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Oostende played five matches since the start of the Belgian championship and in neither of them received more than 70 points. At the start of the Eurocup they've lost in an away match against Dijon with 63-72, in the Belgian derby against Spirouo it was 64-64, they left the extremely fast Antwerp at 67 points (62 in the Supercup), Liege at 61 a couple of days ago... It's known that Oostende are playing a firm and aggresive defense under Gjergje. They are a team with no stars, a hardy, working team who are based on the collective. Prior to today's match they say they want to give 300% of themselves, they're stressing out the importance of the defense. Gran Canaria played an attractive match at the beginning of the Eurocup against Cantuo, but Oostende play a different game than the Italians. During the weekend they scored 61 points in Barcelona, won Obradorio at home with 72-57, left Real at 70 in an away match. It's clear that the Spaniards have a better defense than their offense, and when we add the Belgian play style to it, it's hard to expect anything else but a firm and defensive match. Details

Hamburg have never lost here and I don't think today will be the first time. The first head-to-head this season was a 23-23 draw (in Hamburg) as HSV failed to win after the 22-16 lead 9 minutes before the time was up. Too many mistakes on their part got Hannover back in the game, but HSV are a much different team now. Lindberg is back, they're on a 4-game winning run, Hens improved his game, Simcu is doing well and they no longer depend on Mahe and Pfhal as much. Besides, the Cup is extremely important for Hamburg as they host the Final Four. Hannover now have Chrisophersen but he hasn't been that helpful in the last games. They lost to Magdeburg home, barely managed to get past Goppingen the last weekend. HSV are still better than Hanover and that win by 6 goals was not an accident. They're in better shape now, have more confidence and great motif. Enough for me to believe in them today. Details

Cesson are not really capable of annihilating any opponent. They beat Toulouse and Dunkerque by one goal and beat Selestat by 8 (not really an accomplishment as Selestat fail against tough defenses). Aix are underrated here because they won only one in six games. But 4 of the 6 were matches with Paris, Nantes, Dunkerque and St. Raphael. Besides, they had to do the last few without a few important players. Three back players (Stojanović, Pongérard and Goni Leoz) are back today. Aix know that they need to try and get some points against Cesson and then against Istres. When able to count on all the players, they can do well, even played a very close game with PSG losing by only 4 goals. I don't see a handicap for Cesson happening in this game, Aix are better than the odds suggest. Details

This is a key match for Wacker in the playoffs, and there is no doubt they will pay attention to their best quality - their defense. Against Bern, who have for one period of game used a stronger tempo, they managed to stop at 49 points, although goalkeeper Merz managed to score a single defend until the end of the first round. Today they are hosting a team who don't force the tempo, but also want to win thanks to their defense and by stopping the hoe shots Deschwanden and Isailovic. Since Amicita is one place above Wacker on the table, it's clear points mean a lot to them. Thus, we shouldn't expect a pretty game, but a match dominated with defense, with the attraction being less important. Details

The start of the season is always a good time to bet against the heavy favorites. Dresden, being the defending champions, are a great favorite here, but there is no particular reason for that. Setter Appitz left and with some experts claim that the setter make up for half of the volleyball team, will be missed. Substitutes joined, but Dresden are at around 80% now, which the defeat to Munster in the last preseason match clearly proves. They are under pressure with the fans expecting a starting win. On the other hand, Stuttgart feel no pressure today. They had a brilliant preseason which gave them an extra boost of confidence, just like the win over Coneglian in Italy. The team underwent a lot of changes but they worked hard for two months to get the new and the old players working together. They have the Dutch player Renkema, Croatian Malevic, Hungarian Sandor and Brazilian Tomazela. The spirits are high on this international team, they're good and even won here last season in March with a team that was not this good. I'm going to bet on them winning a set today with the stakes higher than usual. Small-points counter-handicap is a good option as well, just like points over. Details

Pfadi used to cause problems for Otmar with their quality 3-2-1 defense, but today they're without Bajram and Svajlen, their key players, and I'm sure that the host will take advantage of that. Their defense is getting better and better, and their attack shouldn't have such problems considering the actual situation. Of course, we shouldn't forget that Pfadi had an away match in Nis this weekend, they had trouble on the way, and their rotation is somewhat shorter than usual - the away team should be at least a bit more tired than their opponents. In front of 2000 fans, Otmar is in a very good situation to take over the NLA lead position. Details

This is more than an acceptable margin when it comes to the clash of one of the top three teams in the championship and the worst team in it. Nykobing, despite the horrible record, never lost by more than 5 goals, but also never met any of the top 4 teams. Esbjerg use the fast pace throughout the match to deal with similar teams, having beaten Sikeborg by 11 goals, Skive by 13 and Ringkobing by 6. Nykobing's game usually gets worse in the last 10-15 minutes of the games since they don't have a lot players to count on, which will be something Esbjerg will know how to take advantage of. Details

Are one of the top teams of the 1st division (Njard) ready to beat one the worst top division team to get through to Cup semifinals? I think not, and these are my reasons: most of Najrd's players used to play at Nordstrand and there are a few other young players on the team. They won three games in the 1st division, having recorded one other draw and one defeat and meet Molde n Sunday, who are the top team in the league at the moment. The visitors ended the season 2013/14 in the seventh position, but in the meantime lost a few important players. Their line up, though, is still made up of players who have been on the team for years now and still have a choice better than most second division teams. They didn't win any of the first seven round matches, but we should point out that they lost to Larvik by only 7 goals, which is a great achievement not many teams better than Nordstrand are capable of. They lost two games with direct rivals Halden and Stabaek by one goals despite being in the lead for the most part of the game. The beat second division Realingen 28-22 to advance to Cup second round, with their results in the preseason period proving they're not as bad as their ranking might suggest. In one of the preseason tournaments, Nordstrand beat Njard convincingly 24-14 after a bad start to the game and later came in as the fourth best team. I think they're capable of winning by at least two goals today. Details