Olympiacos won the second game of this season by 3-0. Pamvohaikos was not as good as it was expected, the team suffered from inconsistency and they need to find out the mechanism in their game.

Olympiacos on the other hand was more consistent and had more solutions in attack and reception, even though their main libero, George Stefanou was injured as well as one their best middle blockers George Papadopoulos.

On the other game of the 2nd match day of the Greek volleyball league, AO Kifisias made a clear victory 3-0 over Milon. The team of AO Kifisias was a better team in all levels than Milon although they had played much better in the previous match day against Foinikas Siros. Milonas suffered in reception and their attackers were blocked by AO Kifisias excellent blockers.

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The strongest teams easily defeated their opponents in the tenth round of Greek Championship. There were five straight-set victories in Volleyleague.

On Saturday games Foinikas easily won 0-3 (23-25, 23-25, 13-25) over the home team of Lamia. The new players of Syros team were the stars of the game. The Brazilian diagonal Pedro Dornellas scored 19, Stelios Nikiforidis 15 and Toni Kovacevic 12 points.

Aris Thessalonikis continue climbing in the standings by easily winning 0-3 (17-25, 20-25, 20-25) the home team of Panathinaikos in Athens. For Aris the Greek diagonal Tzelatis scored 17 points.

Kifisia also claimed straight-set victory (17-25, 20-25, 20-25) against Niki Aiginiou. Christos Bellos and Theoklitos Karipidis had both scored from 16 points leading their team to an easily home win.

Although Pamvohaikos lost the first set he finally managed to win 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-23) over Ethnikos Alexandroupolis. Leonardo Caldeira scoring 17 and Zoran Jovanovic scoring 19 points were the leaders of Vrahati’s team.

On Sunday’s game PAOK having a great performance managed to win 3-0 over MIlonas and climb at the third position of the standings. For PAOK team Xatziiliadis, Mavronouniotis, Armenakis and Kanelos were in a great day.

Olympiakos on Monday at the last game of the round easily won 0-3 (18-25, 22-25, 19-25) over the home team of Iraklis in Thessaloniki. For Olympiakos team the Bulgarian left handed diagonal Boyan Yordanov scored 15, the middle blocker Nikolaos Smaragdis 9 and the outside hitter Kokkinakis 11 points.

Tenth round results in Greek Volleyleague

PAOK – Milonas: 3-0 (25-19, 25-11, 25-17)

Lamia – Foinikas Syrou: 0-3 (23-25, 23-25, 13-25)

Pamvohaikos – Ethnikos Alexandroupolis: 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-23)

Kifisia – Niki Aiginiou: 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-19)

Panathinaikos – Aris Thessalonikis: 0-3 (17-25, 20-25, 20-25)

Iraklis Thessalonikis – Olympiakos: 0-3 (18-25, 22-25, 19-25)

Standings

Olympiakos 29, Aris 20, PAOK 19, Pamvohaikos 18, Ethnikos Alexandroupolis 17, Foinikas Syroy 15, Lamia 14, Kifisia 13, Iraklis Thessalonikis 10, Niki Aiginiou 10, Panathinaikos 7, Milonas 3,

Best action of ninth round games

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Ural Ufa versus Belogorie Belgorod – the duel was introduced the most interesting game of the 20th leg of Russian Superleague and exactly did not disappoint. Despite a marvelous play of Dimitriy Muserskiy (24 points, 80% of efficiency, 5 blocks and 3 aces), Belgorod was overcome by Ural (without Vissotto) in tie-break and dropped to fourth place in the table at the expense of Ural Ufa. Moreover, Zenit Kazan and Gubernia Nizhny Novgorod secured the first place in standings before playoffs.

