birgit Thumm (Allianz Volley Stuttgart), Tanja Hart (1. VC Wiesbaden), Kathy Radzuweit (Imola/ITA), Angelina Grün (Bergamo/ITA), Christiane Fürst (Pesaro/ITA), Hanka Pachale (Perugia/ITA), Cornelia Dumler (Ostiano/ITA), Margareta Kozuch (Sassulo/ITA), Atika Bouagaa (Istanbul/TUR)
    Trainer: Giovanni Guidetti


    Niederlande: Kim Staelens, Francien Huurman, Chaine Staelens, Sanna Visser, Mirjam Orsel, Alice Blom, Janneke van Tienen, Caroline Wensink, Manon Flier, Riette Fledderus, Ingrid Visser, Debby Stam, Susan van den Heuvel, Nikki Hoevenaars (alle Amstelveen), Suzanee Freriks (Atalia/ESP), Elke Wijnhoven (Pesaro/ITA), Floortje Meijners (AMVJ), Judith Pietersen (Lichtenvoorde), Carlijn Jans (Chieri/ITA)
    Trainer: Avital Selinger


    Polen: Katarzyna Skowronska-Dolata (Novara/ITA), Anna Podolec (Balakovska/RUS), Malgorzata Glinka-Mogentale (Murcia/ESP), Dorota Swieniewicz (Alaro/ESP), Milena Rosner (Bergamo/ITA), Maria Liktoras (Moskau/RUS), Mariola Zenik, Izabela Belcik, Aleksandra Przybysz, Kamila Fratczak (alle Muszynianka), Eleonora Dziekiewicz, Anna Baranska, Agata Sawicka (alle Kalisz), Magdalena Sliwa (Krakau), Agnieszka Bednarek, Katarzyna Skorupa, Klaudia Kaczorowska (alle Pila), Katarzyna Gajgal, Milena Sadurek, Paulina Maj, Karolina Ciaszkiewicz (alle Bielsko-Biala), Dominika Koczorowska (Promar)
    Trainer: Marco Bonitta


    Türkei: Elif Agca (Cannes/FRA), Bahar Mert (Türk Telekom), Gülden Kayalar, Naz Aydemir, Ayse Denkel, Esra Gümüs, Neriman Özsoy, Seniye Dalbeler, Selime Ilyasoglu (alle Eczacibasi), Nihan Yeldan, Aysun Özbek, Bahar Toksoy, Deniz Hakyemez, Gözde Kirdar, Duygu Bal, Arzu Göllü (alle Günes Sigorta), Özlem Özcelik, Pelin Celik, Seda Tokatlioglu (alle Fenerbahce), Eda Erdem (Besiktas), Ergül Avci (Yesilyurt)
    Trainer: Alessandro Chiappini

  • European Olympic Qualification

    It is actually quite normal in many countries. I know that in Turkey players who are called in NT must play or otherwise they are banned from league matches. I think it's a general rule that players have to play for their national federation, but most countries don't force players to play if they don't want.

  • European Olympic Qualification

    German 22-player roster for the tournament in Halle:


    Kathleen Weiß, Linda Dörendahl, Cathrin Schlüter, Berit Kauffeldt (all Schweriner SC), Mareen Apitz, Kerstin Tzscherlich, Heike Beier, Corina Ssuschke, Anne Matthes (all Dresdner SC), Maren Brinker, Julia Schlecht (both TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Dominice Steffen (NA.Hamburg), Saskia Hippe (Köpenicker SC), Birgit Thumm (Allianz Volley Stuttgart), Tanja Hart (1. VC Wiesbaden), Kathy Radzuweit (Imola/ITA), Angelina Grün (Bergamo/ITA), Christiane Fürst (Pesaro/ITA), Hanka Pachale (Perugia/ITA), Cornelia Dumler (Ostiano/ITA), Margareta Kozuch (Sassulo/ITA), Atika Bouagaa (Istanbul/TUR)


    Interesting to see Hart and Thumm back. Hart actually had finished her career but Guidetti asked her to play and she agreed. Thumm has recovered from her knee injury and is currently playing in 2nd league. I don't think she will be ready for Halle. Junior player Kauffeldt and Hippe are in the team for the first time, Julia Schlecht is back after 2 year absence.

  • Is Women's Volleyball more exciting than Men's?

    For me women vb is much more interesting to watch. What Russkii says is right, but I simply don't like watching men's volleyball. It's all about power and who hits hardest and fastest. So if Akulova does a dozen technical errors per match (I must have missed those matches...I think she is the perfect setter for a team with Gamova, Godina and Sokolova...but that's another subject), then all male players do a dozen serve errors per match. I watched some matches in last year's European League where I checked the stats afterwards and about 40% of all points came by serve errors, aces or reception errors, thus without a real rallye. Serve power has become too important for men volleyball. In women vb the tendency is going away from hard jump serves to more tactical serves (this is not true for all teams but it is a general tendency), so more interesting rallies can develop. In men vb you just don't see rallies lasting appx one minute.

  • Volleyball matches on European TV

    What satellite do you have? I suppose Astra, because TV Canaria Sat is on Astra. ORF Sport Plus is on that satellite too, it shares frequency with a channel called TW1 (it becomes ORF Sport at 20.00)


    This is the frequency:


    Satellit ASTRA 1 H


    Transponder 115
    Downlink-Frequenz 12,66275
    GHz Symbolrate (MS/s): 22
    Fehlerschutz (FEC): 5/6
    Polarisation: Horizontal
    Audiobit: 1011
    Videobit: 1010

  • Champions’ League 2007/08

    I watched 3 matches (well 2 and a half actually) yesterday and here's my opinion:


    Dinamo vs Schwechat: The Austrian played extremely well for two sets while Dinamo was only Gamova and Liktoras. Gamova is playing position 6 in defense now which is a big weakness. Dinamo's block did not exist in those two sets. Then in 3rd set Schwechat was obviously exhausted after losing two sets so closely.


    Eczacibasi vs Murcia: I watched sets 2+3 of that match. Murcia simply does not play as a team. Glinka may be a good weapon in attack but her weakness in reception is a huge problem for the team. Jaqueline is not as solid as she used to be either. With that reception Fofao cannot show all her abilities. Eczaci served very well and had a good block. Their young setter Naz Aydemir injured her ankle early but she insisted to finish the match and she succeeded after all.


    Marichal vs Martinus: Well what can I say? Marichal without Neslihan is very weak. Olsovsky cannot replace her in any element and neither Tomasevic nor Gordon are strong enough to take over Neslihan's position as leader. Gordon tried her best but she could not do more than she did, Tomasevic played much worse than the stats tell. In the first two sets she was blocked all the time, only in third set she could kill some balls. Also none of the three receivers is very solid so Lamas cannot use the middles well in attack. The Dutch played an average match (although I don't believe the attack stats of Chaine Staelens are true!!!) but it was enough to win easily.

  • European Olympic Qualification

    Well Romania always had good individual players but often they did not play for NT. Now everyone apart from Corjeutanu and Trombitas is there. Minca, Turlea, Butnaru, Marcovici, Nucu, Tolisteanu (new name Manu) and talented young Onyejekwe is a pretty good bunch of players!

  • Russian NT

    Godina had knee surgery in Germany last week by the doctor of Bayer Leverkusen soccer team. She met Guidetti to watch the match of Bayer Leverkusen volleyball team on sunday...I hope she was not too shocked from the low level :D