2019 VNL Schedule

[speegs13]

Schedule for the 2019 FIVB Nations League (both men's and women's) has been posted: www.fivb.org/en/Volleyball/viewPressRelease.asp?No=79822&Language=en

USA women host Korea, Germany, and Brazil in Week 3 (June 4-6). Location TBD.

Rest of USA schedule:

Week 1 (May 21-23): Bulgaria (hosts), Japan, Belgium, USA
Week 2 (May 28-30): Italy (hosts), USA, Dominican Republic, Serbia
Week 3 (June 4-6): USA (hosts), South Korea, Germany, Brazil
Week 4 (June 11-13): China (hosts), USA, Poland, Turkey
Week 5 (June 18-20): Russia (hosts), Thailand, Netherlands, USA

Finals in Nanjing, China from July 3-7.

[ericleo]

Will this time the tournament be held again in Nebraska? Hope it will come to the west coast this time, then I might have a chance to go and watch!

[Millennium]

Oct 23, 2018 18:57:59 GMT -5 speegs13 said:

Schedule for the 2019 FIVB Nations League (both men's and women's) has been posted: www.fivb.org/en/Volleyball/viewPressRelease.asp?No=79822&Language=en

USA women host Korea, Germany, and Brazil in Week 3 (June 4-6). Location TBD.

Rest of USA schedule:

Week 1 (May 21-23): Bulgaria (hosts), Japan, Belgium, USA
Week 2 (May 28-30): Italy (hosts), USA, Dominican Republic, Serbia
Week 3 (June 4-6): USA (hosts), South Korea, Germany, Brazil
Week 4 (June 11-13): China (hosts), USA, Poland, Turkey
Week 5 (June 18-20): Russia (hosts), Thailand, Netherlands, USA

Finals in Nanjing, China from July 3-7.

Too soon speegs, I'm still not over the WWC losses.

Week 2, YIKES!!!!

We'll see what and if any changes will be made. 

This is when we'll see if joetrinsey was right.

[speegs13]

Oct 23, 2018 19:47:24 GMT -5 Millennium said:

Oct 23, 2018 18:57:59 GMT -5 speegs13 said:

Schedule for the 2019 FIVB Nations League (both men's and women's) has been posted: www.fivb.org/en/Volleyball/viewPressRelease.asp?No=79822&Language=en

USA women host Korea, Germany, and Brazil in Week 3 (June 4-6). Location TBD.

Rest of USA schedule:

Week 1 (May 21-23): Bulgaria (hosts), Japan, Belgium, USA
Week 2 (May 28-30): Italy (hosts), USA, Dominican Republic, Serbia
Week 3 (June 4-6): USA (hosts), South Korea, Germany, Brazil
Week 4 (June 11-13): China (hosts), USA, Poland, Turkey
Week 5 (June 18-20): Russia (hosts), Thailand, Netherlands, USA

Finals in Nanjing, China from July 3-7.

Too soon speegs, I'm still not over the WWC losses.

Week 2, YIKES!!!!

We'll see what and if any changes will be made. 

This is when we'll see if joetrinsey was right.

Lol, I feel like it would get posted eventually. I might as well be the one who does it

Anyways, I hope we see some changes. Would like to see the team who won the Pan-Am cup mix with the bench players from this years VNL. I think the VNL would be a good stepping stone for a lot of those players.

[Steve vb]

Oct 23, 2018 19:40:25 GMT -5 ericleo said:

Will this time the tournament be held again in Nebraska? Hope it will come to the west coast this time, then I might have a chance to go and watch!

If it's in Nebraska again, I'll get a few of us to chip in to get a bus ticket for you.  


Edit to add: Or fly to Shanghai and travel with me to the finals in Nanjing....

[trojansc]

So it's a full 15-team round robin this year? This is good. Last year the schedule was just so random.

Man, look at the opening 6 matches for Dominican Republic
China, Russia, Brazil, USA, Serbia, and Italy.

Their last 9 matches will all be easier! (with the exception of the Netherlands possibly)

The USA has a really balanced schedule, but week 2 with Italy and Serbia in Europe will definitely be the toughest

[ndodge]

Anyone know if the US host site for June has been announced yet ? They were supposed to do it "later this fall"

[ToddyJ]

This years schedule should allow for full use of the 21 player prelim roster. The USA home leg is right in the middle at week three.

