A 1/3 Season Recap

At this point we are a third of the way through the season (plus one match) so having seen everyone in the league at least once it seems like a good time to make some commentary. I'll go in order of the standings right now and write some things that come to mind about each team:

Marienlyst-Back in the number one spot, where most expect them to be. I'm disappointed they weren't able to go farther in the Challenge Cup which would have been great for Danish volleyball, but think they'll do really well in Sweden (gratuitous self promotion: that Challenge Cup match against the Bosnian team would be great for someone to put on volleyballtorrents.com!). Some of the recent things I've heard coming out of Odense make it sound like there is some unhappiness with the new coach, but I can't see that being too much of an issue.

HIK-Everyone on our team is pretty happy with being second now, and with the semi-final match in the cup coming up as well, we're right in line with our goals for the season. Tue and Mikkel have stepped in well, and with essentially the same team as last year we have some good chemistry going forward. I think our team is unique in the depth that we have off the bench, something that can serve us well later in the season. And since I haven't mentioned it yet here, congrats to Flemming, Niels, Jonas, Morten, and Kesse for getting the call-up to the national team.

Gentofte-Also has a very similar team to last year. They're going to be a tough match when we play them away the third time, which could have a big impact on the standings. They definitely miss not having the Goat in their lineup, so getting him back could be a big boost for them.

Middelfart-One of the biggest surprises of the season. They're a hard team to understand simply looking at scores. They beat Marienlyst, but drop a lot of sets to teams lower in the table. I think they are still in a readjustment period, with a new coach and lot of new players that may still all be getting used to each other.

Holte-One of the most successful teams in Danish volleyball is back in the Elitedivision and looking to play a spoiler, likely for the fourth spot. They have the veteran craftiness to pull out a few more upsets I think.

Ikast-Looked the same in the series as when we saw them in a preseason tournament. They have good runs, but when things go bad they implode. A team with some good young players that looks like they will be able to stay up in the Elitedivision if they can keep up their current form.

Århus-Definitely the biggest surprise of the year. Even with the money for buying foreigners gone, I don't think many expected them to be on zero points at this stage in the season. Definitely need to turn it around the second time through the series if they don't want to go down.