Posts by MeteA

Quote from dagdelenler

It seems that speaking "ill" of Ilkin is like stirring up a beehive. I greatly respect Ilkin's contribution to Galatasaray, but the same contribution doesn't exist for Turkiye NT. One could even argue that Hande, Meliha, and Yaprak have contributed more.

LOL.. If you would say Hande and Meliha contributed more than İlkin, then this could be more reasonable, considering the time they played during the years while İlkin had ACL injury for 2 years and before. I guess, your addition Yaprak to this list is intentional. I also like Yaprak and not mentioning now only but I mentioned this many times before. However, while İlkin had a great VNL season with 100 points and and showing a great all around OH performance in 2023 from the beginning in all legs up to semifinal in which she injured and missed the rest, Yaprak was not there. When İlkin played in WCH last year finals and the final match against Italy with a very strong and successful performance, Yaprak was at the bench.

At least I was expecting more from you to see the reality and your false assessment but instead of that, you still insist to show your biased and contradictional thoughts, from one side respecting the players contribution to her team but not for NT. It looks like, you started following volleyball, not so long ago. Yaprak is one of the strongest candidate of NT OH but don't mix everything into each other.

A group of idiots and trolls are now talking about İlkin's her injury, saying that her injury is fake. Unfortunately this is the point where volleyball came and I have more important things to do, raher than taking all these craziness serious.

I leave you all to believe, what you want to. Reality is there and I am done....

Quote from MTS

Dude, we know you like İlkin a lot, but defending her like this only makes more people dislike her. This isn’t a good way to communicate.

You don’t need to attack every person who criticizes İlkin, and honestly, you should make your posts much shorter. Most people won’t read them if they’re this long.

what you’re doing really doesn’t help the thing you’re trying to achieve.

Wow! Is this all you get from my sharings? I will give you a few examples on cases in which I agreed or disagreed and free from the above mentioned player. I was the one, while many guys were bashing Markova because of her defensive skills, while I was saying that I disagree with it adding that she has improved a lot in all areas and particularly her reception. A couple of weeks ago, some were trying to compare her with Zhu saying that she is not at that level. After seeing her current shape in Final phases of Turkish League and CL, same guys changed 180 degrees now praising and not knowing where to put her. A player's overall skills cannot change from one day to the other but members changes and this is all I say.

Another example is the attitude of the players. There are players in the Turkish NT I like and dislike and people know that. A guy shared her opinion about Yaprak that he likes her personality and attitude in court. I agreed with him and added that, she must have learned from her old team mate Boskovic, how to be a good volleyball player, including the character and attitude in the court.

Coming to the case of my last sharing, while replying dagdelenler's post. Firstly I didn't attack him (her). Saying about a comment that "it looks unrealistic and unfair" doesn't mean attacking to anyone. It is just a message about disagreeing on something. Also, if you read my post carefully, you should see that, the comments were covering almost all players, excluding the new comers saying that, they need more time to talk about. My objection to that assessment was about a comparison of performances at attack for 2 player, putting all numbers together who was better in which area and show whether they are successfull or not. This was not defending one player or criticising the other but showing that both were OK after the preparion phase. If the details disturbs someone or find it long, this is their problem.

Finally, I said this before. Anyone who doesn't want to read my post can just ignore it. I don't like any player just because of their physical charms. I look at their performances and their consistencies. I cannot push anyone to like the players I like, in other words to respect their performances but I say and write what the reality is... If someone would hate from a player because of I like her or them, what a shame. They can keep going on with this sick mind setup.

We have more than enough of them (trolls) in the Turkish social media.

Drama lover. You are so brilliant You say that you knew something but no. Seems like, you need to have a higher IQ level for manipulation or to get, what was assessed about all and the mentioned player.

Quote from dagdelenler

Final of the Equilibrium Cup. We started very well and finished terribly. Some of my thoughts:

Setters: Dilay had a very bad tournament, forcing many plays with Yaprak and forgetting about the middle blockers and defne. Buse didn't get many chances, but when she came in she couldn't do anything different.

