Player Insight
#RoadtoTokyo
With Europe’s women’s Olympic qualification tournament coming up from January 7 through 12 in the Netherlands, here are my picks for the five most intriguing young players (one in each of the five positions), poised to make a difference as a single continental ticket to Tokyo 2020 is contested in Apeldoorn.
Cansu Ozbay (TUR) | 182 cm | setter | VakifBank Istanbul (TUR)
In 2017, Cansu Ozbay won gold at both the CEV Champions League and the FIVB Club World Championship as the second setter of Turkish powerhouse VakifBank Istanbul. Then she received the opportunity to be a starter for both VakifBank and the Turkish national team, when her predecessor Naz Aydemir Akyol went on maternity leave, and, under the guidance of coach Giovanni Guidetti, made the most of it. She conducted VakifBank to another set of champions’ titles of Europe and of the world in 2018. At the early age of 21, as Turkey celebrated with the silver medals in the inaugural edition of the VNL in 2018, Cansu was named the Dream Team setter. Even when Naz returned to the national team for EuroVolley, Cansu Ozbay was no longer just the reserve setter.
The young playmaker started in many of the matches and it was most exciting to see her step in with determination when Turkey were down during the nail-biting final with Serbia and help her squad reach deep, not only in the organisation of the offence, but also from the serving line. Who will be Turkey’s main setter during the upcoming qualifiers is up to Guidetti, but he certainly enjoys the comfort of having two world-class playmakers on his squad – well-seasoned Naz and up-and-coming star Cansu.
Magdalena Stysiak (POL) | 202 cm | opposite / outside spiker | Savino Del Bene Scandicci (ITA)
Magdalena Stysiak towers at 202 cm and she can play well in both the opposite and the outside spiker positions. At only 19 years of age, she has not only established herself as a key player on the Polish women’s national team, but also made her way to a top-level club in the Italian championship, shining with the jersey of Savino Del Bene Scandicci. At the 2018 U19 European Championship, when Stysiak was only 17, she became the best scorer of the competition on 132 points, 23 points clear on top of the ranking. Alongside the bronze medal, she went home with an individual nomination on the tournament’s Dream Team as the Best Opposite.
In the women’s national team, the starting opposite position is already taken by Malwina Smarzek-Godek, but younger Stysiak is still a regular starter as an outside spiker. When you play alongside a prolific scorer like Smarzek, you don’t get as many spiking opportunities, but Stysiak makes up for it in efficiency. At EuroVolley 2019, where Poland finished fourth, Stysiak ranked as her team’s most efficient attacker. With her next to Smarzek, the team’s offence can become a powerful weapon on the road to Tokyo 2020 as well.
Jennifer Geerties (GER) | 186 cm | outside spiker | A. Carraro Imoco Conegliano (ITA)
There will be three players at the tournament in Apeldoorn, who can brag about being reigning champions of the world, and Jennifer Geerties is one of them. At the age of 25, the promising German outside spiker made her first international transfer to a foreign club and what a transfer it was! She was picked up by Italian powerhouse Imoco Volley Conegliano and just a couple of months into the club season they triumphed as champions at the 2019 FIVB Club World Championship.
Domestically, they claimed the super cup and lead the current standings in the Italian league, so it looks like the gate to international stardom is wide open for Geerties. Always reliable in reception and attack, and even in blocking despite her not-so-impressive height, Jennifer also became the best server of the world Olympic qualification tournament in China, proving that she is becoming more and more all-round player, who could make a difference in more ways than one in any game.
Marlies Janssens (BEL) | 193 cm | middle blocker | Asterix Avo Beveren (BEL)
Marlies Janssens is a middle blocker; she obviously does well what good middle blockers do well at the net, but in addition to that, there is something special about her serving, which brings in a bunch of aces to her team’s tally. At the age of 22, she has already taken advantage of plenty of opportunities to show the world how talented she is at that element. In the 2018 VNL preliminary round, the 193-cm-tall Belgian finished runner-up in the best servers’ statistical chart. In the same competition a year later, she did one better – top of the ranking. At EuroVolley 2019, Janssens scored 12 aces in only six games and once again ranked among the best servers, alongside those whose teams played more matches.
Just recently, in her Belgian club Asterix Avo Beveren’s first game of the season in the European Cups, the young middle blocker made headlines with an impressive six aces towards the victory. This consistency shows that Janssens’s remarkable performances from the serving line are no accident and she can be relied on to deliver plenty more solid serving and precious aces in the years to come.
Zhana Todorova (BUL) | 170 cm | libero | Maritza Plovdiv (BUL)
The up-and-coming star of international volleyball, Zhana Todorova, is a dream-come-true for any team that needs a solid digger capable of pulling off incredible defensive stunts to repel even the strongest spikes of the opponents. The talented libero, who will turn 23 years of age during the tournament in Apeldoorn, is certainly one of Maritza Plovdiv and Bulgarian national team’s best assets, as she has shown growth in skills and consistency in performance since a very young age. Todorova was named Best Libero at two age-category World Championships – U20 in 2015 and U23 in 2017.
She is now certainly ready to shine as one of the world’s best in her position at the senior level and already proved it by becoming the best digger across all six world Olympic qualification tournaments in August on an incredible average of 4.17 digs per set, and the second best digger of the 2019 VNL preliminary round. Her coach Ivan Petkov knows well that a great way to beat the favourites is with reliable defence and Zhana can certainly deliver the transition opportunities for treasured break points.
By Nikolay Markov - CEV External Writer