Post by doctordubya on Aug 26, 2004 8:47:16 GMT -5
Here in the UK, the BBC has sole broadcasting rights to the Olympics. Their coverage of indoor volleyball generally runs to half a set of a quarter or semi-final in each of the men's and women's tournaments, and perhaps the same for the final.
Athens 2004 is the first Olympics where BBC interactive is available. This service offers extra channels to viewers who have digital set-top boxes. Having scoured the schedules in vain for the past 10 days, yesterday I was finally rewarded and saw Serbia v Russia in its entirety.
What a match! I swear that international men's volleyball increases in speed and power every time I see it. Why this sport is not the most popular in the world has nothing to do with the quality of product.
Russia won 29-27, 23-25, 27-25, 28-26. The game scores do tell the tale; there was very little between the two teams for most of the match. Detailed play-by-play and stats analyses can be found elsewhere, so I won't bother with them - instead I will give my thoughts on where the match was won and lost.
First of all, it must be noted that Serbia were without Ivan Miljkovic (still in hospital with some sort of fever, so the commentator said). Losing their star opposite was a huge blow; replacement Vasic is a solid player and strong server, but is not the offensive force that Miljkovic is. Put a fully-fit Ivan at the opposite, and Serbia wins this match.
Russia have their usual assortment of giants, but there were two big differences between the team that I saw yesterday and the team that lost the Olympic final in Sydney.
1) they play defence. The key to the match for me was that Russia out-defended Serbia, a complete reverse of the Sydney 2000 final. Russia chased down some amazing balls, and just tried to get the ball back any-old-how. More than once just the fact that they got the ball back at all won Russia the point, on a Serbian error or block.
One play in particular comes to mind. A Russian dig off a hard spike was sailing out of play next to the referee's stand; setter Ushakov jumped up and (at full stretch) hit the ball overhand back to his own side of the court. Another player bumped over the freeball from near his own baseline. Back to the Serbian side, Mijic passed perfectly, Grbic went for the quick - and Egorchev stuffed it straight down.
2) they have team spirit. Most of the Russian teams I've ever seen play have been like cats in a sack. They would start to lose, somebody would make an error and it would be all glares and recriminations. This team is different, they fight for each other and they play as a team rather than six individuals.
Sergei Tetyukhin had a huge game for them yesterday. He is back to the form he showed at the '99 World Cup, and there can't be many better players at consistently getting through or past a 2- or 3-man block. He also won a lot of points with tips; the off-speed play has been a bit of a neglected art in the men's game over the past few years (Antiga of France notwithstanding), but Tetyukhin is a master.
Russia started Kossarev at the other outside position yesterday, but his replacement Pavel Abramov should start the rest of the tournament in my view. Abramov has a big vertical and a fast arm, passes well and was also a real spark to the team on court. I wasn't sure why Russia played Baranov at opposite rather than Dineikine; Baranov is not as good a hitter or blocker (and he looks really dopey). Having said that, he serves tough and came up with some big plays at key moments (including the winning spike).
Despite lacking Miljkovic, and irrespective of how well Russia played, Serbia could and should have won this match. That they did not was due mainly, I am afraid, to Nik Grbic, with a little bit of blame on coach Travica.
Nik Grbic had a poor match by his standards. He didn't establish the middle early enough (Mester and Geric were gold, despite giving up inches to the Russian middles). Then, having made a tough standing float serve to get Serbia to game point at 27-26 in the first, he jump floated limply into the middle of the net on the next play to level the scores. Next play, he gave Mester a horrible low set on the quick in transition; Mester netted, and Russia took the next point for game.
The Russians knew all about Nik's dump shot, and after conceding a couple of early kills they managed to dig the majority. Nik's reverse setting was also erratic. There have been murmurs in Serie A all season that this part of his game had deteriorated, and I can now see why. There must have been at least 4-5 D or 5 sets to Vasic that were too low or too tight, and could only be lobbed over the net. By contrast, Khamoutskikh and Ushakov on the Russian side were zooming fast, accurate balls to the rightside all match long.