Midfield Masters: Berca played excellently against Poland, but had a terrible match against Serbia. Her height seems to be a big problem many times and her serve needs to improve a lot. Karmen had a mediocre match against Italy, which I consider normal, as Italy is very good, and Karmen didn't play the slide attack. However, against Serbia, Karmen played the slide attack very well and was Turkey's best player. Deniz gave good performances given the lack of combination with Dilay and Turkey's very poor reception. Merve Attilier didn't get a chance. Honestly, I don't even understand why she was called up.

OPP:

Beren didn't get a chance to play full-time, but when she did, she didn't put on a great performance. I always say, and will continue to say: Beren doesn't have the physical strength, height, and explosiveness to be an opposite hitter. At most, she could be a wing spiker.

Defne had some good moments, but she missed many balls and was blocked several times. Defne is wasting a lot of time being a backup on her teams and hasn't been able to develop. She also seemed very shy. Maybe she'll be tested as a wing spiker and will be able to play better.

WS:

Saliha was by far the worst, and I also think she didn't deserve to be on the team.

Ilkin had difficulties in her attack and passing; I expected more from her.

I believe Yaprak was the best Turkish player in the tournament, but I find it impressive how much difficulty Yaprak has with passing, even being such a short player.

Ayse practically didn't get any chances.

Libero: Eylul gave a good performance, but I didn't find it anything spectacular.

Melis made some good saves, but I consider her very weak in reception.

Merve Izbilir only came on against Serbia and made every mistake she could.

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I don't know your point of conclusions with the players but at some points, it looks unrealistic and unfair.

First of all, it would be better to exclude the players, who joined to A team for the 1st time in a tournament, unless they show an outstanding performance. One thing at that front is true that, Defne is a promising player for the future and Santa should not give up on her. Another point is that, Merve also should be tested and Ayşe should take more time at the court, while Saliha flopped a lot.

About Karmen, Berka and Deniz, they might have some bad moments but overall, they need to improve more.

Dilay is not new and deserves some critics, since she is in a competition with Elif and her performance really disappointed me. Not only the quality of her sets but also her preferences. She is not new and warned by Santa several times.

Your comment about Eylül also is not clear. She performed very good against Italy both at reception and floor defence and good performance at floor defence against Poland. What else were you expecting from her to be spectacular? It is always better to look at a match which was lost and make your assessment based on the players performance of that match.

Finally, how you reached to conclusion or assumption that, İlkin had difficulty in her attacks? I watched all matches and I have all the stats sheets and based on them, I derived all figures.

Yaprak played 13 sets (in all 3 matches) and İlkin played 4.8 sets in 2 matches (missing in the last one due to her injury). Referring to all, Yaprak finished the tournament with 40.5% Kill with 31.4 efficiency while İlkin finished with 45% Kill and 29% efficiency. For a player at OH spot, both performances were quite good and fulfills the expectations. Looking at other stats, Yaprak has 0.5 winning blocks and İlkin has 0.4 winning blocks. Yaprak won the blocks against to Polish OPP. Yaprak has 0.15 points from Serve and İlkin has 0.21 points from Serve per set. Yaprak made 0.4 service errors and İlkin made 0.6 errors per set. So all figures you see here are very close to each other.

The main divergence and the disappointment about İlkin's performance was about her reception. While Yaprak achieved a great performance against Italy at reception with 67% pos and 24% Perf, İlkin surprisingly (again, highest performer as Local OH at reception in the season) achieved only 32% Pos and 16% Perf. When you look at the rootcause, you can easily see that, İlkin was absolutely bombarded by Italians strong serves with 38 reception with 3 errors in 3.3 sets. This reflected to her overall reception performance, Yaprak with 42% Pos and 22% Perf while İlkin had 34% Pos and 17% Perf (quite low for her average).

Looking back to that particular match (against İtaly) Yaprak was better at reception but İlkin was better at attack. So I disagree with you, saying that, İlkin had difficulty at attack.

