Posts by StefanS

    Omg such a pity that I missed Minsk-Stuttgart ;( seems like it was an epic semi, I surely will try to watch replay soon


    I can wholeheartedly recommend this - as often, I could only partially see this rather close, interesting match (busy with other activities).

    Funnily the statistics display better values for Stuttgart in nearly all regards - as often in close tie-break matches, the statistics are not necessarily the (full) truth. This proves superiour matchplay by Minsk, despite they were inferiour overall in the details. Of course they gained a lot by home support of 3.000 spectators (among them I discovered two well-known Stuttgart fans, who dared to travel there during the working week :) ).


    Blockkills were essentially the same, 15 to 14 for Minsk, attack efficiency was not much, but noticeably better for Stuttgart (37 to 41%), also service (Minsk made 5 more faults than aces, while Stuttgart had the same, and little higher number (14) for both), even in reception a small advantage (real?) for Stuttgart. Regarding errors Stuttgart made three more in the match (nowhere golden set numbers included!).


    Individually speaking, the very young (17) Hannah Hryshkevich was by far not the best attacker, despite her display was rather impressive for such a young player of course: attack efficiency bests were once more with the middles, best remarkably Barysevich for Minsk with 67% slightly ahead of our great Stuttgart US middle Molly McCage (62 %), both had 4 block kills, best blocker was Stuttgarts second US middle Paige Tapp with 6 (!) blocks and 50% attack efficiency. A special role had Stuttgart setter Stoltenborg with 67% in 6 trials. "Normal" attackers (OHs/OPPs): Daalderop/Stuttgart 46%, van Daelen/Stuttgart 41%, Hryshkevich/Minsk 39% and Sakolchyk/Minsk 38%. I would say, Stuttgart deserved to win the match, but match play was strategically better done by Minsk especially in fourth set, when Stuttgart had 14:18 lead and the big chance to terminate them, and even more in Golden Set, where the Stuttgart deficit of beginning far too weak was seen once more. Altogether both teams played on equal level, and Minsk exploited its (deserved!) advantage to have taken the place in the tournament from second seeded Ekaterinburg was an important advantage in the end.

    It's a pity for Stuttgart, that they failed this small margin, Minsk had the advantage by return match at home, decisive was failure of Stuttgart in fourth set, as strong team you MUST win this one leading 14:18. Anyway, they won the tie-break and leveled the match wins that way, the old issue of total failure in beginning of a tie-break happened again in golden set, which is not acceptable, they have still to work on this issue.


    Altogether a very good European cups performance by both teams, and bronze is a nice trophy too, not easy to get in this competition. Minsk will be completely erased by Eczascicbasi of course in the finals like Schwerin was in semi, but this is due to the out-of-the-world superiority of the Turkish top team.

    Today the decision comes about the finalists: while Eczacibasi will for sure kick out Schwerin in the first two sets in Burhan-Felek-Salonu, Stuttgart communicates aggressively to ride a full attack in Minsk to turn the home loss into a clear win - the betting shows at most a small advantage for Minsk in this match, the outcome may depend on the shape of both teams today heavily. Anyway, Eczacibasi will take the trophy in Istanbul in the final return match.

    Is it best of 3?


    My beloved hometown Aachen, hope to see them in any CEV tournement next season :rose:


    Yes, quarters and semis are best of three series.


    And no, Aachen has neither enough money nor a suitable hall to take part in European Cups. Strictly speaking, only Dresden, Schwerin and Stuttgart can afford participating in CEV tournaments safely now, if they want also Vilsbiburg, the others not, if they not find some additional money for it. (Stuttgart can't afford CL financially, only Dresden and Schwerin can currently).

    Honestly I think this is now not without risk for Dresden, because second match is played in MBS Arena in Potsdam, where they have support by their fans. And exactly there Dresden already lost once this season. So it is far from clear, that Dresden will reach the semis IMHO, despite stil lbeing favourites for this quarter.

    Major upset for Dresden: in front of 2.200 (own) spectators (not many, Margon hall capacity is 3.000 and often fully used) they lost in tie-break against 7th team of league round Potsdam. Main reasons were better attack efficiency and blocking by Potsdam, even in service the guests had an advantage, only more errors in total made by them, not enough to compensate for the other factors. Bad match by main setter Apitz, maybe Waibl changed too late to today better playing Bugg? Anyway, this might be also the outcome of unmatched arrogance sometimes seen in Dresden, especially regarding head coach Waibl. And they should have been warned by the loss in first league round match in Potsdam.


    A surprise, but not that big of course, was the relatively clear loss of Wiesbaden at home in three sets against Aachen, despite they won one week earlier the last league round match also at home against them. The second set was somewhat crucial, because the hosts lost it by 27:29.


    The two clear favourites for the final playoff series Stuttgart and Schwerin had no issues today, both won in three sets (against Vilsbiburg respective Münster).

    I've read the article as well so I know that this argument isn't coming from you, but...Daalderop didn't exactly prove to be "too good for this league" this season :roll: Sure, she is a great talent, but she's only turning 20 this year and honestly I don't think she's ready yet to play in a bigger league. I'd rather see her another year in Stuttgart (or another German top team), being a starter and most of all improving her reception.