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All results of the 20th leg:
Group of Blue

Grozny – Lokomotiv Novosibirsk 0-3 (21-25, 22-25, 20-25)
Top Scorer: Shipotko 15, Tokhtash 7, Andrianov 5, Antipkin 5; Nilsson 17, Biryukov 9, Butko 8, Divis 6, Gutsalyuk 6

Kuzbass Kemerovo – Zenit Kazan 0:3 (16:25, 18:25, 20:25)
Top Scorers: Moroz 13, Andrae 9, Tuia 6, Poroshin 4; Mikhailov 19, Abrosimov 11, Anderson 10, Sivozhelez 8, Apalikov 6

Ural Ufa – Belogorie Belgorod 3:2 (18:25, 25:21, 25:22, 19:25, 19:17)
Top Scorers: Panteleymonenko 18, Spiridonov 16, Abramov 13, Samoylenko 8, Ashchev 5; Muserskiy 24, Grozer 21, Tetyukhin 13, Khtey 7, Ilinykh 6

Yaroslavich Yaroslavl – Gazprom Yugra Surgut 1:3 (19:25, 20:25, 25:22, 22:25)
Top Scorers: Pluzhnikov 19, Kulikovkiy 13, Bojic 13, Tavasiev 8, Filippov 7; Rodichev 21, Mysin 20, Aleksiev 17, Smolyar 7, Todorov 5

Group of Red
Prikam Perm – Dinamo Moscow 0:3 (20:25, 28:30, 23:25)
Top Scorers: Konnov 12, Nikitin 10, Kovalev 9, Likhosherstov 7; Kruglov 16, Shcherbinin 10, Kurek 9, Veres 8, Krivets 8

Iskra Odintsovo – Gubernia Nizhny Novgorod 3:2 (24:26, 25:15, 25:20, 25:27, 18:16)
Top Scorers: Schmitt 28, Contreras 23, Kalinin 13, Kuleshov 12; Tyurin 22, Nikic 14, Sychev 11, Egorov 11

Shakhtar Soligorsk – Lokomotiv Kharkhiv 3:1 (25:18, 19:25, 25:17, 25:21)
Top Scorers: Miklashevich 17, Levchenko 13, Nemer 11, Kadziewicz 9; Tyutlin 18, Ereschenko 15, Termenko 9, Rudnicki 8

Dinamo Krasnodar – Fakel Novy Urengoy 3:0 (25:19, 25:15, 26:24)
Top Scorers: Mochalov 14, Eremin 12, Nosenko 11, Chaus 10; Mosov 9, Titich 6, Krasikov 6, Beketov 6, Bakun 5, Astashenkov 5

Standings:
Group of Blue:

1. Zenit Kazan 50
2. Lokomotiv Novosibirsk 43
3. Ural Ufa 39
4. Belogorie Belgorod 39
5. Gazprom Yugra Surgut 36
6. Kuzbass Kemerovo 23
7. Grozny 15
8. Yaroslavich Yaroslavl 11

Group of Red:

1. Gubernia Nizhny Novgorod 44
2. Dinamo Krasnodar 38
3. Fakel Novy Urengoy 36
4. Dinamo Moscow 27
5. Iskra Odintsovo 26
6. Lokomotiv Kharkhiv 24
7. Shakhtar Soligorsk 17
8. Prikam Perm 12

The 24th edition of the FIVB World League was begun! Finland and Portugal went first crack at the competition in pool C and the whole tournament. ‘Suomi’, coached by a former player Tuomas Sammelvuo, beat Portugal confirming its high aspirations to book a spot to Final Six in Mar de Plata.     

Finland-Portugal 3 – 0 (25-13, 29-27, 25-18)

Finland: Esko 4, Sivula 10, Matti Oivanen 8, Mikko Oivanen 12, Siltala 10, Shumov 6, Rajala (L) and Kerminen, Hietanen, Tervaporti

Portugal: Pinheiro 4, Andre 4, Marcel 6, Sequeira 15, Ferreira 4, Jose 6, Coelho (L) and Idi 6, Violas

Finland took the command immediately and built a solid lead leading by seven, 13-6 when Portugal took a time out. Suomi impressed a powerful serve and cooperation between block and defense. The major problem for Portugal was to anticipate Mikko Esko intentions. The most experienced player of Finland disorganized opponents block and gave an easy way to finish off a lot of balls to his teammates. The hosts won six of the next seven points to lead the first set 19-7. Portugal had problems passing Finland’s blocking, and the Finns could gain points even from a few triple blocks. Finland coasted to set victory 25-13.

