Are VNL Struggles a Part of German Coach Gianni’s Plan?
Germany was arguably one of the greatest benefactors of the FIVB’s decision to change the format of the World League to the Volleyball Nations League. Their decision to withdraw from the tournament in 2015 placed them down in Group 3 for the 2016 edition. In 2016 they reached the final of Group 3 and anticipated promotion to Group 2. However, they were handed a defeat by Slovenia who were fresh off the success of their 2015 EuroVolley silver medal. Slovenia was coached at the time by Andrea Giani. Germany signed Giani as their coach in February of 2017. The following year they placed 3rd in Group 3 after being upset in the semifinals by Spain. This again was not good enough to move up to Group 2. This hurt their world ranking since there were only 9 ranking points possible out of a total of 50 for teams taking place in this bottom group.
When the move came to the 16-team Volleyball Nations League, it put Germany back in the mix of top-tier volleyball. Germany has proved that it can compete with the world’s elite. They surprised many people by winning the bronze medal at the 2016 FIVB World Championships with Vital Heynen on the sideline. In 2017, Giani led them to the finals of the 2017 EuroVolley with a 3-2 upset victory over Serbia in the semifinals. Georgy Grozer led the way with 20 points on 19 kills and an ace for the Germans. Denis Kaliberda chipped in 12 points from 9 kills and 3 blocks in the semifinal win. This was Giani’s 2nd consecutive silver medal in Europe’s highest international competition after reaching the 2015 final as the head coach of Slovenia.
Germany has shown they have one of the most capable coaches in the world. Giani coached Taylor Sanderat BluVolley Verona from 2014 to 2016, and he set club records for most wins and highest finish in the league. His time with the Slovenian National Team saw them reaching the highest levels of success in Europe’s top competition. He matched that same result with Germany, which was also their highest finish ever in EuroVolley. Obviously expectations are high for this group, but what should fans make of their 0-3 start this weekend? Is this part of the development Giani envisioned as he gets his team ready at the 2018 FIVB World Championships?
In Germany’s defense, they have arguably had the most difficult pool of the opening weekend. They had to face Italy’s full-strength squad on the opening day. They followed that match with a Serbian team who may not have used Marko Podrascanin or Aleksandar Atanasijevic(who just played in the CEV Champions League Final Four 2 weeks ago with Aaron Russell), but still had Uros Kovacevic, Marko Ivovic, and Srecko Lisinac in their lineup. It also helps that Serbia’s backup at opposite is Drazen Luburic. He just finished his season as the starting opposite for Zenit St. Petersburg as they reached the Russian Super League finals against Zenit Kazan. Germany closed out the weekend against Brazil. While Brazil did not field the same squad that earned them a gold medal in Rio in 2016, Wallace, Eder, William, and Isac Santosare all world-class players.
Germany went into without two of their biggest stars who were instrumental in their success last summer at EuroVolley. Denis Kaliberda in not on the roster after taking part in the CEV Champions League Final Four with Podrascanin, Russell, and Atansijevic. Georgy Grozer will also not be utilized at this tournament. The opposite finished up his season with Belogorie Belgorod in Russia. It appears with this team selection that Giani is using this tournament for players to get tuned up in order to peak in September. He remained positive after the latest defeat to Brazil saying, “My boys played a great game, but we missed too many chances.” It will be interesting to see if these early struggles pay off later. Giani is a coach that continually proves that he has a plan and a process for his teams to reach success.
Carroll, a left-handed, 6’9″ (207 cm) opposite, is replacing Antonin Rouzier. The Frenchman played this past season with Yenisei, but will be heading back to Asia to play for the Torray Arrows in Japan next year. Yenisei Krasnoyarsk did not have a successful season in Russia this year. They finished in 12th place out of 14 teams and posted a 6-20 record. In addition to their poor finish in the Russian Super League, they were eliminated from the Russian Cup in the preliminary group stage.
Paul Carroll will have a tough challenge ahead of him and will probably find himself in unfamiliar territory. Carroll has spent the last 8 seasons in Germany. His first year was with Generali Haching and the last 7 have been with the Berlin Recycling Volleys. While the league, the location, and the language will all be different, so is the stature of his new club.
The Russian Super League is a much more difficult league to navigate than the German Bundesliga, Carroll has been a member of teams that won 6 of the last 7 German titles. He has also been to the CEV Champions League Final Four on 2 occasions, winning a bronze medal in 2015. Yenisei, by contrast, played in the relegation tournament where they beat out Dinamo-LO 3 games to 1 in a best-of-5 series to stave off demotion to the 2nd tier of Russian volleyball.
Earlier this week the president of Modena, Catia Pedrini, wrote a letter to season ticket holders which announced the arrival of Micah Christenson. This seemed to be common knowledge and was mentioned by the president of Lube Civitanova. Though this is the first time his signing was unveiled by Modena. This is essentially a straight swap at the setter position since Bruno has been announced as a new signing for Lube.
This will be Christenson’s second club since he signed with Lube Civitanova right out of college. The former AVCA All-American from USC played for three seasons at Lube. During that time he achieved great levels of success. During his final season with the club he set the most efficient offense in the regular season and the playoffs of the Italian SuperLega. He also achieved the following honors while at Lube:
Italian SuperLega champion
Italian SuperCoppa champion
Coppa Italia champion
CEV Champions League bronze and silver medalist
FIVB Club World Championships silver medalist
Christenson’s arrival is an attempt to settle a tumultuous season for Modena. The club fell short of expectations finishing 3rd in the regular season of the SuperLega and got knocked out of the playoffs in the semifinals. The apparent feud between the team their coach, Radostin Stoychev, had been publicized in the news. The tensions came to a head when players voiced their displeasure on the television show “Barba e Capelli.” The well-documented turmoil led to the departure of Stoychev, Earvin N’gapeth to Zenit Kazan, and Bruno to Lube Civitanova. With a new coach on the horizon, Max Holt decided to wear the blue and yellow again next year. Christenson comes in with Italian superstar opposite Ivan Zaytsev and Argentian coach Julio Velasco to bring excitement to the fans.
After spending his first four seasons in the German Bundesliga, Scott Kevorken will be on his way to France to play for Tours VB. This is the 3rd middle blocker from UC Irvine to play for Tours this decade with Dave Smith competing for them from 2011 to 2016. During that time he helped them win the French Ligue A championship on four occasions. Dan McDonnel was also a part of the team which won the title in 2015. This past season they claimed the French Ligue A crown back from Chaumont 52 after a 2-year drought. In addition to this year’s championship, Tours VB have won the following titles:
won 7 French Ligue A titles
won 9 French Cups
won the CEV Champions League in 2015
won the CEV Cup in 2017
Kevorkian is coming off what could be considered a disappointing season. He played his first 3 seasons at SVG Luneurg. He was instrumental in helping this newly-promoted club reach historic 4th place finishes twice in the Bundesliga. They also made an appearance in the finals of the German Cup in 2015. Kevorken was signed by VfB Friedrichshafen for the 2017-2018 season. His team won the German Cup, finished on top of the regular season league table, and reached the Playoffs 6 round of the CEV Champions League. Though after the navigating the regular season with a perfect 20-0 record, they dropped the final series with Berlin 3 matches to 2. During that time Kevorken was used primarily as a substitute off the bench as the season progressed into the spring. He will be joining Barthelemy Chinyeze from Asseco Resovia and Dmytro Teryomenko from Cerrad Czarni Radom as the new additions to the roster at middle blocker.