So in theory Karch will take one group of 14 for weeks 1 and 2 in Bulgaria and Italy. Week 1 he can start the back-up members of the 14 player travel roster. Japan is the toughest opponent with Bulgaria and Belgium also on that leg. Week 2 is tough but not the worst. Italy and Serbia will be tough depending on their roster in week two and in the 2018 VNL the Dom Rep pushed us hard even though it was a 3-0 victory for USA. Karch should bring some A list members on the first leg (weeks 1 and 2) but would be able to let the weaker roster members get some valuable court time with out sacrificing any wins. If Serbia and Italy play with their WCH roster then they are my favs to defeat the USA in week 2 which might cause Karch to shuffle the travel roster in week 3 at home.

Week 3 we are the hosts and the only real test comes from Brazil. This would be a good week to really mix up the travel roster. Maybe even start players who were on the Pan-Am roster last year....especially vs Korea and maybe vs Germany.

Then, IMO, the final leg (weeks 4 and 5) is the hardest. Week 4 is China, Turkey and Poland and none should be taken lightly. Week 5 is Russia, Netherlands and Thailand all of whom the US went to 5 sets against during the WCH. Again it will depend on what those teams travel rosters look like.

I'll post my preliminary roster prediction later on. It's pretty easy to predict minus any new NCAA blood joining the ranks.

Any players still in college would only be able to do the VNL because alot of the other tournaments this season are during the NCAA season.

[Hawk Attack]

Jan 15, 2019 3:14:19 GMT -5 ToddyJ said:

This years schedule should allow for full use of the 21 player prelim roster. The USA home leg is right in the middle at week three.

This is a nice idea in theory but we said the same thing last season and then...

[ToddyJ]

Jan 15, 2019 11:03:53 GMT -5 Hawk Attack said:

Jan 15, 2019 3:14:19 GMT -5 ToddyJ said:

This years schedule should allow for full use of the 21 player prelim roster. The USA home leg is right in the middle at week three.

This is a nice idea in theory but we said the same thing last season and then...

One can only hope he does the right thing.

[ToddyJ]

Oct 24, 2018 3:36:28 GMT -5 trojansc said:

So it's a full 15-team round robin this year? This is good. Last year the schedule was just so random.


The USA has a really balanced schedule, but week 2 with Italy and Serbia in Europe will definitely be the toughest

It was a full round robin last year.

I would agree the schedule is more balanced, though I think week 4 is equally as difficult. The over all pool is more stacked. Malwina Smarzek gave the US some grief last year vs. Poland. I think they are a more challenging than the Dom. Rep. but Italy and Serbia (pending their rosters for that week) are definitely more of a threat than Turkey. China too might not bring a tough lineup due to being hosts and is guaranteed a place in the finals. Must be nice.

[trojansc]

Jan 16, 2019 1:05:15 GMT -5 ToddyJ said:

Oct 24, 2018 3:36:28 GMT -5 trojansc said:

So it's a full 15-team round robin this year? This is good. Last year the schedule was just so random.


The USA has a really balanced schedule, but week 2 with Italy and Serbia in Europe will definitely be the toughest

It was a full round robin last year.

I would agree the schedule is more balanced, though I think week 4 is equally as difficult. The over all pool is more stacked. Malwina Smarzek gave the US some grief last year vs. Poland. I think they are a more challenging than the Dom. Rep. but Italy and Serbia (pending their rosters for that week) are definitely more of a threat than Turkey. China too might not bring a tough lineup due to being hosts and is guaranteed a place in the finals. Must be nice.

You're right, I was thinking of the FIVB 2017 World Grand Prix. THAT was really unbalanced. Last year was a true full round robin, as is this year.

[ToddyJ]

Jan 16, 2019 5:23:52 GMT -5 trojansc said:

Jan 16, 2019 1:05:15 GMT -5 ToddyJ said:

It was a full round robin last year.

I would agree the schedule is more balanced, though I think week 4 is equally as difficult. The over all pool is more stacked. Malwina Smarzek gave the US some grief last year vs. Poland. I think they are a more challenging than the Dom. Rep. but Italy and Serbia (pending their rosters for that week) are definitely more of a threat than Turkey. China too might not bring a tough lineup due to being hosts and is guaranteed a place in the finals. Must be nice.

You're right, I was thinking of the FIVB 2017 World Grand Prix. THAT was really unbalanced. Last year was a true full round robin, as is this year.

Do we know why they changed the format from the WGP to the VNL? I like that both genders are now equal and getting paid the same amount. I also like the complete round robin.

What I don't like is that it went from having 30 teams in three groups to having one group of 16. The tournament is stupid long. Why couldn't they just have kept the other format and made it a true round robin? Keep the WGP format but adjust the group sizes to 10 teams in each group where the last place team gets relegated to the lower group and the winner of groups 2 and 3 get promoted to the higher group? The only difference being that each group is a true round robin unlike in years past.