In the second set, Portugal picked up its ability to read the Finnish blocking and started to find striking spaces, and the team managed to hold on to the ball better during interchanges. Finland again started leading 4-1, but Portugal took the lead for the first time at 6-5. With Finland leading 13-10, Portugal won six of the next seven points to lead 16-14, and with Valdir Sequeira stepping to the fore with 10 excellent spikes, the guests fought to the end for the set. A smart off-speed hit by Idi and a fast combination finished by Ivo Casas set up by Nuno Pinheiro fended off a couple of Finnish set points, but Matti Oivanen’s hard serve gave Finland the set victory at 29-27.

The third set was open by successful counterattack of Urpo Sivula and impressive second-touch spike of Mikko Esko and it showed Finland wants  to end up the game already in that part. However, the team of the Iberian Peninsula did not give up still fighting. Idi was trying to catch up the Scandinavians with effective attacks but it was not enough. Finland led 8-7 on the first technical time-out and then got the score increased. Sequeira was wasting ball by ball and Joao Jose as well while neither Mikko Oivanen nor Antti Siltala did not pay attention to opponents taking advantage chances to point (18-12). Flavio Gulinelli’s players were not able to answer being  reconciled with the upcoming failure. Konstantin Shumov did successful block bringing Finland home with a 25-18 set victory.

Portugal’s Valdir Sequeira topped all scorers with 15 points, while the best scorer for Finland was Mikko Oivanen 12 points, followed by the game’s next highest scorers, Antti Siltala and Urpo Sivula at 10.
In the end, the serving efficiency by the Finns proved the biggest difference. Finland got five direct points from Matti and Mikko Oivanen, but the serves also built up several good spike finished. Finland also got 29 points from Portuguese errors of different kinds.

Thanks to the victory Finland took the leadership in pool C which is composed of Canada, The Netherlands and two Asian teams Japan and Korea.

According the new World League system (read below), only the winner of pool C will advance to the Final Six.   

The new Word League system

The 18 teams are split into three pools of six. Pools A and B are determined using the serpentine system based on the world rankings as of August 13, 2012. Pool C features teams ranked as the next best four in the world rankings after the 12 teams in Pool A and B plus two wild cards decided by the FIVB.

The top three world ranked teams in each pool will play three matches at home and two away with the bottom three world ranked teams playing twice at home and three times away.
Each pool will play over six weekends before the Finals take place from July 17 to 21. Six teams will qualify for the World League Finals featuring the top two teams from Pools A and B, plus the winners of Pool C and the host country. As Argentina is in Pool A and is already among the qualified teams, the best ranked team of pool A – not already qualified – will be selected.

Photo: FIVB

Brazil and Bulgaria successfully launched the second World Grand Prix weekend. The hosts, Puerto Rico, did not coped with Bulgaria that is doing well this season. Brazil still remains unbeaten after four sets win over Dominican Republic.

 Dominican Rep. – Brazil 1 – 3 (25-20, 22-25, 12-25, 18-25)

Dominican Republic: Echenique 1, Rivera 7, Vargas 2, De La Cruz 25, Rodriguez 6, Fersola 8, Castillo (L) and Marte, Arias 2, Pena 1, Mambru 3, Binet
Brazil: Dani Lins 1, Gabi 25, Fabiana 13, Monique 1, Fe Garay 20, Juciely 8, Brait (L) and Silva, Michelle, Sheilla 8

Dominican Republic started the first set very aggressive until Brazil’s head coach, Jose Roberto Guimarães, call an urgent time out at (8-12) after a consecutive great serve from Dominican Republic player, Priscilla Rivera. The lead of the Caribbean team continued through the second technical time out with an advantage of six points (10-16) after an attack of young player Jeoselyna Rodriguez. After the second time out, Brazil return to level up the set to a (17-19).The winning point for Dominican Republic came with a failed serve made by Brazil’s Michelle Pavão to end with (20-25).

Brazil’s team began the second set with a different game strategy emphasizing on the defensive line. A Block of Gabriela Guimarães (Gabi) tied up the game at point 12. “Gabi” herself helped scoring the next points throughout the second technical time out that favored her team with a one point lead (16-15). Marianne Fersola of Dominican Republic spiked to tie up the game at point 17 following a great battle in the net of both teams. The set was finished in favor of Brazil (25-22) by an out kill of Annerys Vargas of the Dominican Republic.

