Women's Volleyball FIVB Nations League 2024 Road to Paris 2024

AsensioWillemsen · June 15

Wasn’t expecting this really, especially after the performances of Canada in the first few weeks. Really happy to be able to see some volleyball on Dutch television. Heartbreak for Canada though, who had a really solid start to this Nations League. At least it seems like the winner of this match is going to Paris, which is better than the loser going through because of mathematics. Als long as we won’t bin it against Korea but that should be doable.

I would rather have seen both Canada and Netherlands going through and Japan out or something like that, but that just wasn’t going to happen. I understand it is a tough loss to take, I would have thought much the same as @Josh when we would have lost the match against Canada. At least there is still the men’s team to cheer on and I hope they will be doing well.

Josh · June 15

44 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Also, to be fair: there were Olympic Qualifying Tournaments. The qualification pathway actually was pretty nicely done and well-balanced: half the spots through three OQT's and the rest through the world ranking, so countries that failed in the OQT's (like both Canada and the Netherlands, but especially also Italy and China) aren't automatically out based on one mediocre tournament. The one country that really, really threw it away is the Dominican Republic.

Olympic Qualifying Tournaments should’ve been AFTER the World Ranking quotas got awarded not BEFORE. Ridiculous that countries that were pretty much guaranteed to be at the Olympics (US, Turkey, Brazil etc) had an impact on whether or not the middle ground teams qualified.

Canada only got 12 1/2 hours of rest between their 5-setter against Japan, and their match against the Netherlands. Even Netherlands would’ve struggled with that type of turnaround, and they have way more depth than Canada.

Edited June 15 by Josh

heywoodu · June 15

11 minutes ago, Josh said:

Olympic Qualifying Tournaments should’ve been AFTER the World Ranking quotas got awarded not BEFORE.

Definitely agree with that. Although still I would have felt the stronger overall team qualified no matter who won that match yesterday (but even so, had Canada won, I would of course have felt just as frustrated with all the other factors, so that's definitely understandable).

Edited June 15 by heywoodu

Josh · June 15

46 minutes ago, Noorderling29 said:

First all, none of the things you mention were in our control.

Secondly, I watched the match on replay, so without the emotion of watching it live. My main conclusion was that we won from the bench.Kozlowski was able to bring in three new players at the end of the first set, even though the result did not even necessitate it at that moment. Also he brought in our best player Daalderop for the final few points; because of her injury she had not played a single point in the entire VNL. Also, Canada made far too many mistakes, especially in the send set.

Would Canada have won in a different format? Who knows: Canada won the two matches last year, but these matches were very close, with both teams dominating stretches of the match. Also, a significant number of our players are still young and inexperienced and have developed from last year.

I know. Just wish the same squads showed up every single week to make things fair.

About Daalderop, she certainly is up there, but according to @CCB she’s not your best attacker at the moment, Marring has surpassed her.

Maybe, maybe not, but I feel like fatigue was the main cause of their mistakes. But Netherlands was really good on blocking too, and barely made any errors themselves so who knows!

FYI, I have nothing against the Dutch team even though I’m very clearly disappointed, but I do have to say that due to their lack of star power, it’s hard to see them going far unless they draw France. Couldn’t say the same thing about Canada, but I guess we’ll never know how they would’ve done since they didn’t qualify…

Edited June 15 by Josh

Jinzha · June 15

4 hours ago, Josh said:

OK, last reply for now, but really wanted to get this off my chest. Feel like it came down to who had the luckier break and better schedule.

Canada started off VNL just over 20 points behind the Netherlands. They fought back with wins over full strength Chinese and Japanese teams to get it into a direct head to head match with the Dutch, but unfortunately the fatigue got to them in the end. I will give props to the Dutch though, Knollema and Jasper played really well. About the “luckier break” part of it, I’m talking about the Netherlands. When Netherlands played Serbia in week 3 they had a youth team in action (none of them had any chance of making the Olympic squad), and when they played Dominican Republic in week 2, Brayelin Martinez (one of their best attacking options) didn’t see any action. But it’s partly their fault too, because this would’ve all been avoided if they hasn’t lost to Serbia’s B-team, it really hurt them in the long run.

About the “better schedule” part, again I’m taking about the Netherlands. Why the hell would you schedule matches against Japan and Netherlands back-to-back? Why not put the matches against South Korea and France in between the decider?

Canada played from 9:30pm - 12:00am on Day 1 against Japan, 2:30pm to 4:00pm on Day 2 against Netherlands (just over a half day of rest), and 12:30pm to 2:00pm on Day 3 against France.

Canada’s depth is nonexistent, a schedule like this really doesn’t help.

Basically, what I’m trying to say is that had there been a Qualifying Tournament instead of this bulls*** Canada would’ve qualified, but I guess we’ll never know.

Edit: Will also add that the only quality win Netherlands had in all 3 weeks was the 3-0 against Canada.

As others have said already, I agree with you that planning was a factor for this one match, but in the end the ranking and the fact that it was this close is the result of three cumulative weeks of VNL and even many games before that. So yes it was a factor, but no one could've predicted it would remain this close all the way through. Different results in any other match, and the planning would be a non-factor.

It's a shame things like Serbia playing their B or C team has such an impact on the rankings. On the other hand, I can't blame them personally with the insanely busy schedule for these players. Depth is crucial to a good national team. I wouldn't be surprised if Serbias A team medals in Paris or even take gold.

CCB · June 15

1 hour ago, Josh said:

I know. Just wish the same squads showed up every single week to make things fair.

About Daalderop, she certainly is up there, but according to @CCB she’s not your best attacker at the moment, Marring has surpassed her.

Maybe, maybe not, but I feel like fatigue was the main cause of their mistakes. But Netherlands was really good on blocking too, and barely made any errors themselves so who knows!

FYI, I have nothing against the Dutch team even though I’m very clearly disappointed, but I do have to say that due to their lack of star power, it’s hard to see them going far unless they draw France. Couldn’t say the same thing about Canada, but I guess we’ll never know how they would’ve done since they didn’t qualify…

In this VNL Marring has been of more value than Daalderop, simply because Daalderop has a shoulder injury. I was very surprised she could hit the last two balls of the match that hard; her very first points this VNL ... and very important ones. But personally I like Marring's style better; left-handed, good angles and very constant.

The schedule was certainly not in Canadian favour, but I think the narrow selection itself has proven to be the biggest problem. Gray and Van Ryk are wonderful players, they deserved better, but couldn't do it alone.

@JoshI sincerely hope you gonna enjoy Canada's men's volleyball team in Paris. And wait till LA '28 before your favorite team will be there!