Serbia lost game one through too many service errors and a complete inability to block anything. I felt their blocking was a weakness throughout the match; they eventually got their share of stuffs, but their outside blockers in particular seemed to be piking too soon and allowing the Russian hitters to go over them. This might have been smart hitting on the part of the Russians, but I think over-eagerness to get the big stuff block (rather than take away court) on the part of the Serbians was also an issue.
With Miljkovic absent, Vlad Grbic and Goran Vujevic had to take a larger-than-usual share of the offensive load. Vlad was his usual pumped-up self, and was huge on the outside and down the pipe (he piled a couple of pipe sets into the floor at about 12 foot off the net, which takes some doing). Vujevic, as ever, quietly put the ball away and got the job done.
Which brings me to Travica's role. Since joining the team as coach last year, I think he has failed to realise how the Serbia team works. Yesterday, with Serbia dropping to 9-14 in game four, he took off Vlad Grbic and brought on Mitrovic at outside. This in itself was not a terrible move, as he had to change something. But he should have brought Vlad back within a few points - when he rotated round to serve again, perhaps. Vlad Grbic is a big-time player; Travica should know by now that when you need him to deliver, he delivers.
Serbia clawed back to 22-22, but the comeback was due to unforced Russian errors rather than good play from Serbia. Travica still kept Vlad on the bench, though (there was a shot of him standing up and barking something to the coach during this period) and waited until 22-24 to bring Vlad back. Of course, Vlad then made a block and a kill to single-handedly erase two match points - but Russia got transition and Baranov killed for game a few points later.
Aside from the fact that I support Serbia & Montenegro, I am disappointed that they lost this match, for the sake of the tournament. I think only Serbia and Italy have the ball control necessary to defeat Brazil; Russia have some strong areas, but I don't think they can keep Brazil out of system for long enough to beat them. I would not be surprised to see Russia beat Italy and get to the final, though.
As for Serbia - the Grbic brothers may not play in another Olympics, and they won't really care about playing in this tournament now. It will be interesting to see whether Travica is still coaching the team come the next major tournament, too.
Athens 2004 is the first Olympics where BBC interactive is available. This service offers extra channels to viewers who have digital set-top boxes. Having scoured the schedules in vain for the past 10 days, yesterday I was finally rewarded and saw Serbia v Russia in its entirety.
What a match! I swear that international men's volleyball increases in speed and power every time I see it. Why this sport is not the most popular in the world has nothing to do with the quality of product.
Russia won 29-27, 23-25, 27-25, 28-26. The game scores do tell the tale; there was very little between the two teams for most of the match. Detailed play-by-play and stats analyses can be found elsewhere, so I won't bother with them - instead I will give my thoughts on where the match was won and lost.
First of all, it must be noted that Serbia were without Ivan Miljkovic (still in hospital with some sort of fever, so the commentator said). Losing their star opposite was a huge blow; replacement Vasic is a solid player and strong server, but is not the offensive force that Miljkovic is. Put a fully-fit Ivan at the opposite, and Serbia wins this match.
Russia have their usual assortment of giants, but there were two big differences between the team that I saw yesterday and the team that lost the Olympic final in Sydney.
1) they play defence. The key to the match for me was that Russia out-defended Serbia, a complete reverse of the Sydney 2000 final. Russia chased down some amazing balls, and just tried to get the ball back any-old-how. More than once just the fact that they got the ball back at all won Russia the point, on a Serbian error or block.
One play in particular comes to mind. A Russian dig off a hard spike was sailing out of play next to the referee's stand; setter Ushakov jumped up and (at full stretch) hit the ball overhand back to his own side of the court. Another player bumped over the freeball from near his own baseline. Back to the Serbian side, Mijic passed perfectly, Grbic went for the quick - and Egorchev stuffed it straight down.
2) they have team spirit. Most of the Russian teams I've ever seen play have been like cats in a sack. They would start to lose, somebody would make an error and it would be all glares and recriminations. This team is different, they fight for each other and they play as a team rather than six individuals.