The inconsistence of the Dominican Republic team helped Brazil scoring an outstanding lead of 11 points for the second technical time out that presented a (16-5) advantage. This continued to end up the third set at (25-12) with an error of Yonkaira Pena of Dominican Republic that gave Brazil the lead of 2 sets to 1.

Team Stats:

ActionsSpike pointsSpike %BlockServeDigReceptionSets noteUnforced ErrorsDominican Rep.4427%867727%319Brazil6139%967343%6.7519

Team Leaders:

Actions/PlayersPointsSpike pointsSpike %Spike errorsBlockServeUnforced ErrorsBethania De La Cruz252036%8238Gabriela Gimaraes ‘Gabi’252044%2322

Puerto Rico – Bulgaria 0 – 3 (21-25, 20-25, 10-25)

Puerto Rico: Valentin 3, K. Ocasio 11, S. Ocasio 3, Rosa 5, Ruiz 2, Morales 5, Venegas (L) and Nogueras 1, Jimenez 1, Quesada, Reyes 1
Bulgaria: Kitipova 3, Vasileva 12, Ruseva 3, E. Nikolova 8, Rabadzhieva 12, S. Filipova 13, M. Filipova (L) and Zarkova 2, D. Nikolova, Nenova 1, Karakasheva 1, Koleva

World Grand Prix debutants Bulgaria raised their record to 3-1 while Puerto Rico lost their fourth straight match.
Click Here: PuttersBulgaria had an 11-4 advantage in blocking and 4-1 in serving. Bulgaria scored 40 points on kills from 75 attempts while Puerto Rico could only manage 27 from 80 attempts.

In the first set, the two teams exchanged the lead early on but at the end of the set good work by Vasileva and Rabadzhieva gave Bulgaria the advantage they needed to take a 1-0 lead.

The second set started as the first one had with great defence and offence from both teams. Puerto Rico took an 8-6 advantage at the first technical timeout with an amazing block by setter Natalia Valentín. Bulgaria came back with good spikes to tie the set at 15-15 and an error by Ocasio put them ahead 16-15 at the second break. Tsvetelina Zarkova ended the second set with a great kill.

The third set was an easy ride for Bulgaria who dominated Puerto Rico with effective spikes as they zipped through the set 25-10.

Strashimira Filipova was the top scorer in the match with 13 points, while her teammates Elitsa Vasileva and Dobriana Rabadzhieva both scored 12. Karina Ocasio was the top scorer for Puerto Rico with 11 points.

Team Stats:

ActionsSpike pointsSpike %BlockServeDigReceptionSets noteUnforced ErrorsPuerto Rico2733%411131%3.6720Bulgaria4053%1141448%4.6719

Team Leaders:

Actions/PlayersPointsSpike pointsSpike %Spike errorsBlockServeUnforced ErrorsKarina Ocasio11931%6207Elitsa Vasilieva121052%3114

Descriptions: FIVB

Brazilian Superliga 2013/2014 barely begun and Brazilian Volleyball federation (CBV) is already rigorous and applying its rules in clubs.

CBV published on their website that the coach Bernardinho from Unilever, coach Paulo Martins from Montes Claros and players of the same club Tiago Brendle and Alberto, were fined with 5,000 Reals each (2,195 USD).

Fines are due to their absence at the presentation party of the Superliga, which was held last Thursday (September 5), in São Paulo.

The automatic administrative measure called by CBV, was applied in accordance with Regulation of Competition.

Just as it happened last year, the regulation of the Superliga provides punishments for players, coaches and clubs who commit some act that “denigrates” the image of the competition.

Source:melhordovolei.com.br

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AZS Olsztyn didn’t stick too long to the leadership. Jastrzebski Wegiel took that place after an easy win over Transfer Bydgoszcz.

Let’s start with a real treat of this last round. ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle met with PGE Skra Belchatow. With Zaksa having a lot of problems lately, a lot of people expected a victory from Miquel Falasca and his team. It turned out to be just another way around. Grzegorz Bociek became the best scorer of this round with 25 points. Just behind him got Dick Kooy (22 points). Marcin Mozdzonek also did his job in block (6 points) and the whole team worked out 8 aces. This was enough to win with Skra. Belchatow is struggling with not the best shape of Mariusz Wlazly (10 points, 22%) and in that game they also had a lot of troubles with the reception. Best scorer of Skra was Wojciech Wlodarczyk (12 points).

