Posts by SoloBlock

Sonja Newcombe has been the best player by far in the 5-8 playoffs. She can serve, pass, hit and block. I would love to see her on one of the top Turkish teams. She is such an under rated player. Its just my opinion but I think Sonja has had the best season of any all around OH other than Kim in Turkey.

Canter, It will not be possible to watch 5-8 matches??? I agree foreign players for these teams are very good.

In my opinion, Bursa and Sariyer have the most balance, with good local players. Idmanocagi and Nilufer have the best foreign players but local players are not so good.

I am also very excited for Vakif and Fener match today

If it is true about Kim in Vakif then she will play with Naz who is good. But the speed of the set is still different than Glass. My opinion is that Kim would struggle in Turkey, especially compared to the expectations people would have. I would prefer she stay in Novara at least one more season

Serve-Receive in Turkish league is far more difficult than Italian league. If you look at the players that have played in both leagues it is very clear. However, I think Hill could do ok with reception but I would be concerned with her attack.

3-0 Vakifbank

It was a very bad match. Newcombe was the only player that looked alive for Idmanocagi. Vakif looked solid, they executed well despite the poor opponent

It would be really nice if Halkbank made a strong womens team that could compete with some of the big clubs from Istanbul

both are horrible but I prefer Tugce if I had to choose

Quote from Canter

i think at the end of the season,Wang's adventure in turkey will come to an end..

I agree she has been a big disappointment. She is not able to adjust to the poor setting

I feel so bad for Sonja, she is playing so hard and doing well , but her team is so bad. Without Pieterson it is a real struggle for Idmanocagi. Vakif is playing well and digging everything. Also idmanocagi setter has to be the worst in the entire league

This is the same for many teams outside the top 4. Nilufer, Idman Ocagi and Besiktas would all benefit greatly from a better setter.

Azeryol's wing spikers were absolutely miserable today. It is a shame to see a teem with such a big budget waste it because they have no reception and inconsistent attack. Busto's wing spikers were not much better but they received the ball much better for the most part and that was the biggest difference.

I appreciate USAvolleyfan's breakdown of Meijners W-L, I did not realize it was so low, especially with her scoring so many points. However the W-L argument is the same for Bosetti. In 8 of 15 matches in Turkish league she has had a W-L of 0 in 2 matches and negative W-L in 6 matches. Her total W-L for the season is +48. I know that her role is to play defense and pass but I just expected a little bit more from her. In comparison, a player who plays the same role in her team Newcombe from Idman Ocagi the 5th place team is +101 on the season through 15 games and has no negative W-L matches.

I tend to agree

Quote from USAvolleyfan

Well I think they did transfer good players, only neither of them is performing as expected except Bosetti.. Gamze is not as good as last season, Centoni is a shadow of what we've seen in Cannes.. can't even speak for Meijners because in Piacenza she was not only terminating balls but she was receiving good, not great, but good enough for an attacking OH.. Asli is the only middle working for them.. Melis and Ozgenur are really bad, I expected much more from Ozgenur, they did too.. So now the best thing would be transferring a foreign MB and playing with Ezgi as OH.. But it's not going to happen.. I am sure if they knew things would turn like this they would've kept Neriman and sign a foreign MB.. I don't know how things would look like in Vakif and Fener next season but they should try and sign Bahar/Kubra or Dicle/Gokcen if Rasic and Robin or Eda and Bauer are staying..

I think Bosetti has been equally as disappointing as Centoni or Meijners. Centoni is killing the ball ok, Turkish league is more difficult than French league and her setter is not as good in Gala as it was in Cannes. Meijners is also killing the ball well. She cannot be expected to pass well. Turkish league is also more difficult for reception than Italy. Bosetti has been a bit inconsistant in my opinion and seems like she has been negative in her stats more than positive. There are many talented players in Turkish league this year and things are not as easy for Gala as they have been.

Players in the league that are playing the same role as Bosetti are out performing her in my opinion. Even if you exclude players from the top 3 teams you still have Newcombe, Nizetich, and Skowronska who are all outperforming her. I am not saying Bosetti has been bad either, but maybe a little inconsistent and not up to the level of some of the other players but she is still a solid player.

Overall I think Gala is struggling a little because of the quality of the league more than lack of quality from some of its players. Other teams have just made some good transfers as well

My World Cup 2014 Roster:

S: Glass, Thompson
OPP: Fawcett, Murphy
MB: Akinradewo, Harmotto, Adams, Dixon
OH: Larson, Hill, Robinson, Newcombe
LIB: Banwarth, Hagglund

Quote from Meatballs

I agree on Efetugberk. Middles are useless except Asli Kalac and now according to voleybolextra, Asli is injured and will be away for a month.
Don't know who will be the sub for Özgenur-Melis duo. From this two, Özgenur has better blocking skills but bad in attack. Melis is bad in both unfortunately. The last Besiktas game stats show that Gamze set to the middles only 9 times in 5 sets, which means Barbolini told her clearly not to set to the middles at all. He clearly does not trust them. Maybe it's time for Arias to join GsD


In my opinion, Bosetti has been doing fine. She is transferred to receive and make good defense. She does both fine, moreover her serve rotation is one of the best rotations. So far she has not been attacking very bad either. Expecting over 15 points per game from her is unrealistic though.
Besides her good ambitions, Meijners transfer is the worst so far. She is quite unpredictable, has really bad connection with the setter, receives bad and makes too many errors in crucial points. When she is in back row, defense is really horrible.
Setter Gamze also showed that she incapable for being a starter. Her sets are often roof high. Poor Centoni has to change her approach every time, because one set is roof high, next one is super low. Especially today, most sets were really high, close to the net and right into the block. Gamze is simply pulling down the team's attacking percentage.

Don't know how much they pay to Meijners but if they kept Neriman and Veljkovic, the team could at least win set/sets against top 3 teams.

Btw, Nilufer's setter Gizem Giraygil won't play the season due to her injury and they lost 3-0 against Vakifbank today with a really bad game.
So I guess GsD will still finish the season 4th.

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  I would not assume GsD will place 4th. They have difficult matches ahead. They play at Nilufer and at Idman Ocagi. GsD will not take points from any of the top 3 and lost in first half to Nilufer. Idman Ocagi has very strong foreign players and play well at home. Today they were within 1 point of going to 5 with Fenerbahce. GsD could be in danger of finishing as low as 6th
  

Quote from Meatballs

Yeah, especially Pena? Hard to say how bad she is but I guess much worse than Birgul. Could be better with Karis-Rivera duo and Milos as foreigners.

I watched Bursa and Idmanocagi match. I actually thought Rivera played well. I am shocked to see the statistics. I think the stat keeper was very harsh on reception judgment for both teams. I thought the match was played on a very good level and both teams passed and played well. Rivera stats do not show her level in this match. However Pena was very useless. Bursa lost to a good team, but I think they will be ok and can continue to compete on a good level.

I also felt Sonja was very good for Idmanocagi. She scored the final 2 points in the 4th and was very important in the last two sets. I really think the stat keeper was very harsh in this match with reception statistic. It is hard to judge teams and players by only looking at statistic.

Really sad to see Kinga go. I hope she can recover well from her injury.

Canter you are correct, Sonja first time in Turkey she was top scorer in the league before she left. I think her current club needs to give her better and more opportunities because she is still very efficient but not getting enough opportunities. Last time in Turkey she was given the most chances and performed well. Fewer sets should be given to Pietersen and Wang and more to Newcombe.

Also I agree with you that lower teams lack reception. It seems that each team has only one person that can receive instead of 3. Even Liberos on lower teams cannot receive well