Who from Italy?
Perugia, Monza and Milano.
Posts by side.out
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I'm a fan of Sir Safety. I simply don't like him as a player and his attitude on court. He's always annoyed about everything else but spiking and serving.
He's acts like he's too good to receive or waste a dive to try to save a ball.
N'Gapeth is a strong contender for the title...
Anyway, congratulations to Perugia, amassing so much talent year after year finally paid it off.
It makes sense that León, after struggling during the season, got his groove back in the Scudetto series too, helping the team to get the better of an unyielding Monza. He was supposed to be the missing piece to make Perugia unbeatable and bring the Champions League in Umbria and he wasn't, but he's still leaving after a four trophies season.
On that, huge props to Angelo Lorenzetti: it's hard to beat a team with that much depth at every position, but he never let anyone get the upper hand when things got hotter and as in all modesty he stated, he summarized the work of the colleagues who have gone before him.
Hats off to Monza though, they did something immense and should be very proud of their season. It's a pity they didn't manage to rise a trophy, but sometimes that's just how it goes. Such a shame that Eccheli (what a great piece of coaching throughout the playoffs, especially against Trento) can't build on what his team achieved this season too, I would have loved to see some more of Cachopa, Galassi, Takahashi, Gaggini, Loeppky and Maar all together.
I'd like to spend a few words about Milano too: I think Monza outshined Piazza and his guys a little bit, but once again they showed how much of a well-coached and tough team they can be. After getting off a rough start without Porro, little by little they found their way back to a splendid Champions League berth, upsetting a very disappointing Trento. Not a super CEV Cup campaign, but similar to Monza it's almost impossible to have your cake and eat it too when you don't have a large roster.
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I just read that Dinamo-Ak Bars won the title: apparently Pietrini played a great game and was awarded as best OH together with Martínez. Well, if that's so that's good news for the summer, because it means the injury wasn't serious and she can perform.
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Savino Del Bene is gonna invest more money next season. And Vero Volley may do the same, expecially if they will lift the Champions League trophy.
Imoco biggest advantage is having Santarelli. He's always build a big connection with his players and makes them play their best. Egonu has only occasionally played as good as she did with Imoco, for example. Sylla used to look much better while playing in Conegliano.
As far as I know, Vero Volley will be very italian next season. I heard about Pietrini e Danesi joining. While Scandicci will fix the libero problem with Castillo. And there are rumors about a world star OH joining next season.
I don't see Milano getting any better with Gaspari. The roster wasn't much worse than Scandicci, but they didn't elevate when it mattered. They still have to play the Champions League final though, maybe they can spring up at the last moment and get some confidence back to build around for next season.
Scandicci with Castillo back and Antiga at helm might be even more intriguing than this season, however I don't know which OH superstar can snatch at this point.
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Will Lavia be able to return in CL final? (I don’t know the reason of him being absent for the whole bronze medal series)
From what I've read it's a day-to-day thing, so difficult to understand if he'll make it or not and if that so how fit he would be.
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I'm curious to see how Santarelli will reshape the team next season. On paper they're looking toward another dominant campaign, but the gap between Conegliano and the others is slowly narrowing and even if until now keeping the same core from year to year was enough to pull away from the rest, there's no guarantee it will be the same next year.
Gabi needs no Introduction, but we have to see how she will adjust to the new league and whether she can immediately live up to the phenomenal season Robinson played, especially with passing and defence. Plus, considering how Zhu Ting faded away little by little during this Scudetto series, choosing her to replace Plummer might be a bigger gamble than it looks.
Last but not least, Robin de Kruijf is retiring: she's one of the key members of this Conegliano run together with De Gennaro and Wołosz (both of them aren't getting any younger by the way, that's another thing to keep in mind) and it won't be easy to replace her, not so much technically but as charismatic and veteran figure in the locker room.
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Is Trentino out of the CL next season after losing the bronze medal series? Or are they still qualified as finishing 1st in regular season?
They're out and will play CEV Cup next season. By the way, considering how dreadful Trento is right now I would be surprised to see anything different from an easy 3-0 by Jastrzębski Węgiel.
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My heart sinks for Scandicci really, they battled so hard and put everything together at right moment. That bad error from Nwakalor really sealed their fate... Congratulations to Conegliano, when their block and defence is full on they are just scary to play against.
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Linda, what have you done...
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Conegliano stepped up with block and defence. Scandicci is in desperate need to find a way to break that chain, otherwise I'm afraid that's it.
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Well, if even that rally goes to you it's simply your set no matter what.
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Sarah Fahr, a.k.a. as the fastest arm of the West.
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Poor Plummer, that shanked pass at 23:24 will lead to seven more years of bashing in this forum
I mean, Scandicci was looking for that all set long and I said before she's no specialist, it was meant to happen sooner or later.
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With the level of passing they're having Scandicci is getting almost the maximum out of every situation. Sure, they let fall some easy ball every now and then (for example the one at 4-1), but still difficult to ask for more. Let's see if they'll keep targeting Plummer too.
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just because she isn’t best fit for Imoco doesn’t means she wouldn’t be good fit for other teams.
Agreed and if I may add something I don't think Santarelli would've kept her for so long if he didn't believe she was the right fit. Unfortunately it's easier to disintegrate an atom than a prejudice and Plummer will always have to live with the name of weak passer, but compared from her first season in Conegliano she did great improvements, to the point she had matches where she was the one who passed the most and still kept valid numbers. She'll never be a specialist, but she's a player you'd like to rather have by your side instead of the opposite side of the net.
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As I said, everyone reads it as they want...
On the other hand, Velasco is a "wise man": he knows what to say, what not to say and how to say it and not say it...
I've already read tons of criticisms because of this statement, that's why I have very little confidence about seeing something different from the usual one-and-done display. Expectations from fans and federation combined with toxic press is a lethal mix that even a legend like Velasco might have problems to deal with.
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Anthoulī is staying in Chieri: https://www.chieri76.it/martha…e-mutua-fenera-chieri-76/, Caprara is officially introduced as new UYBA coach: https://www.volleybusto.com/news-dettaglio.php?id=2755.
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Haak quite outshined everybody, but Plummer was lowkey deadly too.
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Haak with the winner was just meant to be. Scandicci has to believe Game 5 will happen though, they seem to be in a great shape physically and mentally they're not quitting. Even with a fourth set played to a lesser degree they still ended it quite close to Conegliano.
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you can always use two liberos simultaneously, instead of Parrocchiale all the time
I guess it's simply not in Barbolini's agenda.
Haak is simply a woman on a mission today.