Posts by JoanaBG

pope wrote:

Is Popovic injured? I was thinking she lost her starting spot but today Candi and Alberti were really bad and Popovic has never brought in.

That's exactly what I'm wondering. I guess she's injured again, I don't see another reason why she wouldn't be given a chance at some point with Alberti and Candi hardly setting the world on fire with their performance. Too bad if that's the case, she's already been through more than enough injuries.

Veljković is hideously underused in Novara. 6 sets in the entire match? That's laughable for someone with her abilities. I really wish she played with Wolosz or Hancock.

beri wrote:

Krsmanovic was pretty good in Seramiksan last season. She also helped Alba Blaj (+together with a bunch of other players) kick out GS indeed.

I'm not sure what her current shape is though, did she play at all this season?

She played in Serbian league over the last month and a half and she did alright, considering the overall level of the league and her team (neither of which is really high). She's been much more of a force in attack than in blocking.

I've always thought she's one of those players who get the job done but mostly go unnoticed because of their quiet and unassuming demeanour. Terzić also lamented her lack of inner drive and ambition that prevented her from becoming an even better player. At her best, she was a mighty fine player and she definitely has some volleyball in her still, but it can't be denied she's in the twilight of her career and a move to a club like Eczacibasi certainly is rather weird. But of course, good for her and I hope she can make an impact.

Malinov is not really shining (yet) this season. Her game is not fluid at all and she depends way too much on Haak to bail them out. And when Haak isn't firing, well... This happens.

Speaking of her, of course Haak is entitled to a bad day like everyone else, but it's weird that the one time that everyone else does their part, she completely bombs. It tends to happen the other way around. I mean, to score as many points as Adenizia and Stevanović, and fewer than Bosetti (!), that's very unusual. Moreover, she gave away in errors exactly as many points as she scored.

But I'm sure she'll bounce back soon enough, maybe in the next match already.

Sidney wrote:

Scandicci

What in the world happened to them? I didn't watch the match, but the stats seems very weird. It looks like everyone did a decent job for a change... except for Haak. That's new.

Meatballs wrote:

I don't get it why he picked her for his club team though.

That was before her mediocre performances in VNL and all the supposed drama with Maja's comeback, though.

She used to be one of the world's best setters, obviously she's not on that level anymore, but I don't think she's doing terribly either. There are only a handful of setters out there who would do a significantly better job. And I certainly don't think she's overusing Vargas, a dominant OPP like her will always get the most sets, her attack percentage is extremely high and it makes perfect sense. Besides, Bricio gets her fair share of sets, too, so it's hardly like when Novara turns into Novonu. Her connection with Eda is iffy on occasion, but for some reason she seems to work very well with Nur Babat.

I agree that Fatma had a really good start to the season, but she's fading away badly lately and it's becoming a problem to the team.

But I think Fenerbahce's biggest problem in general is their tendency to choke and crack under pressure.

It's happened before to Serbian workers in Russia, whether they were willingly doing illegal business there or were tricked by their employers (which is basically what Slađana's case comes down to). The Russian immigration service is ice cold ruthless - if you don't have the money to buy them off, that is.

I noticed that Slađana Erić wasn't on the roster for Proton Saratov in this round. It turns out that the explanation is more than bizarre - apparently, the club didn't properly arrange the paperwork regarding her visa, so on the way to Chelyabinsk in the previous round, she got detained at the airport by the police and then deported from Russia as an illegal immigrant. That's so unprofessional that it defies belief.

Matthias wrote:

Yes, Uralochka plays with 2nd team. All starters are absent.

Oh great, and this is one of the two TV matches on SportKlub for this round, the other being Vakifbank vs Plovdiv

I'd say Danesi is having a great season and is easily the best Italian MB at the moment. Sylla is still extremely inconsistent and you never know what you'll get from her, but when she's on, she's unstoppable. Malinov has been rather underwhelming so far.

