Transcript: VWE 12 - Post-Match Show
PresentDaniele Centoni, 46 -- Colour Commentator, QBC Sports (2046-) - Outside Hitter, Quebecois Men's National Team, 2024 Summer Olympics & 2028 Volleyball World Expo
Naomi Goldbloom, 30 -- Guest Commentator, QBC Sports- Setter, Quebecois U21 Women's National Team, Gold Medalist, 2038 Quebecois Commonwealth U21 Girls' Championship
Rodney Kang, 53 -- Play-by-Play Commentator, QBC Sports (2024-)
Alanis Silverwood, 63 -- Colour Commentator, QBC Sports (2018-)
Yoon Myeong-Oak, 52 -- Colour Commentator, QBC Sports (2031-) - Opposite Hitter, Quebecois Women's National Team, Gold Medalist, 2020 Summer Olympics
Rodney Kang: Good evening, mesdames et messieurs. Welcome to the post-match broadcast of the 2049 Volleyball World Expo, live here in the Q.B.C. (OOC note: pronounced with particular thump- Queue-Bee-Tsee). My name is Rodney Kang, and here with us we have four fellow members of the QBC Broadcasting Team, including our guest commentator for the Expo, Naomi Goldbloom. How are you guys all doing today?
Naomi Goldbloom: Thank you for letting us join, Rodney! It's my absolute pleasure to be back in Quebec to join the wonderful crew we have at QBC for this tournament.
Rodney Kang: And the same goes to you as well, Naomi. (The other three give the two a thumbs up) It's a good day of international matches in Bathurst for sure, and we are happy to have you here. Since we have everybody here on the court, let's go straight to the opening match of the tournament as the Grim Reapers of Quebec and Shingoryeo beat the Srednjaci side in straight sets.
What are you guys' thoughts after the match?Daniele Centoni: For the start, I would say that the good start paid off, and being able to wrap up the first set was the key. For this Quebecois team, it's been a particular challenge for them because they start slow, and we did see that with them today, especially with Ahn Seung-Min being off-sync from time to time.
Yoon Myeong-Oak: Certainly, Daniele. Seung-Min's been good on the domestic level, but it's been a challenge for him to maintain the form in the practice and the first set. He certainly seemed frustrated when his spikes kept finding ways into the hands of the libero. Fortunately, a couple of lucky bounces did spark the life into the team, and the rest went well.
Alanis Silverwood: As for the player of the match we have Benedict Jeon. For today's match, he was the difference maker, distributing the ball evenly, especially to Dong-Joon Etchemin-Whakan (5 kills), Alanis Hair-Lewis (9 kills) and of course, Ivan Stankic (11 kills). Forty assists, three service aces, two blocks and paints, which is all in all a great day for him, shortly before he got subbed for Gustave-Paul Filatriault, the rookie out of Montreal, after the eight-point mark of the second set.
Daniele Centoni: With that in mind, what position is most stable on this team right now? Of course, there is lots of depth in every position for the best, but we cannot deny that some positions are stronger than the others.
Alanis Silverwood: In all honesty, I would have to pick the libero position for the men. Since the introduction of libero in 1997, so almost 50 years ago, there has been only three-four years where the national team struggled in the position. Massimo Petrozza was obviously the go to guy, and then we had Bae Joon-Ho who played from 2002 to 2014. And then we had a safe tandem of Noel Googoo and Adrian Rezende Souza, who kept it going until Guillaume Shin was of age to take over-
Rodney Kang: Thank you, Alanis, but let's get back to focus on the current's.
Alanis Silverwood: Alright, alright. But you see what I'm saying here Rod, so let's get back and set things straight. Simply by mentioning of the names from above, we see what kind of a libero Zackaël Lapierre is. You see, you would often hear all the time about him not receiving much reception and wonder why. It's confusing on the surface, but really, if you look into the stats, it's really straightforward. If your court presence is more than enough to have the server avoid you, that's a good thing. Even if you don't receive it, that gives you the fear factor and additional confidence where you could try the pipe option, something that Ivan Stankic is excellent at, or set for the Centre. Given how much this team relies upon good performance by its centres, ride or die, count that as a plus and maybe square that several times.
Yoon Myeong-Oak: As for the women's side, it's almost certain the outside hitters are where the Quebecois are best off right now.
