Posts by TimHH

Quote from YavorD

Neighboring Germany takes the torch from Austria as the northern port of Hamburg will host the 2019 World Championship. Source. Germany will host the Worlds for the second time in history, Berlin had the previous honour back in 2005.

A lot will happen until then, but who knows, maybe finally a good reason to visit Tim in Hamburg

Its gonna be cool and yes, if someone is intending to come over here or is in need of travel advice, just let me know.

EDIT:

Just by todays news, the wildcards will go to:

Bergmann/Harms (GER)

Walkenhorst/Winter (GER)

Ranghieri/Caminati (ITA)

Quote from Matthias

Actually Moritz was serving great all the match, so he deserved ending it with an ace

It looks his teammates were somewhat expecting that ace.....

Also a lot of hugging and cuddling going on there so i am sure one or another user may like it......

https://de-de.facebook.com/sccberlin/videos/839296933105992/

Congratulations to Berlin. Speaking just of today, they deserved to win the match. You just can't play like Friedrichhafen did in the first two sets. Imho the setter change came a little too late. You could see almost from the beginning than Janouch was off today....

Changing the setter was the key for Friedrichhafen's comeback. Everyone is playing much better and more confident now.

Last set of the season. Lets go

Third set for Friedrichshafen, we finally have a match.....

Crucial time for Patch comes now. Lets see if he can stand the heat. So far, he is playing very well....

Boladz and Janouch have a terrible connection today. They have to raise their game and/or otherwise Heynen has to change.....

Bad start for Friedrichshafen. they don't look ready yet for that kind of match. I suppose we will see redwitz for janouch soon.

Quote from TimHH

5th match

Sun, 12.05. Friedrichshafen vs. Berlin (14.30 CET)

Today

Livestream: https://tv.sport1.de/player/player.php?id=s559139 (assumably only with german IP)

Done deals in Bundesliga:

Julian Zenger (L) from United Volleys to Berlin.

Noah Baxpöhler MB) from Lüneburg to Spacers Toulouse

Paulo Victor Costa Da Silva (D ) from Sesc Rio de Janeiro to Alpenvolleys

Luke Smith (OH) from Lubin to United Volleys

Matthias Valkiers (S) from Lille to United Volleys

Blain Cranston (S, CAN) to United Volleys

Players leaving their clubs with unknown destinations:

Cody Kessel (OH), Ray Szeto (OH), Ryan Sclater (O), Adam Schriemer (S) from Lüneburg.

Adam Kocian (S), Maxim Buculjevich (S), Moritz Karlitzek (OH) from United Volleys.

Pavel Halaba (OH), Kirill Klets (O), Hugo da Silva (OH) from Alpenvolleys

Quote from YavorD

The commentator of yesterday's match made a very interesting remark regarding Heynen's Friedrichshafen. He talked in general about their style, patience, defence, and attempts to reduce errors at any cost, and he questioned whether this approach is destined to work in a best-of-5 final series. He mentioned their record regular season last campaign and yet it was still not enough to beat Berlin in the play-offs where Heynen dropped the 5th and last match at home. We have a similar scenario this year where, although Friedrichshafen did not really dominate the league completely, are heading to a decider at home. It would be way too cruel if they miss it again in the same fashion, especially with Berlin's massive letdown throughout most of the campaign and with Heynen leaving. He is a guy who delivers and usually won't leave unfinished business, this is why I think he will find a way to beat Berlin on Sunday, but I am curious to see Friedrichshafen perform in the very last match.

Yeah, all true. With Heynen and, as i assume, key players like Sossenheimer and Boladz leaving, the chances of winning the title won't be bigger next season. So for Friedrichshafen it is probably "now or never".

Regarding yesterdays match (stats), we saw Berlin's OHs taking more swings than usual. Especially Reichert had a great game and contributed a lot to the victory. Patch was starting again over Russell, who reportedly felt slightly ill. And, i was critical in the past, it needs to be said that german MB Georg Klein is doing really well in the finals, while LeGoff is warming the bench.....

5th match

Sun, 12.05. Friedrichshafen vs. Berlin (14.30 CET)

Carambula is back

Quote from Helios

I really hope Linus Weber will get more time on court. He has some potentials but need more playing time in the team.

Yes, i am also curious. I am not sure whether he can deliver already against the very best but surely he will get his chance.

If we talk about the young players i am also interested in Anton Brehme. Imho he is a massively talented MB who could add a lot to the team especially if we talk about the offensive part.

I haven't seen much of the series so far but from what i have seen and read, it is a very good and exciting series. Friedrichshafen seems to be the more solid and balanced team and it pays out that, apart from the setter, the core of the team is playing together already in their second year. Man of the playoffs so far is Bartek Boladz. He was great in the quarters and has also delivered in the finals.

Opposites for Berlin seems to be another topic. Russell has taken over from Patch and the fact that young german player Linus Weber was favoured for the double subs let me assume that coach Enard has somewhat given up on Patch. If we just talk about the performances this is a really hard call from Enard. I don't think that Russell in fact is a better player than Patch so reasons for that downgrade are a bit dubious.

