Posts by Realista

Quote from Andreavillar

I remembered that most players of club Italy went on to play the national U18 last year. So I guess that it was a possibility for Mafrendini to play that tournament

She's not Fedorovtseva after all, did she get a call for wide VNL roster? If not, it's not like she would have had anything serious to do volleyball-wise regardless. In male event, Bovolenta from senior NT camp came by and crushed every team individually, and yet Ravenna barely won a title, it was hilarious to follow.

Premi individuali

Miglior Centrale: Princess Atamah - VolleyRò Casal de Pazzi

Miglior Schiacciatrice: Merit Adigwe- Imoco Volley

Miglior libero: Anna Bardaro - Imoco Volley

Miglior Palleggiatrice: Safa Allaoui – Volleyrò Casal de Pazzi

MVP: Merit Adigwe- Imoco Volley

Princess Atamah sounds like cute Disney character.

Manfredini played in Moma Anderlini which finished 5th (she was MVP of the regional qualies, so I guess she was there).

All the games were streamed on FIPAV YT Channel if anyone is interested.

Quote from Sentenza_69

Novara is truly a joke: by now one could write a book with the nonsense they have done in the last few years...

If Lavarini wanted to leave, there's not that much they could have done in this case.

Bernardi in female volleyball will be fun. Not necessarily good, but definitely fun, lol.

Quote from Umu11

The previous system did not work but this one also does not work. It is not like this is OG where you need a lot of construction etc. One of the semi finalists can be the host, hotels and logistics can be arranged in a few weeks, and it would be fair. CEV really needs to put volleyball first, not their financial expectations. We all know how greedy and corrupt they are. It is not like yesterday was a major, jaw-dropping organization. I also remember the days when 3rd place was a major achievement and teams still fought hard, even after being defeated the previous day. In the last years, 3rd place matches were just boring because it doesn’t mean anything anymore. They don’t even give the champion a spot in the next editon. They have to make it more appealing. I am sorry but having those weak teams in the name of diversity is just stupid. There are a lot of one sided games in the group stage and those are not off putting for us but for teams as well. They have been including some teams/countries for years, yet we haven’t had a new team that invest in volleyball for years. Quality over quantity.

Yeah, just increase number of spots for top leagues and suddenly the average level of competition will increase. Don't pretend that we have any parity in club volleyball if 7th/8th-best Italian team is much better than some CL-participants, the same for couple of Turkish teams that would definitely increase a level of competition.

Then, delete Challenge Cup and make it two-level competition, so increased number of participants in CL wouldn't decrease the level of lower cups.

Like I said to serdar - I don't like Final Four formula from the past, but Final Four without semi's spot guaranteed would be great.

It's kind of irritating that it would be so easy to make this competition much better. And i'm not even that critical of CEV in this sense that there are obstacles for volleyball as a sport on club level very difficult to jump over, and people think this is on CEV, what's a bit unfair. Yet, current formula is maintained because CEV gets more money from paying fees etc. and not because this is the best for the fans or clubs.

Quote from serdar

I think they should definitely bring final 4 vibes again. Traveling to another country for just one game is not very practical. I would have definitely traveled to Italy If it was final 4 system🤷

Final Four concept was disastrous from fair play perspective since one team was automatically advanced to the semifinals of CL after group phase. Basically teams were buying themselves CL-semifinal spot, imagine convincing someone from outside that volleyball is a serious sport with such rules.

The problem was at some point no one wanted to organize Final Four even with such prerogative, and without it there was no discussion, CEV had to change the whole formula.

All in, this is a better formula now.

Volleyball is just too small as a sport, especially in case of club volleyball.

This is performance for the ages by Egonu, sweet mother of Paola.

Quote from volleyball22

if I remember right, in his first season in Warsaw he was good and he stayed there and then the whole team had a really bad season and I think he got benched by Blankenau

In first season he was ~okay, but was criticized heavily because Warszawa was painful to watch, in 2nd season he played mostly as a starter, with sometimes Blankenau taking his turn, but Warszawa was in general atrocious as a team. He should be fine though for a team from 9-12 places tier, but he's nothing special.

Quote from Paperoga

Trinidad de Haro to Taranto. I honestly don’t know him too well, is he a good setter?

That depends what do you mean by a good setter. He played in Poland for two years and was as mediocre as anyone, basically. Not bad per se, but definitely not good as well. He just was.

Juantorena can be a good pickup if he wasn't too expensive, I see him in rotational role next year in Modena. If he got anything near to star-level contract and is expected to be one, then, well, good for him, lol.

What an unpredictable league this Serie A competition has become past few years with a surprising new champion once again.

Seriously speaking, kudos to Conegliano for making it 89th time in a row, and Monza for making it more competitive than anyone thought at some point of this season, it was entertaining to follow, even if Conegliano went full Conegliano and Monza went full Monza in the latter part of the series.

Milano, jesus*

Quote from serdar

Indeed Mirza's performance was impressive this season attackwise. He attacked with 55% as (best among outsides, and third best attacker after ter maat and Nimir). His problem is reception. Also his serve needs to improve.

What did you think about Efe's reception this season? It was his weakness before he transferred to Italy and considering his short height, he really needs to excel at reception/defense.