While down value one, taking the other to the stars is not the right thing. It is just the starting point, preparation friendly matches for the upcoming actual tournaments. Well done to both. I am expecting to see both at the court with excitement and hopefully İlkin has a speedy recovery until then...

Raw stats sheets shared below.

https://x.com/gibbybaris/status/2057886847930421380/photo/1 https://x.com/gibbybaris/status/2058295546402546165/photo/1

https://x.com/gibbybaris/status/2058598703724736893/photo/1

Quote from AjmoDinamo

Novara won Champions League and Coppa Italia during his tenure. He already made history with this team.

He's not a new coach that the only basis of his career is gala

that being said, grobelna herbots and the others are definitely very weak choices even if they have Tolok and Kudiess. Even libero is a major problem

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He might have a good career in the past but this doen't mean that, this will last forever. There are many examples of it. Old and traditional guys can be more biased and might have egoes as well. I commented on that, as a person, who followed the team on daily basis. I also had some high expectations but disappointed at the end. I can say that, even the young Bigarelli was better than him, coached GS with a weaker team last year and reached to final 4 and this year, led the team after Barbo left, winning CEV Cup.

The main point is, Grobelna's transfer is done with Barbo's confirmation.

Quote from occansey

The thing is, no one in Turkish team cares about whether Ebrar is on the same level as Markova or not. Ebrar is currently playing very good as OH and is more than enough for that spot.

The problem is the other OH spot. None of Hande, Ilkin, Saliha, Derya has been convincing with their national team performance. Yaprak has to keep her level throughout the summer which is very difficult; but she’s the best option right now.

You may have some alergy (or not) to some particular players but let's put it in the right way. First decide the benchmark to assess the players... Based on NT or based on Club performance? We saw many bad games of Ebrar at NT as well but while assessing her overall performance, her club performance is taken as primary. Yes Ebrar has a very good season at club level and in final 4s at CL. I foresee that, she will continue, probably more or less at the same level at NT. That is fixed....

Looking at other 5, Yaprak, Hande, İlkin, Saliha and Derya, I can also take out Saliha from all others, since I commented on that many times before that, she is not focused in her role and she is the weak ring in that chain.

About Yaprak, she started good at NT last year, but her performance has declined, while going to the finals. This year, she had a good season at club level and she started good at NT as well. however, this doesn't make her as a saver, at least for the time beeing.

About Hande, she is not my favorite player and people knows that but I must admit that, she is talented, particularly at defence area. Her club season was not bright. On the other hand, at NT, she usually starts with a doubtful performance but during the final phases, she does good. Hope, will be the same in this year.

About İlkin, no one above, takes more responsibiliy as she takes in every aspect. At club season, she used to be the highest scoring local OH since 2023 and this year, she was the 2nd after Ebrar. This year at NT, she played the 2nd half of 4th set and 5th set against Poland and 3 full sets against Italy in which she got injured (hip joint) hoping that, it is not serious. No one can say that she was worse than Yaprak (then they can look at stats).... Note that she was one of the main scorers at NT in 2023 but had injuries afterwards. Last year, she played a spectacular match in WCH the final against Italy.

Finally Derya, when she got a chance at her club, she did well, especially at CL final 4, in which she showed a tremendous performance. Last year, I cricized Santa about Derya, for not giving her a single chance at NT, thinking about her to shift her position as OPP and poor Derya had a surgery at the end of this season. If she has a speedy recovery and comes back showing the performance she showed during the CL final 4, I strongly believe that, she can be one of the strongest candidate for that spot.

After all, trying to give an impression that, OH spot of Türkiye is hopeless and poor, is false. There will be a very tough competition for it and the competition brings success.

Better using your logic a bit. Do you think that it is a big coincidence to come to Galatasaray together and now moving to Novara hand in hand? I never thought that, murmuring Barbo would show such a bad performance with such a bad connection with the players, demotivating all.

If they sign with him, may god help to Novara. I wrote this before but who knows, maybe he will do better in his motherland but I doubt about it.

