*** The Official 2019 Volleyball Nations League Thread ***

Took my two oldest daughters to the match last night.   They had an absolute blast.   It was a great night cheering on team USA.   They were lucky enough to get pics with both Jordan and Mikaela last night.   Thank you to @KnappIcwithout this thread, I would not have known this was coming and would not have had the experience last night.   

 
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

NO!!!

And it ain't over now!!!

(except that it is over, Bluto, and we bombed the Germans tonight 3-0)

Here's in-game action featuring Huskers Mikaela Foecke and Kelsey Robinson. Team Good Guys won this point, FYI.

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I think we won all these points, too.

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I have watched a lot of USA volleyball over the years. This was easily the worst match I've seen live. Couldn't pass, block, serve, set or hit.

Bizarre match in a lot of ways. Lots of young 'Mericans played, but even that doesn't explain veteran players shanking passes or launching serves long.

But it was great to see Jordan Larson, Kelsey Robinson and Mikaela Foecke play again.  Sad to think this may have been the last time I got to see Jordan play in person.


 
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It's off to China where Turkey has an 8-1 record and the other three teams (USA, China, and Poland) are 7-2. The US continues to add veterans to the team including Bartsch-Hartley, last years MVP of the VNL, on the outside and Carlini at setter. As a result, Foecke and Poulter did not make the 14 player roster this go around. An interesting change was subbing Washington for Rettke in the middle. I'm a little surprised Lake is still there at libero and they didn't have Robinson as libero / outside, then add another outside (maybe Foecke) to the team.

https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Volleyball/Features/2019/June/07/3-US-Women-Making-VNL-Season-Debut-in-China

A tough set of matches with China having the home court.

 
Between Lake and Courtney, Lake looked to be the better Libero, by far. Courtney spent her college career at OH, and is only recently trying to make the transition to Libero. I'm frankly shocked that she made the team and Justine Wong-Orantes didn't. There was nothing special about Courtney in the back court.

Rettke is in Europe with her Wisconsintonian teammates. They're probably on the tail end of their foreign trip this year. She is going to be a nightmare this year and next. The kind of player the Huskers have to work around rather than try and stop.

I'm over my disappointment with how poorly Team USA played in the only match I was able to attend last week. I know Karch is messing around with his roster, getting a lot of people a lot of playing time, to see what he has for the Olympics. But still - it sucks watching your team play that poorly, especially after talking to a guy whose good friend is one of the Asst. Coaches for Brazil, who said the Brazilians don't even take the VNL seriously and left four of their top players home. They expected to lose the match with America, and honestly shouldn't have even lost that one game.

 
As mentioned above, the US was sweep by Turkey in the opening match at China. Here are some stats and highlights:

https://www.volleyball.world/en/vnl/women/schedule/9952-usa-turkey/post

Fortunately the US came back and beat Poland this morning in four sets:

https://www.volleyball.world/en/vnl/women/schedule/9960-poland-usa/post

Drews led the US followed by Bartsch-Hackley who saw extended play for the first time this season. Kiraly played only 7 for the entire match.

Next up is China who just swept league leader Turkey after sweeping Poland the opening night. This looks to be a tough out for team USA.

 
Team Good Guys wins Set One, 25-17. Playing better with Bartsch-Hackley in the lineup. That girl is money.


EDIT - Team USA now up 2-0 in the match.

Kelsey Robinson with the REJECTION.


 
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It's all over. Team USA sweeps China 3-0:   25-17, 25-22 & 25-21.

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USA outhit China 58-37, outblocked them 7-3, had 7 ace serves to China's 4, but committed 16 errors vs. China's 3.  Very dominant match, if a bit sloppy.

 
Here is a link to the US - China results and photos. No video yet; that will be populated later in the day.

https://www.volleyball.world/en/vnl/women/schedule/9969-china-usa/post

Obviously a huge win and a sweep to boot. China had been rolling along and was on its home court. Again Kiraly played only 7 players with the only difference between the Poland and China line ups was Washington for Dixon in the middle vs China. It will be interesting when Rettke becomes available if Washington goes out of the rotation or if one of the more experienced middles takes a seat (Ogbogu isn't going anywhere).

knapplc said:
Between Lake and Courtney, Lake looked to be the better Libero, by far. Courtney spent her college career at OH, and is only recently trying to make the transition to Libero. I'm frankly shocked that she made the team and Justine Wong-Orantes didn't. There was nothing special about Courtney in the back court.
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After that comment I went and looked at the stats and saw Courtney was the only US player in the top 15 in digs and had nearly 1.5 more digs per set than Lake. I was going to throw that stat back but decided against it. A good thing I held back. Apparently Kiraly agrees with @knapplc assessment of the libero position. In wins over Poland and China, Lake played every set and Courtney played none. As the line up starts to get more defined, Kiraly is going with Lake over Courtney.

The next set of matches are in Russia and, at least by rankings, this is the easiest group the US has had (Russia, Netherlands, and Thailand). The US currently sits in 4th and has a two match lead over Japan and Poland (6 & 7 in the rankings). Barring a complete collapse, it appears the US will make the final round of 6 for the 2 million bucks.

 
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