Yeah, I saw Mirza's stats and him having really terrible serving splits and average reception stats, with the highest attack rate in a league among OHs - he's a real talent physically, so I'm not critical about him in general, but wonder if he gets polished enough to play a major role in your NT soon.

Efe had shaky reception all season long, not bad per se, but definitely not stable on top level such as Serie A. Sedlacek who played a season ago in Turkey was much more impactful player for Cisterna both defensively and offensively, and despite a fact he got hired by Jastrzębski Węgiel for the next season, let's say he's not a world-class OH either, to say it nicely.

Quote from serdar

You are right, he was considered as next in line after Arslan but I don't know how his season in Polish league was.🤔

He was really solid, upper half of the setters in a league level-wise, why he is absent here?

Efe B. had some ridiculous curve of development this season - he was mediocre all year long and then like 3 legs before the end of the season started to serve like crazy and had over 20 aces in 6-7 games span, lol. I was kind of disappointed with both Mirza's (based on stats) and Bayram's seasons, so looking forward if they get a chance from Giuliani.

Quote from Umu11

I personally do not want N’gapeth for several reasons. He is expensive and unmotivated. He is overweight during club season and this shows that he lacks professionalism. The current coach, if you can call him a coach, is simply unqualified and cannot manage a team with high ambition. One can wonder how the hell he is going to manage that shitty guy with many shitty troubles in his bag.

Ngapeth is a dumb move from perspective of some European Cup ambitions/salary-level of play ratio, but I don't think he's nearly as big off-court trouble as his reputation suggests. Nimir and Ngapeth in Modena had this laid-back dynamic, and to be honest this is something that perhaps is a reason why Nimir tends to underperform from time to time in clutch games. Ngapeth just doesn't give a damn, but he'll be still probably around a level of the best OH in the Turkish league.

With Atanasov (Novosibirsk), Juantorena (Modena), Jaeschke (Japan), Bruno (Spain?), Ferreira, Louati (Poland) - I don't even know who's gonna play in Turkey besides some mid-level players like Kujundzic.

Quote from yudeko

And why do I feel like Ngapeth and Nimir’s personalities will clash?

Because you didn't follow Modena season where both had good chemistry on a court.

Well, you can argue that on 'institutional' level Perugia isn't well predestined to compete for major titles - perhaps this is true - but my point is that even these collapses from the past were nowhere near to what happened this year. Bernardi lost to Kazan in CL and Civitanova in the finals, Heynen lost to Civitanova twice in Coppa Italia final and once in league finals, then Grbic won Coppa Italia, lost to Trentino after golden set in CL and lost to Civitanova in the finals of Serie A.

Anastasi? Lost to Piacenza in Coppa Italia and Milano/Monza in the league. Considering a fact that Perugia had 30+ winning streak, as much as I agree that Perugia may not be too 'healthy' of a club, I don't think this year you can argue that Sirci built this team in a bad way etc. Considering how weak is Trentino this season, for me Perugia would have swept the playoffs with their regular season shape. So as much as I agree as well that these annual coach's substitutions were erratic - I don't think any club would keep Anastasi doing such bad job. Thus, this year's collapse in my eyes is on Anastasi as this is the worst season in a decade for Perugia.

Quote from VBdiamond

Maybe Sir Safety didn't want to play Challenge Cup at all. Long trips, zero appeal = waste of money.

Naah, Sirci said that they want to play in cups next year and if not, they would have played with back-ups like Modena.

I guess players could lack motivation, but it's not an excuse, Davyskiba will leave Monza and was fantastic yesterday.

Quote from side.out

On the other hand, I don't know what to say about Perugia. It's unbelievable how poorly they've performed when something was on the line and I think it says a lot of how exasperated the enviroment is. It's not just about having the strongest players, but Sirci doesn't seem to care about it.

This season is easily on Anastasi - yeah, Perugia wasn't too successful club in terms of legit victories, but it's not like they had any problems in qualifying to CL in previous years, basically they were losing only to Civitanova in this 2018-22 span in Italy. So to lose to Milano and Monza is like the worst season for Perugia in a decade (basically since Sirci started to invest in a club), and it's impressive how bad Anastasi had to be as a coach. The funniest part is that he got hired by Piacenza, lol.

Damn, Blengini once again doing miracles as a coach, it's really rare to find a coach who is criticized as much as him, and who does wonders at the end of the season twice in a row.

2-2 and Game 5 in the finals is a huge win for Civitanova this year regardless of a final outcome. Trentino should be really happy with letting Lorenzetti go even if they win scudetto.

Terrible months for volleyball with Naonobu, Julia and now Ana Paula.

Quote from tunc

Ana Cristina-Gabi duo may be the best in Volleyball history

Wow, this is a reach, considering e.g., Mireya-Bell pair swept two Olympics and two WCHs as a starting duo, so that's a benchmark accolades-wise.

But yeah, it reminds the good old days with Mari, Paula, Jacque etc. - pretty impressive to follow.

With so limited market and Turkish clubs being able to afford top-tier OHs - Italian clubs will suffer badly in years to come with their OHs lineups.

Sylla playing like a serious OH every second game at best makes 3-0 swing in favor of her team.