Chirichella is not doing well but it has to be said that Carlini is making her life very difficult. Yes, she should be doing better in the blocking aspect regardless of the setter, but her confidence must be pretty shaken and it shows in her entire game. We saw what it looked like in the Cup final when Camera came in and gave her a couple of sets she could actually work with and boosted her spirits, she immediately became a much bigger force at the net as well.

serdar wrote:

Oh man come on, don't be such a drama seeker! You always blame Beri for doing this but you are even worse. Why would be the first thing that comes to your mind is her relationship with Skorupa?

A different commentator was covering the final and he also touched upon this subject, but also expanded it a bit. Apparently the problem is that she's lazy in trainings and often even skips them, and is acting a bit like a diva. She seems well liked by her team mates, though, so if there's any truth to all this, it's probably between her and the staff/management.

Veljković and Chirichella made it pretty clear what they thought about Camera's sets, their celebrations were hilarious. The whole team seemingly came alive when she entered the court, everyone was so much more animated. And probably for the first time this season they actually looked like a real team.

I have no doubts that Carlini will be starter again in the next matches, so I hope she took this as a lesson and learned something.

Unfortunately, both semis were kinda lame.

Busto tried, but with both Bartsch and Egonu on fire, Novara was simply too much for them. OTOH, they also have themselves to blame for not putting any pressure on Novara's reception with both Bartsch and Plak on the court at the same time.

Serbian commentator on SportKlub said that "Egonu's behaviour has caused a lot of problems for Novara's management over the last few months". I don't know if he has any inside info or he's talking out of his ass.

Scandicci was simply tragic. They were basically beaten by Sylla. Stevanović had clearly got too comfortable playing with Lloyd and is having trouble adjusting to a diifferent setter (her performances on NT over the last couple of years are indicative of this too), but she needs to get over it. Hopefully this match was a kick in the butt for her, because going 10/0 is embarrassing for a player of her reputation. The less said about Vasileva's performance, the better and it should also be pointed out that Malinov is having a far from spectacular season.

I thought the video check was supposed to prevent such BS decisions like this one. At the very least they should have called it a dead ball if they thought it was too close to judge, even if that would have been wrong as well, because there wasn't any fault.

I thought Caprara was remarkably restrained, can you imagine what Guidetti would do in that situation?

OMG, what was that mess last night? Novara was hideously, outrageously, inexplicably bad. Literally everyone sucked. Conegliano didn't really play extraterrestrial volleyball, they just did their thing, but compared to the pitiful bunch on the other side, they looked like 90s Peak Cuba.

sitenoise wrote:

JT beat Toray. Mari Horikawa got her first start of the season and fumbled it a bit (4/14).

Did Brankica pout?

Try here:

http://www.jagledam.com/Sport-Klub-3-uzivo-stream

Umu11 wrote:

I wonder what her injury is as well, I remember there was a photo of her with the team after a game in Russia, after a match she didn’t play again, her face looked swollen and tired. Not sure if it has something to do with her injury but just an observation.

Yeah, I remember that. It was a viral illness and she got over it, now it's an unspecified injury of some sort. I do wonder what's keeping her out so long, she hasn't even been in the team roster for any of the matches this month. Babeshina can manage just fine for now, but they need that extra spark that Maja brings for the most important matches of the season.

Damn, Stysiak must have really great managers to be sought out by so many teams. Sure, she's got potential, but she's not really all that - yet, at least.

pope wrote:

does anyone knows why Maja was not even with the team today? I know she does not play every game in Russia League, but she did not play against Kazan as well if I'm not wrong.

Busa with 18 points 😍

Maja hasn't played at all this year yet. Apparently she's carrying a minor injury of some sort, but it's next to impossible to find more detailed info.

Buša is doing surprisingly well indeed. Her spike rate is not that great, but she's hitting the ball with a lot more conviction and purpose, instead of merely putting out puffballs that are easily picked up and defended. Chemik really need a reliable big hitter if they want to be competitive on a higher level, though.

According to Terzić, Serbia will definitely not be hosting. He also says he knew Poland would get in as soon as he saw they were the next in line for a qualifying spot.