Wow, Egonu just announced that she is on the same level as Boscovic and Zhu Ting now, she can carry her team to medal matches! Props to De Genarro, I don't think anyone else can cover and dig Zhu Ting that well and that often. She and Bosetti are the unsung heroes of the floor. Everyone else was firing at all angles. I'm so happy for this Italian team!
Posts by ianrodriguez94
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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. He relied on her golden girls for so long, but this WCH is the last nail on that coffin. I'd like to see him do another post 2004 rebuff, and start putting younger people in the NT. This is going to be hard for them pride-wise, but Brazil just lacks superstars in this generation. It's going to be a slow build and it's gonna take more than just a single competition like this one.
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I don't agree with this. Of course Anne Buijs is not world best receiver BUT:
She has the image that her pass is not good and every opponent knows it, so in total they tried to serve on her for 157 times this tournament. Only Bricio got more serves to handle (163). Buijs' is still ranked 38th, all according to FIVB statistics. (http://japan2018.fivb.com/en/competition/statistics)
Besides the Anne Buijs thing, NED is missing De Kruijf and Daalderop really but I still believe they can surprise us.. we will see
I'd like to think that this NED team can still be better too. I know De Krujif is out because of injury. What happened to Pietersen and Daalderop though? And Pilon-Stam did she retire?
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Speaking of Germany, is Lippmann unique in her big roundabout court lap she does to get from position 5 over to where she can attack from 2 (or 1, I guess, from backcourt)? Other OPs must do this, albeit more discreetly, and maybe I'm only noticing Lippmann do it because I'm fond of her.
Murphy and Drews does this too. I remember there's a viral video of Drews sprinting across the court and killing a fast set. Real good display of volleyball!
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Malinov used to jump serve, but imho (and I wasn't the only fan thinking it) her jump serve wasn't really effective, and at the same time it wasn't error-free.
It was a while I was hoping she could try serving jump float, and now she is: I think for the moment she has a 'normal' serve, not too easy, nor too annoying.
Cambi has a better serve (still nothing incredibly annoying, though, but she's the Italian player I know less, so I can't guarantee my impression is correct).
On the other hand, the italian commentators suggested it's possible Malinov has some shoulder problems, and that this could be the reason she changed her serve and that Cambi gets in.
Interesting. I've always thought her jump serve was quite effective. As is with the trend though, everyone's using jump floats because they use less energy. I was thinking they made her change to conserve steam, as Malinov tends to play with less finesse and her sets get worse as the game progresses and that they need that more than her aces.
I noticed something too, playing for Serie A1 Adenizia from Brazil jump serves, but when playing for the NT she's back to her weird approach of a float. Why is this?
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That 4th set THA vs USA when Onuma had to come in for the injured Achjaraporn, I felt like I was watching THA 5-7 years ago. Bring in Amporn Haypha and sub-in Nootsara and the gang is back :))
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Too many injuries, too early in the tournament. A lot of teams are also missing key players from previous injuries. I feel like WCH this year could've been a lot more competitive sans these injuries
Top teams like Serbia, China and Italy are playing so well, I just hope they don't join the injury list.
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At the recent concluded Asian games, this same Thai girls beat both Japan and Korea to play in the finals vs China. They didn't win, but silver was nice against world #1 team with their A team.
Rooting for them! I feel like the golden girls of Thailand are retiring really soon, and I want them to have a really nice exit
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Is this Liu Yan Han's ticket back to the A team? :))
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So from the Olympic roster;
Wei Qiuyue is replaced by Yao Di
Hui Ruoqi is replaced by Li Yingying
Yang Fanxu is replaced by Zeng Chunlei
Yan Ni is replaced by Yang Hanyu
Also Hu Mingyuan and Wang Mengjie are additional players since 14 players are allowed to play in WCh opposed to OG with 12 players
What do you guys think with new replacements? Do you think this Chinese roster is better or worse than previous OG roster?
I think you meant Xu Yunli and not Yan Ni.
I think this squad is actually better than that of the previous OG roster. This younger squad has better stamina, which is good considering how long the tournament is. I'd like to think that the only significant loss from the previous roster is Wei Qiuyue considering how Yao Di is still not consistent. I actually prefer Zeng Chunlei over Yang Fangxu and was actually sad that she was cut-off from the 2016 roster considering her role for the team in the previous cycles. Yan Ni and Xu Yunli are actually on the same level for me. So yeah, good things are to come for this squad, I just hope Zang is back to her Rio form!
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Redeeming game for Liu Yan Han. I have always liked her fighting spirit, it's just sad that after all these years her reception still hasn't improved.