I just feel like more teams got to participate during the WGP. I am curious why the change occurred? I assume it was a cost factor. FIVB probably wasn't drawing huge crowds for these lower tier teams in groups 2 and 3. In this way I can see the benefit of having one massive group with the VNL. The usually lower ranked (challenger) teams get to better themselves by playing against the best teams in the world and will improve much more that way. I just don't see it being good for the sport as a whole when only a fraction of the teams worldwide are playing in this tournament. Weaker teams like all of CAVB and many in AVC, CSV and NORCECA will never be a part of the VNL. I guess here is where it doesn't matter what confederation you belong to...eventually the best 16 teams in the world will be in this tournament. Each year the lowest ranked team will be relegated out and then a stronger challenger team will be admitted.

Also don't get me started on how the VNL does not factor into world ranking nor are the top 16 teams even given a chance to participate. This is asinine. Granted in maybe 10 years by the time all of the weaker teams have been relegated the tournament will only get more tough by the end of the next decade if this tournament stays in the same format. I just don't see how the top 12 teams weren't chosen as core teams in the inaugural 2018 VNL and then the next four in as challenger teams. It looks like they went by a weird continental quota....again.

I could go on and on.....SMH....

[ToddyJ]

Ok. So you are Karch. You are selecting your preliminary roster of 21 players for the 2019 VNL. You know you are the defending champions. So you will want to go with the players you won it with last year. The 21 player cap allows each coach to (in theory) build a roster of 3 sets of "starting lineups" (3 setters, 3 liberos, 3 opposites, 6 outside hitters and 6 middle blockers). So the veteran squad would look something like this:

Setter: Lloyd, Hancock, 3. ?
Outside Hitter: Larson, Hill, MBH, 4. ?, 5. ?, 6. ?
Middle Blocker: Akinradewo, Gibbemeyer, Adams, Dixon, 5. ?, 6. ?
Opposite: Lowe, Murphy, 3. ?
Libero: Robinson, Courtney, 3. ?

Keep in mind this format isn't set in stone. Some teams only take 5 middles or 2 liberos etc. so as to allow 4 setters or 7 outsides. Adjust it how you see fit in your predictions. I plan to.

For poops and grins I placed 13/14 players who were on the WCH roster, in order of depth in my humble opinion, into the above slots as likely candidates for the first 13/21 slots.

Now out of the remaining names on this roster below (the remainder of players who were in the gym last summer/listed on the USWNT main training roster/participated in the Pan-Am cup) who would you choose to develop and fill in the ?'s listed above?

Setter: Carlini, Poulter
Outside Hitter: Kingdon-Rishel, Wilhite-Parsons, Lee, Anae, Rolfzen
Middle Blocker: Ogbogu, Washington, Happ, Papp, McCage, Wopat, Ajanaku, Alhassan
Opposite: Drews, Whitney, Rivers
Libero: Benson, Wong-Orantes, Hahn (Is Hahn even in the gym? She is listed on the teams website.)

IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not add any name that is not currently in the gym. This includes any popular NCAA candidates and/or recent graduates. With out confirmation of them joining the gym....their addition for this thread is moot.

[ToddyJ]

For instance:

I think Karch adds both Carlini and Poulter to the prelim roster. I also think Kingdon-Rishel is the most solid all around OH left on the roster. She can pass, she can play defense and she is aggressive at the net. Wilhite-Parsons still has a ways to go but she will make the cut. I really hope Simone Lee is the 6th.

We are pretty stacked in the Middles column. Ogbogu and a healthy Ajanaku are my two picks for development. Hell that combo alone would make a nice starting set come next quad.

Drews is my third pick for the 3rd opposite slot. I think with time she and Karsta will be the two that go to Tokyo. I love their power and height. Plus she is part of the lefty brigade.

I honestly think that Courtney and Robinson will be vying for that Libero position so a third on the roster is a waste of a spot. This is where Karch will be able to bring Poulter as the 4th setter.

These are just my predictions. I feel like Karch made up his mind about who he wanted to invest in back during the 2017 WGP. Hancock, Dixon, Gibbemeyer, Wilhite, Courtney, Kindgon, and MBH were all on that roster consistently that whole summer with Drews joining towards the end of the WGP.

I hope at the very least during the 2019 VNL that more of those players get more court time. Add Carlini, Ogbogu, Ajanaku and Lee to the list and get them more reps and our depth chart is set for Tokyo. From there it's a matter of who is clicking and firing on all cylinders just before the games.