Posts by kyle7in1

Congrats to Lube. They won Italy Coppa 2020 in a decent game.

Juan played one of his best games in this season. Leal also played on his normal level. Simon is the best active MB in Men's volley in last two seasons. His attack at pos 3 was simply unstoppable, partially due to Bruno's great passing. Bruno secured the title of the best active setter, with solid passing throughout the game.

DeCecco again, proved himself a horrible setter in a top club team. Perugia gave up the set #5 easily because of his horrible passes. A lot of balls are either too close, too wide or too low to spike. I bet short guy Sanchez would pass better than him.

AA was kinda disappointing. He choked many times in clutch time, either in Serbia NT or in Perugia. Perugia's block is always an issue. Their MBs were outplayed by Lube's MBs.

Congrats to Matt Anderson to become a new dad.

LDvolley wrote:

It's extremely similar to their Rio group:

Brazil = Brazil

USA = USA

France = France

Russia = Italy

Argentina = Canada

Tunisia = Mexico

IMO although they would be favorites over ARG I can see France and Russia flopping from this one. I think only Brazil and USA are sure bets to advance.

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Of course we predict the result by the rankings and records. Any team could choke in such a big event. You never know.

pope wrote:

I don`t think so.

Backup setter Walsh or Jay?

3rd middle Szwarc or Van Berkel?

4th OH Barnes, Marshall, Derocco?

I want Barnes to make it because he`s young and would gain experience, but Marshall and Derocco are probably ahead of him right now especially because Marshall can play libero too . Same reason why I want Walsh over Jay.

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Jay is the starter setter for Canada NT throughout the tournament in WCH 2018, while Sanders was his sub. I don't think Walsh has a chance to take over these two. He did not even get a chance in this QOT series.

treVBault-pad wrote:

France is so unlucky with these draws, they're always in the death group.

Pool B is tough, but not that bad for class-A teams. If the same rules apply in 2020, e.g., four teams in each pool will advance to 1/4, France only need to beat Argentina and Tunisia in this group, unless Argentina has some amazing performance to stir the pot.

Netherlands fell like a hard stone. I am a bit shocked they did not qualify for Tokyo 2020.

akitoakie wrote:

So do we have the official pools now?

Pool A: Japan, Poland, Italy, Canada, Iran, Venezuela

Pool B: Brazil, USA, Russia, Argentina, France, Tunisia

pope wrote:

Canada should take 3 middles and 4 OH. I would go with:

TJ Sanders - Walsh

Vernon Evans - Sclater

Bann

Maar - Perrin - Hoag - Barnes

Vigrass - Vandoorn - Szwarc

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I don't think Walsh will take a spot. The two setters will be Jay Blankenau and T. Sanders.

The rest of roster looks fine.

My reviews about some OQT games.

France got themselves one convincing ticket in CEV region. They only lost to Bulgaria in group match, but played solidly in knockout, esp, they made a great comeback in semi final. NG played way much better in NT than in Kazan. He was a carry in NT but he's only the 3rd attacker in Kazan. Patry and Brizard improved a lot. Patry took this opportunity to prove himself as a good OPP in NT in the future. Boyer might regret his bold behavior now. Brizard secured his position as well. He will be a good sub or even starter when Torniutti is off.

In Asian region, Iran won the last ticket as expected, even without Gahfour and Manavi. The only cheesy thing was: When Iran led 13:9 against Korea in set #5, and Korea catched up at 12:13. Marouf faked his back injury to delay Korean's serves deliberately. Same thing happened to Qatar's libero who acted like a clown and faked his angle injury in clutch time in set #4 in another semi.

In NA region, Canada won Cuba at 3:2 with a shaky comeback. Sanders had a lot of horrible passes, but they're lucky as Cuba's reception and defense were as bad as always. Simon who's currently the best MB in the world can not save his team by himself only. I can feel his frustration. A controversial call of over-net hit against Simon in set #5 when Cuba led at 4:1 was a turning point. Literally, Canada also got one ticket because no one expects Puerto Rico could make some miracle today.

