pearl TOP 500

@casamodena: Vermiglio officially in Piacenza. http://www.volleyball.it/notizie.asp?n=84269&l=0

Italian outside-hitter Luigi Randazzo from Vibo Valentia to Cittàdi Castello. Official http://www.volleyball.it/notizie.asp?n=84184&l=0

@Vovin: I've read Sivozhelez is injured and it is unlikely that he will take part to both the WL and the WCH. Is that true? What kind of injury does he suffer from?

@oioi: yes, what you've heard is true. The next four away matches (in Poland and Iran) will be played by Italy B, cause the first-string players need some rest after an exausting season with their clubs and this first part of WL. This is the roster of Italy for the matches in Poland: setters Michele Baranowicz, Antonio Corvetta, MB Matteo Piano, Simone Buti, opposites Luca Vettori and Giulio Sabbi; OH Luigi Randazzo, Filippo Lanza and Gabriele Maruotti, liberos Andrea Giovi and Massimo Colaci.

@Rachel: Maybe you already know that but USSR setter (player with jersey n. 2) is Ivan Zaytsev's father whereas the USA setter (jersey n. 1) is Dusty Dvorak. Both of them outstanding setters!!

@qsek: Berruto started his “Road to Rio” project, which means that from now on he’s going to test all those players who, according to him, are skilled and young enough to work for the current 4-year cycle leading to the next Olympics. For the position of opposite Berruto is currently working with 3 players: Zaytsev (25 years old), who can also play as OH, Sabbi (25 years old) and Vettori (23 years old). Lasko is 32 or 33, I don’t think he will be taken into account for the NT anymore, unless Sabbi or Vettori (or both) proves to be not appropriate or not reliable for Berruto’s purposes.

@Sfixterman: not yet confirmed. Volleyball.it only reports the rumor. When a transfer is confirmed, the player's name is written in bold type, which is not yet Zaytsev's case.

@hanes233: hahaha that's exactly the same thing I also thought when I read it ?

Anyway, I think that one of the stat is wrong: Giulio Sabbi scored 42 points in Molfetta vs Verona match and not 41.

Yeah, Skrimov rocks! I still remember him at EuroVolley semis and final: the poor guy covering the Whole court alone in reception/defense cause Salparov and Aleksiev were thinking of God_only_know_what!! I was so disappointed when Aleksiev was awarded as best receiver 'cause Todor would have deserved more!!

@HCLT: ehi mate, the speaker in the video is the "rookie" of the mic that you told me about?? lol Great to hear Marcelo commenting Serie A!!

Great defence btw.

Ehm, I'm sure Pesazi can confirm that Kaliberda's name is Denis and not Kevin. As far as I know, the only Kevin playing in Serie A is Tillie ;)

Bah, I wanted to edit my post and I deleted it instead :/

@HCLT: hahaha, this time YOU didn't get Kjeld's joke, mate ?

@HCLT: Ah, Steuerwald, Steuerwald! He drove me crazy in his last match vs Verona! Honestly, I don’t know what kind of problems these German setters have in Serie A, but they are not impressing at all. I talked about Kampa a couple of months ago with our friend pesazi, I told him that I was a bit upset about his poor game distribution to his MBs. I remember the match against Perugia in particular that Modena lost at the tie-break and the final stats revealed that Beretta scored 7 points and Sala just 5 in a five-set-match!! Patrick is doing a bit better than Lukas yet his performances shift from good to ridiculous without any other steps in between.
You asked me about some other interesting setters’ names in Serie A this year: well, the only two worth to be mentioned that came to my mind are Toniutti and Daniele Sottile, but the French guy shares Steuerwald’s lack of continuity and Sottile unfortunately this year has to face a difficult season in a team which is not the one it used to be. Anyway Sottile is too old for NT.

Intersting topic. I don’t know if you know what happened between Berruto and Baranowicz behind the scenes at the WL. Michele…how can I say… didn’t like the way Berruto treated him especially when he wasn’t called to join the NT for the F6 in Argentina. This little querelle between him and the coach was the main reason why Saitta was Travica’s sub at the ECH. BUT, as Dessitea brilliantly remarked, since neither Saitta nor Falaschi (btw, I saw him playing a couple of matches in Champions League and he looked fine imo) really had a serious chance of taking Drago’s place and considering Michele’s great performances with Lube, my impression is that Berruto had to swallow his pride and so Bara took part to the Grand Champions Cup in Japan, playing as a first string in a couple of matches and showing he’s more consistent and reliable than Travica (and younger, which is an issue of no secondary importance according to me).

@HCLT: look, Michele started to "improve" already 2 years ago as a sub for Grbic who, I remember, didn't have his best season in Cuneo and I had been impressed by Michele's consistancy instead. Last year in Modena he defintely showed what he's made of. His current season in Macerata is only confirming what he's able of. Sure, he's not William and, as you remarked, Michele's level is (still) a bit lower than Luciano's or Bruno's, yet I like the brilliant way he plays. Another one that is surprising me is "my man" Saitta (I know You know him) ;D

@dessitea: well, you know, some people here and there ;)

@Kjeldhor and HCLT: Luciano is playing well and I also hope he'll go on doing this way, yet I've noticed that his performance still tends to decrease a bit after the first two sets; dunno if it was just my impression but his game distribution in in 3rd and 4th sets wasn't so consistent as in the previous 2 allowing Lube to recover and re-open the match. The tie-break was sorted out by Vettori's and Simon's great services.