Quote from occansey

I really admire Yaprak’s attitude as an athlete. She was a starter in an Eczaci team which finished its season less than 3 weeks ago. She barely had any vacation and starts right away in the 1st match of national team season. I hope the fatigue doesn’t hit her later in the summer and she can keep the level.

I don’t know what to say about Saliha. Santarelli gave her a chance few times and she always gives me the vibe that she doesn’t put enough effort. I hope Derya gets fit in time for ECH.

Finally, as expected the biggest challenge for Santarelli in 1st week of VNL will be OPP. Afaik Defne decided to switch to OH for the upcoming season which indicates she doesn’t see much future for her in OPP. And Beren is quite undersized for OPP. Aylin is seen as the saviour of OPP position after Vargas for Turkey; but I don’t know if she can come right into the team and make a meaningful impact in VNL at the moment.

I liked particularly your 1st sentence. Yes Yaprak has a very good attitude, not in the sense of sacrificing only but also her standing on the court, no matter what she feels and lives inside with a very cool and elegant style. It looks like, she learned a lot in the sense of good personality of a succesful volleyball player from Boskovic as a former teammate. No over reaction, no provocation and all in a very well balanced way. She absolutely deserves the spot in NT. In order to get that chance, in general, the players have to give everything they have and sacrificing at some point is one of them. Well done to her. All these experiences will push her to climb the stairs faster.

Saliha always makes this. A few good games then a significant decline. She was the same at VNL 2023 and onwards. Her performance today was a disappointing one. I can understand at some points, a few errors at attack and a few errors at reception and defence but god, no one has a luxury to be a mediocre or bad in all areas for that spot at NT. Let's say, it is just the starting point and hoping to see them all in a better shape in the actual tournaments.

Better than nothing. Full friendly match POL vs TR and stats.

https://x.com/gibbybaris/status/2057886847930421380/photo/1

Yaprak should be the MVP. Very shiny performance for the 1st game. İlkin's presence and the positive energy, made a positive impact in the 4th and 5th set. Eylül tried to close the gap at defence and in most of the cases, she was good. MBs Berka and Deniz were also good and liked them both, even though Deniz had a volatile moments. The blocking performance of Türkiye was spectacular. Even Yaprak scored 4 block points.

Your comments for the rest and for the ones above, most welcome.

Quote from bolt

they're an insufferable user with complete tunnel vision so by all means destroy them they're probably still busy milking some other useless drama anyway

Fortunately we have only few of them, thinking about themselves as smart. Nothing much to do for them, other than letting them on their own unless they cross the border line and wishing them speedy recovery.

Quote from runnerupster

It was such a reckless decision of GS management to get all of Sylla, Lukasik, and Frantti. Also, I would've preferred seeing Lukasik play somewhere else and other mid-level teams could have used her if they didn't hoard her. And they don't even ever play on the highest level to be spending this type of wasteful money; they ended up 5th against a team that is essentially built by money launderers, after you praised them all league like they're VB.

FB is still a successful volleyball club with a CL title and won 2 league titles in the 2020s alone; let's not compare FB and GS in this regard. GS is a pure football team that also has some other branches on the side; FB always promotes itself as an actual cross-sport organization, and their success does show in that regard. In general no volleyball club has been able to be on VB level in volleyball, so if we only compare them to VB, yes, they are unsuccessful, but otherwise they aren't. Only Conegliano in Italy could match VB and they have 3 CL titles where VB has 7, so that is an unattainable goal.

It's funny you keep trying to compare top clubs in volleyball to GS but you are just delulu, they are a good team and nothing more and can't even be compared to FB or VB or Ecz in terms of volleyball. If you like sheer statistics and facts so much, let me present you those of the volleyball world.

FB has 7 League titles (earliest in 2008 and last one in 2024) 5 cups and 1 CEV CL title, 2 medals, and 3 Club Wch medals, 1 gold.

On the flip side GS has a whopping 0 league titles, 0 cups, 0 CL titles, and 0 Club Wch titles.