Jordan played a great game in set #3 and #4. When they're down at 16:20 in set #3, I thought they might lose. But they made a great comeback and won the set with 29:27.

Without Lipperman in game #3, they still beat Guangdong because they played a great team volleyball. Everyone was dedicated to the game, with great dig and defenses.

Dunno if Lipperman will come back to play final.

Kevin Le Roux and Cursty Jackson got married. Congrats to them!

andrea wrote:

Travica is still playing at a high level. It's a waste that he's not called to the NT. Given the other players who're expelled from the NT during WL 2015 are all back to NT, why is Travica not given a call? His presence and performance on court has shown that he's now a very mature player.

I don't think Travica has a chance of coming back to NT.

Giannelli is the starter, Sbertoli and Spirito will be subs.

inc0gnito wrote:

So Soko only had 1 year contract with Zenit? I agree with you Maxim is such an average OH but he is one of the best in his position if he is playing opposite

AFAIK, yes, Soko only signed one year contract with Kazan. And from the latest news, it looks like NG will leave Kazan as well. NG does not like his role in Kazan, while Kazan's admin group don't like NG's performance as well.

inc0gnito wrote:

Kazan just won Russian Cup beating Zenit St. Petersburg in straight sets. After all the setbacks this season, this is a welcome change. Admittedly, I am curious if Kazan was able to beat Kuzbass in SF if Poletaev had played. But it is what is is.

Didn't get to understand which award went to but Mikhaylov was awarded last and as MVP. This was not the most convincing season for Maxim, but the award is deserved nonetheless.

I watched the final. Petersburg simply got crushed by their poor reception. After Sivo left, Petersburg's back row was too weak. Camejo, Divis and Ursov plus libero Evgeny, all struggled on receiving end. They averagely had 34% on reception in final, while Kazan had 57%.

Grozer, the most impoartant attacker for Petersburg, also choked in final.

Maxim is not comfortable with pos 4 so far this season. So he will go back to pos 2 next season according to rumors. Sokolov might go back to Italy league. I don't like NG, but it seems he may stay. It's hard to find a solid top-class OH nowadays.

Does this mean they officially come out? Anyway, bless them. They always look great together.

WADA is a big joke. If they have no prejudice, USA swimming and track teams should be banned long before Russians.

Everyone uses drugs in modern competitive sports. The only difference is the drugs you use are listed in the WADA's ban list or not.

Kazan 3:1 Al-Rayyan

Kazan even lost one set to a team that literally visited Brazil as a tour trip. Look at Kazan's starting OH/OPPs, horrible.

Maxim 5/13

Soko 7/17

NG 4/10

It's time for Butko to take a long break. After the injury, Butko never came back to his peak. Loran should take his chance to step up.

Maxim still can not find his rhythm this season. NG must go.

Sidney wrote:

I can't believe how a team with Ngapeth, Mikhailov and Sokolov manages to lose 3:0 to a team with Perrin, Conte and Evandro

Last season Kazan had NG, Anderson and Verbov to cover reception. This season the reception line was NG, Golu and Maxim. You can imagine the level of reception dropped dramatically.

one more set, same plot. Sada 3:0 Kaza

Another horrible match from Kazan this season.

Sada 2:0 Kazan

Kazan played an ugly match so far. Kazan had better OH/OPPs than Sada, but Sada's reception and serves outplayed Kazan in every way. This season Maxim's position was awkward. His reception was shaky, and his attack at pos 4 was not convincing too, partially because of bad pass from Butko. I did not know what NG is doing so far. Looks like he's invisible on court quite often. Only Soko is a solid attacker.

After Verbov retired, Kazan still can not find a good libero to cover the back row. Golu's reception was a nightmare. Sada had 6-round jump serves, while Kazan only had 3-4 (Soko's jump serves did no count. His jump serve has been a joke since 2018). NG's showoff in clutch time failed not only once, but many times. I really doubt how far Kazan can achieve this season, both at Russia League and CL.