Round 2 of the Women’s World Champ is the most critical round of all. The goal is to keep winning all the matches to be in top 2 of the pool to play for the Final Four. It won’t be easy so expect all of the 16 teams to bring their BEST game and expect the best players in the world to reach that goal.
Volleywood Presents the Top 8 Players who will be the scoring machines of the team!
Logan Tom (USA): Girlfriend has picked up her game since that forgettable match against Thailand on the first day. Logan is ranked as the most effective American spiker together with Destinee Hooker. Accoding to German coach Guidetti: “Logan is the best player in her position in the world right now. When she plays on the US team, they win.” We totally agree.
Neslihan Darnel (TUR): No doubt she is Turkey’s most effective and most reliable offensive threat in this tournament. She scores almost 25 pts per match and her total kill attempts is more than 250. We expect Darnel to bring home the Best Scorer award from this tournament. The lefty is doing it all for her team.
(image from cev.lu)
Saori Kimura (JPN): One of the main reasons why Japan remains undefeated is because of this girl, Saori. She can do it all! Pass, serve, dig and she’s perhaps the smartest player on the court. Soari has improved so much in the last year. She could be the Obayashi of this era.
Ekaterina Gamova (RUS): Set her the ball and she will pound it like there’s no tomorrow. We’ve watched a few Russian matches and noticed that Katya really wants to defend their crown. Russia has not won a major tournament since winning the World title in 2006. With Kosheleva and Sokolova as the other Russian weapons, we still expect Katya to get the sets during crucial points.
Yeon Koung Kim (KOR): The scoring machine and she’s gotta be Asia’s best player right now. She’s so young yet she plays in a very high level. Since the tourney started, Kim has been Korea’s best scorer and expect Korean setter Kim Sa Nee to rely on her as they face tougher teams like Poland, Japan & Serbia.
(image via Google Search)
Helena Havelkova (CZE): She was the player who gave the Italians nightmares when her team beat the world ranked #3 squad of Piccinini and Gioli. Helena is playing a great tournament and her presence has helped her team advance to the second round. We must admit that we never thought Helena and Czech Republic would be this good and we picture them giving USA, Germany and Cuba tough matches.
Kenia Carcases (CUB): Cuba has been playing up and down since losing to Croatia on the first day of the tourney but we’re glad to see a much improved Cubans since that 5 set epic match Kazakhstan. Carcases’ power and heavy hitting arm are the reasons why Cuba won a ticket to play in Nagoya. She is Cuba’s main hitter together with the youngster Palacios. As long as she remains focus and fights for every point then Cuba has what it takes to finish in the Top 6 (which is the main goal of their coach).
Natalia Pereira (BRA): She’s only 21 yet she played like a veteran against the Italians in Round 1. Coach Ze has so much confidence in Natalia since that match when she was pretty much unstoppable. Gioli could not stop her at all. Piccinini could not pass her serves nor Del Core could dig her hits. Natalia together Sheilla and that screaming chick Jacqueline are Brazil’s main weapons while Fabiana and Thaisa will be the Great Wall of Brazil in Round 2. Natalia is more confident that ever before and with the absence of Mari and Paula she’s taking responsibility for Brazil’s success in this tourney.
(image from daylife.com)
Side Dish: Other BIG HITTERS to watch out for are Ortolani (Ita), Flier (Ned), Onuma (Tha), Wang Yimei (Chn), Hooker (USA), Nikolic (Srb) and Kosheleva (Rus).
THOUGHTS?
(images from www.fivb.org)