Yeah, sure, they invest a couple million less, bravo. Their success is also even less. They actually clearly spend more than mid-table teams like Nilufer but are only slightly better than them every year, but those are their competition and so far the only thing they actually beat them at is CEV Cup, while Bursa BBSK had 2 secondary CEV Cups (Challenge); their other opponents are any newcomer teams like THY and Zeren that usually beat them when they want first try, but these are not stable enough teams to stay in the league whereas GS is a stable football team and that's good for them, I suppose. It's all they have got going for themselves.

Sorry I needed to slap you with reality, now you can go back to praising Ilkin and any GS player.

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What's wrong with you? What kind of mind set up you have? Why can't you hide your hate towards Galatasaray and İlkin? You have been like this, since 2023. You didn't read carefully the irony I made, while some others are criticising the backup players, for some of the clubs transfers or the ones who keep some of their players as backup. Just gave an example of GS OH backups or similarly back up of Orro-Arelya, whose success can't be denied with their success and indicating their past including their NT experiences.

It is obvious that, you are trolling, while I didn't praise any team or player in that post. Just made a comparison from socio-economic perspectives in Türkiye between Sport clubs and volleyball only clubs, their advantages and dis-advantages. You have wasted your time while listing others success and trying to compare with GS, saying no success at all. GS is not a Football club only but a sport club, competing in many branches. If you are interested to learn their success, there are many books on it. Go and read them and don't ask me what. Volleyball is a branch, which was not invested much and this is the main point, the fans are critcising the management on this kind planning. It is understandable that, this was due to bad economical situation of such clubs, including Göztepe as well, but since GS declared a positive balance, everyone is hoping more investment in that area as well. I have said this many times and stressing that, from now on, they won't have excuse any more.

Delulu fits completely to you, to manipulate things I did not say. Where ever İlkin's name passes, you act like the one seeing a red pelerine. You cannot slap me with reality, since your age and life experience is not enough to slap and show me, what realty is.

I don't see any problem to declare to be a fan of a club or liking and respecting any particular player or players, like you do with liking your lovely loser Tuğba... Note that, İlkin or any others does not need my praising. Every time she gets bashed, she comes more stronger. If she does good, good for her, if not then the other way around.

Good luck to you with your lovely ones.

Quote from occansey

Eczacibasi is not a sponsor really; they’re one of the biggest holdings in Turkey and this is their own sports club. They used to have a basketball team in the past which was very dominant as well.

Think of it like Bayer having their own volleyball team in Germany, or Sanofi having one in France. The money Eczaci spends is seen as a marketing expense and a tiny bit of their budget.

As long as the holding (or Turkish economy as a whole) doesn’t collapse, they will continue to spend I believe.

Totally agree with you. People usually like to comment on the status in a generic way as it is in other countries but as you say, Eczacıbaşı is a giant holding for decades and not like Zeren. Similarly, Vakıfbank+ Halkbank and Ziraat (at men) are public banks with a giant revenue and most profitable enterprises, especially in this current economic situation. As far as I know, they also deduct the spending made in those areas from the tax they pay. So investing in volleyball is fun and it is like peanut for them.On the other hand, Sport Club Teams who also cover football, have some challenges in budget wise. Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş are in trouble in terms of debit accounts made to Assotiation of Banking Unity and many other expense such as transfers in many branches. When you look at those clubs including Galatasaray, their objective is, to compete in many different branches and become succesful. Fans always push them to invest more. The only sport club having football as well and who invest in that area (volleyball) a good amount of budget is Fenerbahçe but stiil not getting what they expected. In fact, volleyball is not a profitable branch but just for reputation for those clubs. As a standalone branch, volleyball makes debit and this is the reality, when you add on the expenses. Galatasaray is the only Club, who shifted from debit to credit with a good amount of contribution they got from Champions League at football and other investments and instruments such as property investment, merchant sales etc. Now if they don't invest more in volleyball, then fans will have the right to criticise the management, until the end.