Thaisa of Brazil does the pipe too (a lot of times actually), for the one asking above. See 2012 London game vs China, Dani Lins sets her pipes back to back.
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Krotkova was the revelation for me in this RUS vs TUR game. It's a pleasant competition between her and Voronkova. I'm happy seeing Russia banking on OH with good reception skills. I like Kosheleva, but I may say I'm happy with the three OH that Pankov's been using, adding Scherban to the mix would make it better imo.
Goncharova though, you know the shaky start was just her getting her groove back, and man when she's on fire, everything works! An Egonu vs Goncharova showdown is one to watch!
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D.Republic lost for Canada but the night before....or shall we say morning before they played against Peru and that match started at 1.38 AM (local time) and it ended at 3:00 AM... D.Republic played 2 games in the same day......one at 1:30am and the next at 10pm....
Brazil is only using this tournament for Thaiza and Dani Lins to get some dust off.
Dani Lins and Thaisa still has their beautiful connection. Wow. I only wish that Thaisa can come back to her old form. I doubt if she'll ever be back to her peak before Rio, but even at this form she's dominating the middle.
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Sorry been out of the loop but why is Tandara not playing vs Italy?
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The issue is when to use oh and mb aproriately in the game against serbia, roberta used her middles especially ade and bia!!! Because during that time tandara was well watched
That's so true. A great setter knows when to set her spikers and when not too. Serbia is a really tall team, and with smaller OHs and Tandara who relies on power for her attacks, thats the time you need to use speed so you go to the middles more. With Turkey, they have a really good blocker in Eda Erdem, and a younger squad on the wings. Logically where do you go more. It's not really rocket science. The thing is how will a setter execute those plans. So far, I'm loving the way Roberta is distributing her sets. Almost always double digit scoring for the whole first 6. The connection with the middles could use some more, but the rest is good. I hope Roberta becomes the titular over Dani Lins to be honest.
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Is there something in the water in Serbia coz they seemed to be having all the best MBs in the world? Both in the men and women's department.
Actually, Mina Popovic aint so bad too. Is she the 4th MB on the team? I can't think of a stronger trio than Serbia's right now except for Brazils Fabiana-Walewska-Thaisa Beinjing 2008. Any takers?
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Someone above mentioned how MBs are the most fun to watch, and I could not agree more. Serbia seems to have the strongest middles right now. Any from Stevanovic, Rasic or Veljkovic can deliver, though you can see from Rasic's game that she's fresh from injury. Italy's Lubian is a revelation, I can't wait to see more of her, I'm sorry but one of Bonifacio or Danesi has to go. Lubian, Chrichella, Folie will do the job. Brazil still has the best team block - Ade is a monster in block. Oh my
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It's weird though, I would most often see players who move from the sand to indoor to have better floor defense, considering the skillset demands of beach volleyball. But it's true, often not said but Drussyla has big potential.
Someone was asking earlier if Thaisa was the top MB at some point. Yes she was, and I think most of us here would agree that her best moments came in post London 2012 up until her injury before Rio. Such a shame, she was so dominant in both attack and block - her serves, actually her whole game was the best at that time. She even has a backrow attack for cripes sake.
Right now, I'm seeing Akinradewo or De Kruijf as the better attacking MBs, Yuan from China has potential to get there. Best blocking MB is still Rasic. Personally, I think the most balanced MB right now is Erdem from Turkey.
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Anyone with news on Brazilian players? Who's leaving Brazil and who's coming back? I can't really read Portugese so I'm having a hard time navigating through their sites
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Quoted from "ossubtus"
Quoted from "Canter"
Quoted from "ossubtus"
italain announcer in the arena got confused and called "bethania de la cruz" when it was pena serving…sosa has got to be one of the shortest MBs in the world today! she's shorter than pleumjit. i guess she's the same height as waleskinha???
Pleumjit 180-181 cm... Valeskinha may be taller than her?
aha. i thought valeskinha was about the same as sosa (177cm) but wikipedia says she was 180, so that's the same as pleumjit. mexico also has a short MB, carranza (178 ). i never saw valeskinha play, how did she cope against giant MBs (190 cm and above)? did she ever play against fabiana and thais a in the brazilian league>?????
She did for many years. Actually, she is still playing in Brazilian league nowadays.
Until a few years ago, she was able to play a very nice volleyball even against those high girls, like Fabiana and Thaisa.
Valeskinha was in the starting six during Athens 2004 and had an amazing connection with Fernanda Venturni. Very fast spiking and fast blocking too.Valeskinha capitalized on fast plays back then. Her speed compensates for her lack in height, though she can block too, it was all on right timing. Diagonal with Walewska in 2004 and bench for 2008.