ZAKSA Kedzierzyn-Kozle – PGE Skra Belchatow 3:1 (22:25, 25:20, 25:19, 25:21)
MVP: Grzegorz Bociek

AZS Czestochowa is struggling with a bad luck and a bad game. They got hit by a series of injuries. Currently, Milosz Hebda and Bartosz Bednorz are unable to help the team, due to their healt issues. Bielsko Biala took advantage of it and earned 3 points in the last round. Jose Luis Gonzales, with 16 points scored, was chosen MVP of this game. AZS had Michal Kaczynski who gave 21 points, but that was not enough this time.

BBTS Bielsko-Biala – AZS Czestochowa 3:0 (25:21, 25:19, 25:22)
MVP: Jose Luis Gonzales

AZS Olsztyn. Leader in one second took a painful hit from Trefl Gdansk in the next one. Both Jakub Jarosz and Wojciech Zalinski had a good run by scoring 69% of efficiency in attack. The game of Trefl was perfectly balanced. Grzegorz Lomasz, the setter, let all his colleagues play a good game. In Olsztyn nobody could help this taugh situation.They will try to rebuilt a good quality during the next game with AZS Czestochowa, the team which also has something to prove.

AZS Olsztyn – LOTOS Trefl Gdansk 0:3 (22:25, 18:25, 20:25)
MVP: Grzegorz Lomacz

Another 3:0 result was achieved by Effector Kielce in the battle against Czarni Radom. The game was not really exciting, Kielce took the whole control over it from the very beginning. After loosing that night, Robert Prygiel (head coach of Radom) said: It was a cold shower for us, but I think we’ll be able to make something good out of it in the future. We’ll do our best in the next game in Gdansk.

Cerrad Czarni Radom – Effector Kielce 0:3 (18:25, 23:25, 20:25)
MVP: Lukasz Polanski

In the game between Asseco Resovia and AZS Warszawa we had an oportunity to watch a great performance of one of the middle blockers. Lukasz Perlowski, 29-year-old Resovia’s player scored 17 (!) points of which 8 were added by block. With 88% of efficiency it made him a real star of the 6th round in Polish league. Asseco Resovia, after loosing the first set to AZS, got itself together and pushed it sucessfully from that point to the very end. 22 points of Jochen Schops made it easier, obviously. AZS is having a difficult time in PlusLiga, they are loosing one game after another and there are another difficult challenges along the way – their next opponent is Zaksa Kedzierzyn Kozle.

Asseco Resovia Rzeszow – AZS Politechnika Warszawska 3:1 (23:25, 25:14, 25:19, 25:20)
MVP: Jochen Schops

As mentioned, Jastrzebski Wegiel defeated Transfer Bydgoszcz. Despite hiring some new players (Pawel Woicki and Carson Clark), Transfer does still have only one point in ranking, which makes them the last team in PlusLiga for that moment. On the other end there is Jastrzebski Wegiel now. Michal Lasko and Michal Kubiak had a great value in this lat match. Jastrzebie won 3:0 and now they are going to Belchatow for something that seems to be a lot more difficult challenge.

Jastrzebski Wegiel – Transfer Bydgoszcz 3:0 (25:14, 25:20, 25:22)
MVP: Michal Kubiak

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Bulgarian team serves its fans lots of nerves, team almost lost with Egypt. Meanwhile Canada and Russia achieved wins for 3 points.

Bulgaria: Zhekov (6), Aleksiev (25), Gotsev (7), Milushev (20), Gradinarov (8), Todorov (10), Salparov (L) and Skrimov (1), Dimitrov, Penchev (2), Sokolov
Egypt: Abdalla (2), Saleh (15), Mamdouh (3), Abdelhay (20), Thakil (16), Abd Elhalim (12), Moawad (L) and Abdelkader, El Sayed, Rashad (1), Elkotb (2)

Egypt built a sizeable cushion early in the tiebreaker as the Bulgarians suffered a defensive meltdown. But Aleksiev’s and team-mates’ heroics brought the team back to tie the score at 6-all. Egypt suffered on some costly errors on the attack that allowed Bulgaria to spark a run until a Todor Skrimov closed the final set at 15-11 with an ace.

