De Pandis is really bad right now. It's not just reception but the defense and bump set as well.
Their reception line has no connection whatsoever. Sure it's understandable as it's early in the season and Perugia is a great serving team, but It almost looks like Sharifi, Manavi and De Pandis just met each other today and were put on court together to play and do whatever. lol
I wish I were exaggerating, but this is beyond humiliating. Looks like a bunch of scared juniors playing against a pro team.
Yikes @ Verona. 
whatever happened to all the talk that ze would consider calling tifanny?
an even crazier idea... make hooker a brazilian citiizen... LOL.
geez no
Tifanny became a non-topic once people realized 1) she's not all that great 2) the initial "shock" wore off. The typical fear of the unknown.
Geez, Zhu is their leader and most of the time it is up to her to call out their teammates when they are underperforming and lit a fire under their butt. Nothing wrong with that! Everyone in the volleyball world respects her and I am sure it is no different inside the Chinese NT.
Such a beautiful though a bit empty court.
The arena looks grim. There seems to be more photographers than paid attendees.
lmao indeed he might have chosen Poland given how popular volleyball is there, but mostly he did it because his image is completely destroyed here in Brazil. I guess starting over where people are not aware of your wrongdoings is a good move for him...
Final of the Paulista Championship between SESI-SP and Funvic/Taubaté is live here:
I saw this match is scheduled in FIVB site
Oh damn, you're right lol That has got to be a joke, right?
Usa will have to play the final for the 5th place against Japan,so Hill won't join Imoco before the Italians.
Folie said some time ago that she won't be back on court before December/January
Huh? There is no match for 5th place in the WCH though.
So I think bringing these 2 things up is pointless, and leads to endless discussion and fights. (for ex. whether Hooker should or should not be back.) We should all focus on other things that we think can make this US team better
It's important to remember to breathe as well. 
Just kidding!
I don't understand the hypocrite accusation..His system proves to be limiting and and in a lot of ways not very effective. I can't say he is a failure tho he just need to rethink his strategy and his goals moving forward.
That's perfectly put.
Hooker didn't do shit in Minas last year. The team even won the South American Championship without her and failed miserably in Superliga semifinals when she was there. She's past her prime and hasn't played in world level for over 6 years now.
I think Karch missed the mark almost exactly like ZRG, that being in team building. Dude should've brough Drews as a back-up for Lowe (and left Murphy home, forever) and some of the other girls who were doing great in the second team (Ogbogu, Kingdon). But what do I know...
I agree with you. The older players are almost all Barueri players and we know for a fact that he loves to use the Barueri's card.
But I don't agree when somebody says that we don't have quality in this generation, we never saw this new generation play because they never have the chance! We only see a little bit of Rosamaria (when she was playing her best volleyball, she was sacked), Gabi (Can I put Bia in this group yet?). It is difficult to measure the quality of a player in NT level if she not have the opportunity to play in NT level! I was reading some old news about Brazil's NT and renovation after Beijing and the blogs were attacking A LOT Thaisa because she was not at "Walewska level" and she wrote her history quite well.
We need giving chance for the young ones and not put a lot pressure on them. They are not at golden generation level yet, and probably they will not be, but they need the oportunity to shine and to prove themselves. But Brazil does not know not being on top, it will be pretty difficult
Most of the times I do think there isn't enough talent currently, especially for world level, but I agree with you that the ones we might have don't get enough chances to play. I think it's important to remember that for some players, this was only their second year with the NT (Roberta, Bia, Suelen, Gabiru, Rosamaria, Drussyla, even Tandara as a starter). And most of them had an injury one time or another. Failures are bound to happen. I think most of the disappointment right now comes from how the defeats happened, given the teams never reached the podium in any of the tournaments they played and that might be clouding our judgement a little bit.
I said it before, but I just hope the younger ones can build on their best past performances and also improve their mentality in this next Superliga. That might be a little bit wishful thinking though.
I really think that Ze knows more than everyone else here thinks, and it's just a matter of time before we see some drastic change in the NT.
I highly doubt that. Even in his post-elimination interview he said (although not with these exact words) that he still wants to count with the older players in the future.
Final match of the Mineiro Championship (pre-Superliga tournament) is taking place right now between Sada Cruzeiro and Fiat/Minas.
Anyone can watch it here: https://www.facebook.com/porta…/videos/2147049628901909/
Ravenna already seems well gelled together as a team. Milano is kind of a mess, but I expect them to do better as the season goes on.
I expected Argenta to start over Rychlicki by the way. but I guess this way works too.
Fabi was the absolute best. She even knew when to retire as well, as her performance was starting to decline a little bit for the last couple of seasons. I can only hope there will be someone as good as her in the future.
I am hoping for good performances of youger players as well. I am trying to follow the development of Diana, a MB playing for São Caetano this season. She has a good slide attack and seems consistent for her age (18 y/o). In OH position, I guess we are well served with many attackers with poor reception skills, so I guess maybe he could try Mari Paraíba and Amanda again.
If they play well, I would love to see Edinara (as OPP) and Milka with the main NT.
Damn, I was just writing about Diana while you posted this. lol I'm really rooting for her. I remember last year when she entered a game and made like, 7 blocks in just a few sets. She has the height and raw talent and hopefully Rizola works well with her.
I'm not sure about Edinara as OPP, she's too short and I think she hits better from position 4. Too bad her reception is horrible.
Also, I understand why Mari Paraíba gets brought up all the time, but if we're looking for an actual renewal (which I think is what the team needs), she's not that. Neither is Amanda.
Júlia Bergmann is 17. She hasn't won anything significant in the youth categories yet, let alone play a game in the Superliga.
I'm personally looking forward to Diana Alecrim (19, MB) this year. She might (hopefully) be a starter in São Caetano and I believe she has the potential to be a good asset in the future. I really wish Vivian Jorge (S) would play more as well. She has already played one or two seasons as a bench player in Brasília and I think she can become a great setter in the future from what I've seen.
As for the other positions, there's... Glayce? She has played one or two seasons already but is still super shaky. There's Tainara too and I hope Zé lets her play in Barueri this year, but...
Let me make sure that I'm just throwing names around and not saying these players are our salvation and should be in the NT at all costs. I'm just trying to be hopeful. lol
Ze really put an end to the career of drussyla and rosamaria with the insistence of amanda in the vleague.
Drussyla is literally 22 years old and Rosa 24. How exactly is this the end of their career?
