Posts by Gashina

Chieri from 22-13 > 23-15 > 23-22 > 25-23.

Disaster avoided.

Quote from QuickOutside

What an exhausting tournament, especially if one follows both men’s and women’s volleyball. My days were packed full and some of these matches were not for the faint of heart :).

Italy played impeccable, focused, disciplined and textbook volleyball; Julio Velasco deserves a public holiday in his name for turning around that Italian team in 4 months, which was in omnishambles only last summer. Every player understood what her role was and what they were expected to contribute. Bravo. I have not seen Egonu as focused as she was throughout this tournament in several seasons. There were some matches reminiscent of her Novara days… there is no doubt that Egonu has solidified her position as best Opp in the world right now (let’s see if she can bring this forward to club season).

For me, the superstar usual suspects across all teams were Egonu, Danesi, Gabi, Carol, Nyeme, Sylla, MDG, LYY, Skinner, JWO, Ogbogu, Korneluk. These players made huge impacts, as expected.

The unsung heroes who were so instrumental to their teams, and aren’t the usual suspects for me were Bosetti, Rosamaria, Meliha. They made substantial impacts, either as substitutions, defensively, or in many clutch moments. Bravo to these three!

Finally, the biggest flops for me of the tournament were Stysiak, Lukasik, Karakurt, Orge, Boskovic, S Popovic, KRob and Larson, Drews, Ishikawa.

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Why is Drews in your list of flops, she had one of the best tournament of her life.

Normally I root for Serbia over Italy but I can't root for Guidetti and excluding Jegdic last minute has left a bad taste in my mouth.

Sucks for the girls but this team is not compatible with this coach.

Now would like to see Brazil-Italy final.

Serbia has been abysmal for their standards since their first match.

This is not a surprise.

Korneluk showed up, but she can't win by herself.

Wolosz trying to play Haak/Vargas/Bosko-ball with Stysiak. Forcing her from impossible positions.

Sad for the Chinese ladies, a lot of pressure and expectation on them and another dissapointing olympics despite so many great players. Curious to see if Cai Bin will continue the road to LA.

Turkey with their hustling and warrior mentality can always edge out these 5 setters.

Now hope Brazil or Poland win gold.

Quote from Mimek

I don’t agree about that hate towards Koslowski. The Dutchies have the potential for sure, but they also have their limitations. I feel like some of you act like we have another China - Tokio 2020 case Don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think that they belong to the world TOP8 right now, even the ranking says it. Qualifying for the Olympics is already a huge achievement for them, I was sure that Canada would make it, as they have better players looking at the positions. They won the bronze at the last ECH, which is also a great result. But they are among the youngest teams, so who knows what the future brings. I somehow agree about Plak, but Dambrink isn’t the answer (yet). And if you are that mad at Felix, I’m sure that the Germans would be so happy to welcome him back at least the fans.

The Netherlands have the pieces to be much better than they performed. Last year Koslowski should have concluded that Reesink/Dambrink/Plak should be let go. Think out of the box and convert OH (Buijs) to OPP/ keep Marring as OPP instead of converting her to OH. And OH to libero (Hester/ Grothues). I know Grothues retired from NT but these conversations could have taken place and I believe there was good chance she returned for olympics. Guidetti turned Stam from OH to one of best libero at Rio olympics.

But I agree that the squad Koslowski went with is not top8. But they have potential stronger squad not utilized by his choice.

I was happy for The Netherlands to make the olympics, but Canada would have been much more interesting to watch here than this shitshow from Koslowski and the Dutch.

Quote from Let's go orange

Dutch team always cracks under pressure I don't know what it is, but they should really work on that! Next to that Koslowski made too many mistakes this tournament... I just can't get my head around it that you wouldn't put your most experienced player Buijs on court

Knollema and Van Aalen are good under pressure but got no chance.

I really blame Koslowski for this failure, but it is not just this tournament. He never tried a serious player at OPP all year.

Dutch MB's have 2 kills after 2 sets. Bongaerts and Baijens have no connection. Time for Van Aalen?

The Netherlands struggling badly with Domican Republic without Brayelin.

But DR is lucky that Koslowski also doesn't field the best lineup.

Serbia playing like they skipped VNL.

Guidetti already back to his antics of punishing players, subbing them out after 1 error.

Not good for team spirit.

Waiting for Popovic to show why she was chosen over Jegdic..

Zhu Ting is a shadow of herself in attack this set. Is she too big a name to sub out?

Quote from throwawayanyway

It is rumored that Korean setter Lee Dayeong will play for LOVB next season, for the San Diego Mojo team!

They both follow each other on IG, so we're just waiting for confirmation.

Nootsara was setter there last year, she won award for best setter of the league. Should be a worthy replacement.

Sadly TTA, LVW, Tapp, Bastianelli are leaving the team. Starters Ronika Stone and Venegas will stay.

I thought Gao Yi played very well in Shanghai. She didn't get to play in VNL except in 1 match during playoffs. I can't rate her negatively based on that.

Happy about van Aalen.

Marring and Buijs can play both OH/OPP and I would probably pick both at OPP over Plak/Dambrink.

Sad for Knip because Reesink has not outplayed her and another libero on bench could be wise.

Compared to Rio olympics, the OPP and libero position is such a huge step down. Sloetjes won best opposite and Debby Stam was great and deserving of best libero award.

Now these are by far weakest position.

Asija was in Columbus for like 2 weeks and left. Angel Perez ruined that team and she couldn't bother hitting off Dilfer.

Chaussee going to LOVB was known for months. But her departure with Dimitrova is a loss for Grand Rapids.

Fields was only in PVF for a little while after Italy season.

Mccage is also expected in LOVB but not yet announced. She played only few weeks in PVF and got injured.

No idea how scoreline is so close. Japan was in control and result was never in doubt.

China had very few in system plays all match. Messy on their side of the net, with most sets off (or into) the net.

Would have liked to see Xu and Zhong enter the field. Different coach but 0 substitutions in a sweep is like he didn't even try.