Mexico: P.Rangel, Guerra (12), Cordova (6), Vargas (6), Quinones (3), Aguilera (5), J.Rangel (L) and Barajas (1), Petris (2), Orellana (5), Herrera, Meyer (3)
Canada: Sanders (2), Van Lankvelt (16), Verhoeff (9), Soonias (12), Winters (7), Vigrass (11), Lewis (L) and

Mexican Jorge Quinones opened the first set with a block and a sudden response came from Canada’s Graham Vigrass to start
the exchange between the two teams. The deadlock continued at 5-all but Dallas Soonias pushed his team forward to get a better advantage of 13-8. Daniel Vargas showed a lot of determination to get his team back in the game but the Canadian blocks were too strong for the Mexican attackers to overcome. Canada brought their lead up further to 22-15 until a Frederic Winters attack sealed the first set victory in their favour 25-17.

The second set had a tight start but Canada managed to reach the first technical timeout first at 8-5. Soonias and Toontje Van Lankvelt guided Canada with excellent counter-attacking and blocking as they took a 19-13 advantage. Canada easily cruised to victory in the second set as Winters scored again the final point 25-18.

Mexico took a more motivated approach in the third set as their captain Carlos Guerra teamed-up with Nestor Orellana to run their offence. The Mexicans attacked and countered well but the Canadians did not allow to be outdone by his Mexican counterparts. Vigrass’ block and serve gave Canada the advantage by the second technical timeout 16-13. Mexico managed to narrow the gap at 19-18. After an exchange in plays, Canada scored five points in a row to finally secure victory in the match 25-19.

China: S.Jiao (1), W.J.Zhong (5), C.L.Liang (4), Y.Zhi (5), Y.C.Fang (4), X.Geng (5), Q.Ren (L) and Z.C.Kou (6), D.S.Ji (3), R.M.Li, J.T.Xu (2), F.W.Kong (L)
Russia: Grankin (1), Ilinykh (15), Muserskiy (15), Pavlov (13), Spiridonov (8), Apalikov (6), Ermakov (L) and Moroz

Standings:

RankTeamWin/LossSets RatioPoints RatioPoints1.Russia4/012.0001.321122.Bulgaria3/12.2001.08893.Canada3/11.8001.11084.China2/20.7500.97065.Egypt0/40.2500.84916.Mexico0/40.1670.7860

Photo and infographics: FIVB

German volleyball society is finally witnessing the coveted reshuffling of forces. The 2014-2015 campaign has proven not to be as wearisome as we thought it would be just a few months ago. With the three-time consecutive champions Berlin Recycling Volleys struggling to continue their supremacy, the current leadership of the reborn Friedrichshafen and the thunderbolt appearance of underdogs Lueneburg redound to a fresh wave of emotions.

The analysis of ongoing processes in the Bundesliga cannot start without the scrutiny of the title holders. It is no public secret that a winning side’s life span could rarely endure more than 4-5 years. Berlin have been the team to beat in Germany for the last 4 seasons and it must have been a clear indicator for head coach Mark Lebedew that his relatively untouched but yet experienced squad would suffer at times when trying to demonstrate its usual explosiveness.

Several problems could be pointed out at the end of January. Where Berlin seem to struggle the most is at the attack position. The main scoring machine, the tall Robert Kromm, looks out of shape and has been a shadow of the player he had used to be before last summer. On not one or two occasions it had to be the American captain Scott Touzinsky delivering the points even if his role on the court is quite different. Still, Touzinsky is having a great momentum with some reliable performances while waiting for his teammate Kromm to bounce back from hibernation. Another problem, and quite an obvious one, for Lebedew was the scanty transfer policy in terms of new players on position 4 to provide an alternative to either Touzinsky or Kromm. Francesco De Marchi is still not the solution to the above situation. His contribution to the team’s results has been relatively invisible and it would not be unfair to ask why he was the only recruited receiver during the summer. He is either having difficulties adjusting to the German league, which should not be an excuse for any skillful Italian player, or his better days at Marmi Lanza Verona and Pallovolo Padova are quite far behind him.