So better check the economical reality at country and association level, before making a generic comment on the situation of any activity.

Quote from VBdiamond

I can get turkish teams buying out Orro and Sylla, they were genuinly thinking Orro was the sign of the century... And Sylla as an OH is very valuable when the position is as dry as it in the last years... But the buy out of a back up player is kinda funny...

And who was funny? The back up of Orro, Arelya or the back up of İlkin and Sylla, Lukasik and Frantti? So this means, Fenerbahçe, Conegliano and Vakıfbank are really funny teams.

Quote from serdar

Gorecka could do a great backrow specialist with her stable reception and defense. Or shemanova although it would be a downgrade

I am on the side of Gorecka.

Quote from serdar

Hmmm except she is not. And whole this story that they didn't get paid doesn't make sense, what I heard was just the club didn't want to work with sb community, aka Serbian mafia anymore. They weren't happy with aleksic and mihajlovic so they settled their contract earlier, which totally makes sense

What did you do man? Serbian mafia will chase you where ever you go or whatever you writeJust watch yourself

Quote from Cofi

No offense but that’s like saying someone won CEV cup so they got a title..

What’s their strongest opponent in SA Championship? Columbia? There aren’t even any VNL teams there, not to mention a serious contender.

Yes you keep underestimating CEV Cup, cause it is won by a Turkish Club and the name is Galatasaray, ending the domination of Italian clubs on that...This sort of success can be the beginning of next step, by having a target, succeeding and convincing very good players to sign onwards.

Some Brasilian fans are going out of direction. As I understood correctly, no one underestimated or downgraded Brasilian NT. However, Club level success and NT success are two different things. At NT, you might have limited choices on the other hand, club level you might have different options at international level. The main topic is, if he will take over FB, whether he will be succesful or not. The others who don't expect much from him is because of several reasons.

1- Zhe has an obsession on Brasilian players having like a mission to urge the players to get more experience in tournaments to adapt them to Brasil NT. The symbol name is Bergman with others in THY (the club he worked for).

2- Correct transfer strategy. It is known that, many high quality players already signed with many Turkish Clubs such as Vakıfbank and Eczacıbaşı. Particularly, Excacıbaşı looks like flying on paper. Vakıfbank is always like that. Already GS increased the budget and may do some surprise transfers as they did last year with Sylla and Yuanyuan. They hide everything until they sign the contract. As the fact, he might have very limited option after he signs.

3- With an OH line named Ana Cristina and Arina, he might have limited options and It is for sure, he will not give up from Ana Cristina. So who will be the Victim? Arina? Any team who gets Arina and with a good team structure will also push top 4. Under these circumstances, if he signs for FB, it will be a very tough season for him. FB community is very noisy and he might face a fact as happened to Mourinho (football).

Again as I understood, his career is OK at NT but because of some obsessions and objectives of his and and also considering the opponents strength on paper, this name cannot make any magic at club level. Especially checking his career at local teams level and Sao Paulo Barueri, he didn't achived anything remarkable at club level since 2012 with FB.

So please don't take the critics personal and not on Brasil and respect people, who don't have much expectations from him.

Quote from denzz

S Eylül Karadaş to GS

How do you rate her?

Quote from serdar

In theory it is challenge cup participation rights but 6th place gives Balkan cup which is something almost always Turkish teams win anyways so at the end both gives challenge cup participation but Turkish teams generally avoids challenge cup and they apply to play in cev cup instead

Recently 5th place is fixed for CEV Cup and 6th will expected to play at Balkan. In this case, Galatasaray will play again in CEV Cup and Aras will play in Balkan. On the other hand, I still expect, some positive changes will happen, at least for Aras.

Quote from MTS

I feel Fenerbahçe will sign him... At least they will try and if they try ı dont see him chosing LOVB over Fenerbahçe.