But still, Berlin has enough individual quality, especially from the service line to win the next match on home court. And then lets see what happens in a deciding 5th match.

4th match:

Wed, 08.05, Berlin vs. Friedrichshafen (18.30 CET)

Giani selected 23 players for the upcoming VNL tournament:

http://www.volleyball-verband.…n-vorbereitung-am-3--mai/

Setters:

Lukas Kampa (J. Wegiel), Adam Kocian (United Volleys), Tomas Kocian (Düren), Jan Zimmermann (Maaseik)

Outside Hitters:

Christian Fromm (J.Wegiel), David Sossenheimer (Friedrichshafen), Moritz Karlitzek (United Volleys), Denys Kaliberda (Modena), Ruben Schott (Gdansk), Moritz Reichert (Berlin), Tim Peter (Herrsching)

Middle Blocker:

Markus Böhme (Olympiacos P.), Noah Baxpöhler (Lüneburg), Anton Brehme (VCO Berlin), Jacob Günthör (Friedrichshafen), Tobias Krick (United Volleys), Lukas Maase (Düren), Louis Kunstmann (VCO / United Volleys)

Opposites:

Simon Hirsch (Milano), Christoph Marks (Ortona), Linus Weber (VCO / BR Volleys)

Libero:

Julian Zenger (United Volleys), Ivan Batanov (VCO Berlin)

Grozer will skip VNL but he will join the team later towards ECH. Other names missing are Friedrichhafen's Phillip Collin and Daniel Malescha who probably both declined invitation.

There is a rich choice beween many decent OHs, albeit no one actually represents (yet?) real worldclass. But still It will be a tough job for Giani to find the best working pairing.

It will be interesting too, which setter will be selected for the spot behind Kampa. Tomas Kocian played a very good season in Düren and imo deserves a chance to play in VNL. Zimmermann will have to do well when he gets a chance, in order to keep his place.

As expected, Berlin and Friedrichshafen advanced to the finals. In both series quality prevailed in the end. Both adversaries, Lüneburg and Alpenvolleys gave decent resistence but overall missed their chances when they were there. So Berlin won in 4 and Friedrichshafen in 3 matches.

Especially Lüneburg should have won a couple of more sets in the series but whenever the score was close, Friedrichshafen was their usual self and either served aces (Boladz), defended well or simply waited for Lüneburg to make the error. Very frustrating..... I would say that this kind of play will not be enough for a final series against a newly confident Berlin. So it will be interesting to see, whether they can find a path towards more aggression without loosing their normal strenghts (risk management, block/defence). They failed to do this in last years finals and accordingly lost. So overall, i would see Berlin as a slight favourite but i do hope for a tight and exciting series.

Schedule (best of five):

Sat, 27.04 Friedrichshafen vs. Berlin (17.30 CET)

Thu, 02.05 Berlin vs. Friedrichshafen (18.30 CET)

Sun, 05.05 Friedrichshafen vs. Berlin (14.30 CET)

So much love between Earvin and Ata....

Perugia will need one of their big guns Leon/Atanasejevich to start a show. As a team, Kazan looks better at the moment. Perfect execution so far by the middles.....

Quote from Fujii-3

King of today : Earvin N'Gapeth!!!!

Looking at the stats sheet of the match, it still has to be pointed out, that both Anderson and Ngapeth had an incredible offensive performance in this match. Reaching such a good success ratio while almost entirely avoiding mistakes and kill blocks is a perfect example of great risk management and efficiency. Some praise, obviously, should also go to Butko's distribution/precision. Given how close this match was, this for sure was a key for the victory. But It is hard to imagine that they can repeat that kind of performance and/or that Perugia allows this to happen again.

So i think, once Leon finds back his service mojo, there is actually a decent chance for Perugia to turn this around. That being said, i hope Kazan will make it, in order to "avoid" an all-italian night in Berlin.....

Quote from TimHH

Tonight, 19 CET, third and deciding matches:

BR Volleys vs. Düren

Lüneburg vs. Frankfurt

Berlin and Lüneburg advanced to the semis.

Schedule (best of five):

10.04. Friedrichshafen vs. Lüneburg (20 CET)

13.04. Lüneburg vs. Friedrichshafen (20 CET)

17.04. Friedrichshafen vs. Lüneburg (20 CET)

10.04. Alpenvolleys vs. Berlin (19 CET)

13.04. Berlin vs. Alpenvolleys (17.30 CET)

17.04. Alpenvolleys vs. Berlin (19 CET)

Tonight, 19 CET, third and deciding matches:

BR Volleys vs. Düren

Lüneburg vs. Frankfurt

stream: https://www.sporttotal.tv/live…AD-4355-9C7E-A25D1B9D0329

Both Düren and Frankfurt won great 5-set-battles on Wednesday and well deserved this third match. While it is hard to imagine that Düren can repeat their performance from Wednesday, Frankfurt may have a slight psychological advantage, coming back from 0:2 to tie the series.