The performance of the regular opposite Paul Carroll needs urgent resolution, too. The Australian international is also not the player he was a season or two ago. Aleksandar Spirovski has barely played this year to be relied on more, whereas Christian Duennes is spending another season as a bench joker. Robert Bontje and Erik Shoji have worked their ways in the starting six and fit Berlin’s game style, but they are not enough to close the gap on Friedrichshafen. The Bodensee side also knocked out Berlin RV (a 3-0 quarterfinal win in December) from the German Cup race just to endorse their leadership.

The Max-Schmeling-Halle in the capital is one of the major candidates for a Champions League Final Four organizer. As of right now, this appears to be the only realistic scenario thanks to which Berlin Recycling Volleys might make it to the ultimate stage of the tournament. An early away defeat for the Germans in Budva, Montenegro, was the reason the Polish Asseco Resovia Rzeszow, another possible Final Four organizer (the decision will be made on 29th January), topped the standings of Pool C. However, Berlin’s 3-0 away win in Rzeszow was a display of their best performance so far this season.

VfB Friedrichshafen is the big winner of the whole situation with Berlin RV. Even if Stelian Moculescu‘s side looks weaker overall in comparison to last year’s squad, the team seems to have finally found its lost identity. A German Cup final on 1st March, first position in the league, two important psychological wins against the champions (Berlin got their partial revenge winning 3-2 at home in January) and a more impressive European campaign than in recent years wraps up fruitful last few months for the 2007 Indesit Champions league winners. Blunders are still to be seen, but they showed up mostly at the beginning of the season. Like the 2-3 home defeat to SWD powervolleys Dueren or the same result relived at home against the Austrian Posojilnica Aich/Dob. The return of the playmaker Simon Tischer is undoubtedly one of the catalysts for their reborn presence. The new players who were signed to fill the holes left by the Bulgarian contingent are not that spectacular on first glance, but help Friedrichshafen move further. In approximately three months’ time they will have another chance to fight the defending champions and only then we will see whether their current stand in January has been deserved.

When I said the status quo in German volleyball has been broken, I did not only mean Berlin’s second position in the table or the successful run by Friedrichshafen. In October, I would have expected this paragraph to tell you about the great season of the new signings in Dueren or how well the newly mounted team of Buhl would handle the league’s obstacles. Little did I know that the bunch of players around Vital Heynen‘s national team assistant, Stefan Hubner, will be the sensation in 2014-2015. Lueneburg is a small town near Hamburg in northern Germany, their sports hall looks more like an ordinary school indoor playground, but their volleyball team, the Bundesliga newcomers, put all their opponents, most of which more favoured, to the limits. The series of good results contains an astonishing 3-2 win against Berlin Recycling Volleys on 7th January, preceded by another five-set home win against SWD powervolleys Dueren on 28th December in the German Cup semifinals. On 1st March Stefan Hubner will lead his men to Halle for the final against VfB Friedrichshafen in a match in which SVG Lueneburg have nothing to lose.

Rene Bahlburg (a 26-year-old German outside attacker, 198 cm) and Tijmen Laane (Dutch, same age and position, 206 cm, came from Landstede Zwolle) were two unknown names prior to the season’s commencement, but are now on top of most individual rankings. Hubner also recruited the experienced and explosive opposite Falko Steinke, the Spanish setter Carlos Mora and the US middle blocker Scott Kevorken from UC Irvine in the NCAA. Luneburg are placed on the fourth position in the actual standings at the end of January and there is no doubt the club is enjoying the moment of its life.

The last part of our Bundesliga report will be dedicated to the initial bronze medal contenders. SWD powervolleys Dueren and TV Ingersoll Buhl were thought to be able to challenge the two powerhouses but with 16 games of the regular season already played, this has been fully valid only for Dueren. Much has happened since that horrific 0-3 home defeat to Buhl. Dueren immediately grabbed two points at Friedrichshafen in the next round and have been lonely behind the two league leaders in the standings ever since.

