First and foremost, we’d like to congratulate Russian opposite hitter Maxim Mikhaylov for winning the Most Valuable Award of the 2011 World League. He truly deserved the award! He was unstoppable in the final match against Brazil. Aside from the MVP Award, he also won the Best Blocker award.
Congratulations Maxim!
We’d also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and recognize the other valuable players from the other teams who qualified in the Final Round. Each player we’ve chosen displayed great talent throughout the Final Round.
Starting with…
Lukasz Zygadlo (Poland) – the setter who left the Polish team last year due to conflict with former head coach Daniel Castellani.
During the times Polska needed a leader on the court, Lukasz stepped up. He remained calm and confident with his hitters against the eventual champion Russia & Argentina. Zygadlo, who has won numerous awards with his club team Trentino, led Poland to a bronze medal – their first medal in the history of the World League.
Coach Anastasi has so much confidence in Zygadlo which gave him the opportunity to show what he’s capable of. In the absence of Zagumny, we think Poland has found another talented setter who can lead to more success in future tournaments.
If there’s one player who surprised with an amazing performance over his teammates, it would have to be Lucas Saatkamp, the rising star middle blocker from Brazil. In the final match against Russia, Lucas’ attacked (Back 1s?) with high efficiency against the towering blockers and his serves also gave problems to the Russian passers.
He was the Brazilian weapon who challenged Russia while his teammates Theo and Murilo were trying to find their rhythm.Even if his team didn’t win the gold and failed to defend their title, this tournament allowed fans to discover the power of Lucas.
American outside hitter, Matthew Anderson, had his chance to shine in the World League 2 years ago but he got ill. In last year’s edition, he didn’t get enough playtime but in 2011 he finally got a starting spot to show what he’s made of.
In the Final Round, Matt was Team USA’s leading scorer and was also the tournament’s best receiver. He was among the top servers and top blockers of the tournament as well. In their pool play match against Cuba, Matt was too much to handle for Leon and team. He finished the match with 29 points which gave team USA a 3-2 win against the Cubans.
An unforgettable match and tournament for the young American who will play for Casa Modena in the Italian League this coming season.
If Argentina won the World League, Facundo Conte would be the MVP of the tournament for sure. No doubt about it.
He’s only 21 yet he was his team’s most reliable weapon and also Argentina’s most complete player right now. Argentina’s coach Weber stated at a press conference after one of their matches that Facundo is the world’s best young player right now and we completely agree with him.
His superb skills outplayed other veterans stars in the Final Round and allowed Argentina to clinch memorable victories against Argentina and Bulgaria. We already see a very bright future for Hugo Conte’s son. If his stars were shining bright in Gdansk, Poland then expect brighter stars in the years to come.
To be honest, we had doubts on how Cuban outside Henry Bell would perform in the World League knowing that it’d be his first major tournament. His predecessor, Leal, was Cuba’s top outside hitter together with Leon. Since Leal was droppped from the team before the tourney started, Bell got the call.
Bell was the tournament’s Best Spiker prior to the Final 4 which Cuba failed to reach. Even though Cuba didn’t medal this time after an impressive 2010 season, Bell impressed a lot of club teams and rumor has it that Bell has received an offer to play in the Polish League this coming season.
He’s not the tallest outside hitter out there but Bell is one player to watch out for.
He can set and he can serve!
We think he’s one of the rising star setters in the world at the moment. Italy’s Dragan Travica had the magic hands during the Intercontinental Round and even in the Final Round, ie pool play match against Poland.
We thought not having Valerio Vermiglio on the team would affect Italy’s chances of advancing to the Final 8 but our assumption was wrong. Aside from being a deceptive setter, Travica also displayed leadership on the court.
We’re not sure if Vermiglio is still coming back, but Italy is okay with Travica on the team right now – in our opinion.
Last but certainly not the least is Tsvetan Sokolov of Bulgaria.
We hadn’t heard much of Sokolov nor had seen much of him before the World League started. We just know he played for Trentino this past season, was the team’s back up opposite hitter and one young talent to watch out for.
At such a very young age, Sokolov was his team’s top scorer in the absence of Vlad Nikolov. Knowing that Matey Kaziyski underperformed in the tournament, Sokolov stepped up and guided his team to matches they almost won.
Despite Bulgaria missing the Final 4, we believe Coach Stoytchev has found his future opposite hitter for his squad.
Remember the name “Sokolov”. We tell you now.
We’d like to acknowledge the other great players in the Final Round and they are Taras Khtei, Muserskiy, Volkov. Biryukov, Giba, Theo, Kurek, Bartman, De Cecco, Sole, Quiroga, Priddy, Stanley, Lee, Thornton, Zaytsev, Savani, Lasko, Bari and all the players who played in this year’s World League.
Who is your chosen Most Valuable Player of the World League? Tell us Tell us!
(images: FIVB & Mariusz Pałczyński Photography)
4 Comments
Leave a Reply