And if this happens, then Ana C's spot is fixed

Quote from serdar

Congratulations Vakıfbank! Well deserved, I really wanted Fenerbahçe to win because of many players I like in that team, and things could go different direction if they would have taken the second set but at the end better team won👏

From Vakıfbank;

Both Cansu and Zehra had amazing playoffs when everyone wrote them off in first half of season. Cansu is really establishing herself as top3 setter in the world, definitely better than Orro like we see during this series.

Ayça played very solid after jegdic was transferred, guidetti really knows how to motivate his team members. Based on current shapes, GS is the lucky one with Ayça/Eylül exchange.

Markova grew so much as a player this season, she was already at a crazy level with her offense but she improved her reception to such a good level that she doesn't need anyone to cover her which is very different than any other big offensive OHs like Arina, Zhu etc. besides her reception, her defense has been crazy good too, with her super long octopus arms she is touching every balls somehow. Respect! True MVP of the league.

Congratulations to boskovic as well, very happy for her. A player at her caliber needs more league titles like this. It was nice that she get the match point.

Derya was MVP of the game as others mentioned. She really fought with all her heart! Competition on NT OHs will be insane.

Guidetti shows once more time what a mastermind he is! Everyone was questioning him for his Derya choice for days, he trusted Derya and it paid off at best possible way at most important moment!

Ogbogu, bye girl, Fenerbahçe is the place for you really

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I agree on almost all points with a few exceptions.

Vakıfbank did very well except Ogbobu and I still wonder how and why Gui insisted on her, while having Berka and Deniz, in those moments she gave almost nothing at all...

I am doubtful about your expectation/prediction about Ayça/Eylül, saying that GS is the lucky one...If those 2 were played in 1 team, either in Vakıf or GS, then it would be a perfect duo. Please don't forget, many people here bashed Ayça about her performance. Even Santarelli did almost the same thing, excluding her from NT and called Eylül. When I look at Eylül's performance, she did amazing things in the 1st week of VNL last year and did also very well at GS. However, her performance showed a decline, right after the rumors, related to transferring to Vakıf. Thanks god, she did very well one more time in final matches of CEV Cup, when the team needed her most. Gui never makes a move which is doubtful, so his expectations from her must be high and she has that potential. On the other hand Ayça has experience of big matches, especially at club level. On the other hand, after so many years in Vakıf and leaving with tears and broken heart, all I can say that, only time will tell us, what will happen and which team is lucky.

About Markova, while many people criticising her with her reception skills by just looking at unreliable volleystation stats, I always put my reservation on that, saying that is doing very well, as a vollleyball fan, who watched many of her matches at NCAA and after. Only an outstanding talent can show us an amazing improvement in all areas of the game/court and she has that suit and she still keeps developing. On top of it, more important point is that, she makes it with consistency. Not like 1 or 2 matches good followed a bad one then a few good then disappear. She always makes a difference. I also find some guys useless and absurd discussion, comparing her with Zhu. Again apple and pear comparison. Hats off to Zhu however a younger one came to volleyball world and has a long way to do better than her, unless any injury occurs.

About Derya, I don't know what happened to her...Not sure, if she used aphrodisiac or something else She showed and outstanding performance and definitely deserved to be the MVP of the match (but not the entire final phase, which goes to Marina). Her contribution in all areas, changed the direction of the match completely, while Vakıf was struggling. A big kudos. With this performance, she deserves a spot in NT but her main problem is her consistency. She is like a stray-mine. If hits, a big blast but when? Who knows. This makes her unreliable, however it would be good to have her in NT and hope that, Santarelli gives more chances to her, when compared with last year.

Lastly, congratulations to Boskovic. It really worth, changing her team and managed to reach to her 1st winning of Sultanlar League Championship. It was so emotional to all but especially for her.

In spite of loss, Eda is a real professional. She was also sad but tried to hide her emotions. Same for Orro and Gülçe. Pity for Vargas. While the match was in a risky situation and 2-1 behind, she was dancing next to bench, before the 4th set started. I can understand the disappointment. Being sad is normal but this is also the test of matureness. You are given an award for your service speed and taken with such a face and attitude. FAILED.