Twenty-year old Yang Soo-Gyeong may be one of the best female outside hitters in the multiverse, with the other examples I have being Mira Gushtanova or Nicole Rocha Domingues, and probably the most all-arounded among all of them. Of course, there is lot more to that than her, especially as Natalia Horakcova and Alexanne Bayley vie for the other side. It's a healthy competition to have, given Bayley's defence and leadership on this team, as well as Horakcova's quick and crafty front-pin who can score at will. Not to mention Helene Nault-Tenerowitz, who is really a winger but is expected to double up on centre when asked for the tournament.
With this in mind, we have a lot of questions to ask about the team, especially ahead of the next summer olympics when we will see a major team.
What would be the key position of concern for the Quebecois national teams?Naomi Goldbloom: I would have to say setter would be the most challenging position, for the women at least. This was something that's not unique to Quebec right now- this happened back when I was in the youth and junior national teams, and also when I played at Queen's College. This question keeps popping up again and again. Even in the college level and QOVO, the particular concern around how the setters have taken lot more time to develop than the wings or even more so, the centres. That's a challenge of its own in the league and also the national team, where we have reliable but aging Karina Benn Fernandez and a huge prospect in Chae Sang-Heui. Expect Coach Kim the younger to alternate playing minutes for the pair.
Rodney Kang: As for the men, it's a challenging question. Still, for the sake of challenging our audience, I would say the outside hitter situation may need some clearances. On the surface, it's easy to say that we have a clear pair of starters, with great backup in Guido Santarelli, not to mention that Todor Asparuhov could play both sides of the thing. But if you look at it carefully, it's not as clear as you would think.
Daniele Centoni: This, is something I cannot help but to agree as well, even though the continued worries up middle is another thing to consider. We gotta remember that Alanis Hair-Lewis is brilliant on front pin, but he's had some minor injuries here and there, so there will be lots of questions asked there. And if that's the case, will the Quebecois be rolling a rotation on the left side or not? Big questions there, especially as Pierre-Stephane Jobin may have to figure this out, rather belatedly so.
Rodney Kang: For the Quebecois men and women, the teams are on different phase, with men continuing to get older and more experienced while the women are focusing more on the speed.
Who would be your respective picks for the X-factors?Daniele Centoni: Byeon Jeong-Wook because he has to be the one. For many years, Quebecois national team had a distinctive colour for possessing plethora of high-level blockers. Andrei Agontsev had height, Reid Matthews and Ha Hyeon-Jong were true veterans, and Simon Shim-Kweon was one of the best in the multiverse, period, and Quebec has won an olympic medal with at least one starting back in the days.
With the Quebecois group, however, things haven't been looking close to pleasant for the position, especially as the current group of starters have not been able to convince people otherwise in that they are able to replicate the forms of the guys of old. And these question marks affect us all especially on the international stage, especially since that's what the opposing sides will target. We've seen this happen before, most notably in the Istria-Orean quarterfinals with both Byeon Jeong-Wook and DJ Etchemin-Whakan playing poorly on the quarterfinals against Trolleborg. Fortunately, both of them have gotten better since then as they grew older, and if there's one blocker who could possibly make the difference, it would be Byeon given his ability to read setters' blocks. Can he do that? Absolutely, as we've seen him do so in 4 blocks against Srednjaci earlier today, and hope he will continue so in next match against Bollonich.
Yoon Myeong-Oak: A bit of cheat-key here, but Natalie Wesoloski-Okafor would be my pick. The lefty, who was selected the Most Valuable Player of the 2048 U20 Quebecois Commonwealth championships last year, also held here in Bathurst, is an explosive specimen. While all of the four have done very well, the reason why I'm telling you to check Wesoloski's straightforward - she's explosive. It's rare we see a tall, Quebecois lefty who is 196cm in height and stands 335cm in spike touch. Given her height, the speed and athleticism you get from her are remarkable, and the spike form, while unconventional by any means, is what keeps her going.
Naomi Goldbloom: I would have to agree with you there, Myeong-Oak. One of the most heralded storylines entering this Volleyball World Expo has been the transferability of the Wonder Women of the '48. All we've seen is golden from this cohort of the junior national team, especially with the Big four all joining the senior women's team. But we also have to remember that the senior team has different expectations and runs different schemes too, and Karina Benn Fernandez prefers to set the ball quicker and lower. Can she be just as effective on the senior level? That's another question to ask.