    I fully agree with you and would have expected her to have a two year contract due to her age and the need, to improve her reception. But she gets for sure offers from stronger and better paying leagues...

    Some first facts and hints for next season:


    the short Tanja Großer prolonged with Wiesbaden.


    Stuttgart: likely to stay are Molly McCage (!), Paige Tapp, Deborah van Daelen, Renata Sandor and already fixed Pia Kästner and Annie Cesar. Not likely to stay are Nika Daalderop (too good for this league), Michaela Mlejnková (wanted not to play after this season in VBL anymore, as she told already in summer 2017), Jenna Potts and Nikoleta Perovic (couldn't establish themselves in the team). No informations are available so far regarding Femke Stoltenborg, Teodora Pusic, Micheli Tomazela and Julia Schäfer.


    Regretfully Stuttgart seems to be unable to increase the budget (1.3 million Euro), what implies not being able to participate in the CEV CL financially (requires IMHO at least 1.5 million Euro budget, so only Schwerin and Dresden seem to be capable to participate there) - getting to the finals suffice now to qualify formally for the pool stage of the CL.

    i think Moscow-Krasnoyarks will play the semifinals ? ...could Krasnoyarsk make a suprise ?


    Yes, semis are Moscow vs. Krasnoyarsk and Kazan vs. Ekaterinburg (starting at 25. March 2018 ).


    In the league round first half Krasnoyarsk managed to defeat once Moscow, but than Moscow was not yet fully in the flow and no players of Krasnoyarsk were injured. In the last matches two Krasnoyarsk players were not fit and Krasnoyarsk performed much weaker. If they can get their players not fit again, they might have a chance, but Moscow is clear-cut favourite anyway.

    In the 4th set Krasnodar lead 14-6...


    Yes, Krasnodar players have a major issue in their heads: they quickly collapse, when things become difficult, and Olympiacos is a great fighting team, using this weakness to the full extent. Remember, that Krasnodar won just one match in Russian superleague this season and is clearly trailing the league. They have nearly no self-confidence.


    Stuttgart's coach looked/talked optimistic about the return match


    That's for sure not impossible, to win there, but extremely difficult IMHO. As matter of fact, Stuttgart should even try to win in 3 or 4 sets, because in tie-break Minsk is clearly more focused and ready than our team.

    congrats to Minsk team.after the storm in the fourt set i thought Stuttgart would win
    i dont know how Stuttgart's away performances but Minsk is the close side to the final together with Eczacıbaşı


    This was a fully deserved win by Minsk, because they were much more stable in their performance and a class better focused in tie-break. Stuttgart showed two very good sets, but this doesn't suffice on this level, too many players of Stuttgart were not performing as usual (I understand this for Molly McCage, who was out of exercize for some days, but still playing decent, while not as strong as usual in blocking), and it was difficult to find a working lineup today for head coach Athanasopoulos. If they play their best in Minsk, they might still have a small chance, but Minsk is now the clear favourite, despite they admitted after the match, that Stuttgart is their strongest opponent in CEV cup so far, better than Ekaterinburg (!). (remember, Minsk was eliminated by VakifBank in CL qualification round 3, but this was no surprise at all, with VakifBank being the only match for Eczacibasi in strength currently IMHO).

    Congrats. to Vitra..Boşkoviç played almost a perferct game.the other players didnt need to play well they did their jobs ..i didnt like libero Simge's perf.
    German coach didnt seem to tactically have prepared on Boşkoviç's attacks.Schwerin's best was MB Barfield


    I remember Boskovic in an important match against VakifBank having had 76% kills in attack, so 79% against Schwerin are no surprise IMHO. She is nearly unstoppable, hitting high, hard and precise... I think this was a decent performance by Schwerin, considering the huge difference in every possible regard (budget of Eczacibasi alone is about 8 times higher than Schwerin, this is clearly not the same level, but another order of magnitude). This is just mission impossible for even the best VBL teams (Schwerin and Stuttgart).

    One day before the semis a few more informations: Schwerin labels the home match against the clear-cut title favourites Eczacibasi VitrA ISTANBUL as giant challenge, but is nevertheless no way willing, to wave the white flag (this is a common features of all VBL teams :) ). Schwerin is starting with the usual 13 professionals, not filling the 14.th slot for the match with a dual license player. Eczacibasi had to omit some listed players to keep in the 14 at most roster (of course also two libero players included), but all of the stars are there. The betting quota is embarassing, but of course this is mission impossible for Schwerin: ranges are 1.05 to 1.10 for Eczacibasi, but 6 to 8 for Schwerin, one of the least balanced values I have seen (but I'm checking those only occasionally).


    Stuttgart is also using all 14 professionals as usual (in the league), while Minsk reduced considerably by omitting also one libero to 12. But all of the expected strong players of Belorus are already here, they were already doing a short training session in the SCHARRena in the evening. Stuttgart declares this match as difficult (what it is without any doubt), we will see, if they can continue their good European Cups performances against good opponents tomorrow anyway. While I guess their chances are no better than 60 to 40 even with the valuable home advantage, it was a surprise for me to see the betting quotes clearly in favour of Stuttgart (1.22 to 1.28 compared to 3.6 to 3.8 for Minsk).