Buhl’s 2014-2015 campaign cannot be compared to their more remarkable previous one. It all started well for last year’s CEV Cup quarterfinalists in the period October – December. 14th December marks the last time the guys of head coach Ruben Wolochin won a Bundesliga game (at home against Coburg). A very tough schedule and shaky days followed as the team totally crumbled against Dueren, Friedrichshafen (twice) and Mitteldeutschland. There is no sign of Lubos Kostolani‘s World League form. The foreign middle blockers Nehemiah Mote and Magloire Mayaula also underperformed in the last few weeks. Mark Plotyczer and Richard Mauler, the two outside attackers, are the only ones carrying the team forward. Buhl could now concentrate on domestic games only and the calendar allows them to win important points before the start of the playoffs.

Pictures: Internet

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50th Mt. Washington Road Race
Mt.
Washington Auto Road
June 19, 2010 ‰ÛÓ 10 a.m.

Northeast Delta Dental doubles top
prizes for the Run to the Clouds

·         50th
Mt. Washington race will recognize more individual performances

May 12, 2010 — Pinkham Notch, N.H.

As the
Mt. Washington Auto Road celebrates the 50th running of the
Mt. Washington Road Race, the event’s major sponsor, Northeast
Delta Dental, has doubled the prizes for the top male and female
finishers. This year, the men’s and women’s winners will each receive a
check for $2000, while each runner-up will win $1000 ‰ÛÓ the same amount
that in previous years has been the winner’s share. 

Preparing
to celebrate its own 50th anniversary, Northeast Delta
Dental will also award cash prizes to the rest of the top ten men and
women to cross the line at the 6288-foot Mt. Washington summit. The
third male and female finishers will win $800, while fourth through
tenth place prizes will be $700-$600-$500-$400-$300-$200-$100. Before
this year, cash prizes were awarded to the top five men and women.

Northeast
Delta Dental President & CEO Tom Raffio comments in this month’s New England Runner magazine, “With our sponsorship of Mt.
Washington we realized a great opportunity to support and reward an
active, vibrant cross-section of the community that’s extremely
interested in preserving an active lifestyle through proper health
maintenance.” Raffio himself will run the race this year.

With
the help of associate sponsors La Sportiva, makers of
high-performance trail and mountain running shoes, and New England
Runner magazine, the race also offers bonuses for course records: $5000
to anyone setting a new men’s or women’s course record, and $2000 to any
man or woman who breaks the existing masters record (age 40 or older).  The current course records:

Men’s open record: 56:41.0, set by
Jonathan Wyatt of New Zealand in 2004.
Women’s
open record: 1:10:08.2, set by Magdalena Thorsell of Sweden in 1998.
Men’s
masters record: 1:01:33.7, set by Simon Gutierrez of Colorado in 2008.
Women’s
masters record: 1:13:33.6, set by Laura Haefeli of Colorado in 2008.

The
race also awards $500 bonus to any man who runs the 7.6-mile all-uphill
course in under one hour without breaking Wyatt’s record, and to any
woman who runs faster than 72 minutes without breaking Thorsell’s.

The
regular masters prizes are $300 apiece for the men’s and women’s
masters, with $200 and $100 for second and third place. These cash
prizes are awarded on the basis of finishing times adjusted by the World
Association of Veteran Athletes (WAVA) handicapping system.  Thus, for example, a runner 51 years old might have a
time a few seconds slower than a runner who is 44, yet place ahead of
the younger runner in the prize structure.

Other
prizes include $100 apiece to the first male and female finishers from
New Hampshire and special prizes of $500, $250 and $100 to men’s or
women’s open, masters and seniors (over age 50) teams if they break the
existing team records. 

This
year’s race will also serve as the USA Mountain Running
Championships, marking the fourth time USATF has selected the Mt.
Washington race as a national championship event.  The
top six American male and top four American female finishers will
become members of the U.S. Mountain Running Team, which will compete in
the World Mountain Running Championships later this year. To qualify for the team, Americans must be members of USA Track
and Field.

The
2010 Mt. Washington Road Race will take place on Saturday, June 19.
Starting time is 10 a.m.

For New England
Runner: www.nerunner.com     For
La Sportiva: www.sportiva.com.

For
other information about the race, visit www.mountwashingtonroadrace.com.