Sergei Tetyukhin had a huge game for them yesterday. He is back to the form he showed at the '99 World Cup, and there can't be many better players at consistently getting through or past a 2- or 3-man block. He also won a lot of points with tips; the off-speed play has been a bit of a neglected art in the men's game over the past few years (Antiga of France notwithstanding), but Tetyukhin is a master.
Russia started Kossarev at the other outside position yesterday, but his replacement Pavel Abramov should start the rest of the tournament in my view. Abramov has a big vertical and a fast arm, passes well and was also a real spark to the team on court. I wasn't sure why Russia played Baranov at opposite rather than Dineikine; Baranov is not as good a hitter or blocker (and he looks really dopey). Having said that, he serves tough and came up with some big plays at key moments (including the winning spike).
Despite lacking Miljkovic, and irrespective of how well Russia played, Serbia could and should have won this match. That they did not was due mainly, I am afraid, to Nik Grbic, with a little bit of blame on coach Travica.
Nik Grbic had a poor match by his standards. He didn't establish the middle early enough (Mester and Geric were gold, despite giving up inches to the Russian middles). Then, having made a tough standing float serve to get Serbia to game point at 27-26 in the first, he jump floated limply into the middle of the net on the next play to level the scores. Next play, he gave Mester a horrible low set on the quick in transition; Mester netted, and Russia took the next point for game.
The Russians knew all about Nik's dump shot, and after conceding a couple of early kills they managed to dig the majority. Nik's reverse setting was also erratic. There have been murmurs in Serie A all season that this part of his game had deteriorated, and I can now see why. There must have been at least 4-5 D or 5 sets to Vasic that were too low or too tight, and could only be lobbed over the net. By contrast, Khamoutskikh and Ushakov on the Russian side were zooming fast, accurate balls to the rightside all match long.
Serbia lost game one through too many service errors and a complete inability to block anything. I felt their blocking was a weakness throughout the match; they eventually got their share of stuffs, but their outside blockers in particular seemed to be piking too soon and allowing the Russian hitters to go over them. This might have been smart hitting on the part of the Russians, but I think over-eagerness to get the big stuff block (rather than take away court) on the part of the Serbians was also an issue.
With Miljkovic absent, Vlad Grbic and Goran Vujevic had to take a larger-than-usual share of the offensive load. Vlad was his usual pumped-up self, and was huge on the outside and down the pipe (he piled a couple of pipe sets into the floor at about 12 foot off the net, which takes some doing). Vujevic, as ever, quietly put the ball away and got the job done.
Which brings me to Travica's role. Since joining the team as coach last year, I think he has failed to realise how the Serbia team works. Yesterday, with Serbia dropping to 9-14 in game four, he took off Vlad Grbic and brought on Mitrovic at outside. This in itself was not a terrible move, as he had to change something. But he should have brought Vlad back within a few points - when he rotated round to serve again, perhaps. Vlad Grbic is a big-time player; Travica should know by now that when you need him to deliver, he delivers.
Serbia clawed back to 22-22, but the comeback was due to unforced Russian errors rather than good play from Serbia. Travica still kept Vlad on the bench, though (there was a shot of him standing up and barking something to the coach during this period) and waited until 22-24 to bring Vlad back. Of course, Vlad then made a block and a kill to single-handedly erase two match points - but Russia got transition and Baranov killed for game a few points later.
Aside from the fact that I support Serbia & Montenegro, I am disappointed that they lost this match, for the sake of the tournament. I think only Serbia and Italy have the ball control necessary to defeat Brazil; Russia have some strong areas, but I don't think they can keep Brazil out of system for long enough to beat them. I would not be surprised to see Russia beat Italy and get to the final, though.
As for Serbia - the Grbic brothers may not play in another Olympics, and they won't really care about playing in this tournament now. It will be interesting to see whether Travica is still coaching the team come the next major tournament, too.