Ranking the Top 10 Opposites in Volleyball (2018)

After dozens of hours of analysis and deliberation, we have come up with rankings of the top 10 male volleyball players at each position. First up is opposite. These are subjective, but feel free to debate out list in the comments. Special thanks to the channel volleyvids for helping with the rankings.
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Blog: fiveonevb.com/

[@jay_kulina]

I wish you start making lists again. You're spot on! Right now though, Nimir is the best opposite by far.

[@erijak2935]

hey

[@ahmedjiman]

Man , he’s not the best opposite only , but he’s going after W. Leon as the best player in the world , he deserves the consideration

[@hiddevanderleer6600]

@@ahmedjiman our dutch captain

[@dask5687]

@@ahmedjiman after this year's super finals I don't think so.

[@GabrielMuller17]

@@dask5687 true, his perfomance against Brazil (my country btw) in VNL finals actually surprise me. That was way below our expectations.

[@jahnecarma9332]

"Fanatical attention to detail" - I love this quote you said about Maxim, I couldn't agree more!

[@yorgiosdomnidi792]

absolutely agree with you there. Mikhailov is a machine. he carried whole russian squad in Beijing 2008, moved to outside hitter position in London then got several MVPs I guess everywhere.. can't belive someone could be that much of consistency. well, Wallace is and then again would agree with you, nice job 👍

[@TheBadDefence]

Perfect ranking, couldn't agree with more! nice job

[@liammeneley4154]

Great video! Glad to see Jiang Chuan make the list, the future of men's volleyball in China is very bright!

[@SnailKingGY]

China seems to be incorporating a lot of new young players into your core after the success of the Chinese women. But China has some of the worst training regimens that I've seen in national sports. They seem to overplay and overwork their athletes. Hopefully both Jiang Chuan and Zhu Ting are able to keep playing at such a high level without burning out.

[@fabians5573]

I do agree with you bro!! Nice video by the way, greetings from Indonesia 😊

[@arthurg8521]

For today Bartosz Kurek!!!

[@camo03]

been waiting for a channel like this for so long! thanks man! awesome list too!

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

camo03 glad to hear it!

[@xcver]

phew...anything but Mikhaylov on #1 would have been a disaster. Luckily you delivered :) So consistent, so many smart decisions ingame. Great Server. There is basically no flaw to his game.

[@justinmartin3379]

Love the channel bro, keep it up

[@noah-jameswills4358]

I really don't think that the top 4 are accurate. Should be something like this: 1. Ivan Zaytsev 2. Bartosz Kurek 3. Wallace de Souza 4. Maxim Mikhaylov

[@benson_benson420]

Happy to see Jiang in the list, one of the rising opposite star of Asia

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

I think he is a bit underappreciated by non-Chinese fans. Jiang Chuan is an incredible player!

[@benson_benson420]

FiveOne Volleyball agree ! Because most of the non-Chinese fans would tends to support European players more, and their attentions pay less on Chinese or even Asian players, but actually I think Chinese and Asian male volleyball players are getting improve now.

[@exertsflash8400]

He crushed my expectations. In group 2 of world league in 2017, he wasn't even this good against worse teams in there than in VNL. He's a rising young star with a strong future. I hope he finds a european club to shine brighter in the volleyball planet.

[@worawatspk.1626]

Anderson, although he isn’t the best spiker but he can do perfect every skills such as service, block, receiver, dig and set. He’s the player that Zenit Kazan keep in their team for long time because he can make better better situation for his team. He was the MVP of world cup 2015, best opposite of world grand champion cup 2017 and best opposite of this first VNL2018. Should add him in 1 of 10 in your ranking.

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

วรวัฒน์ ส. I mentioned near the end of the video that I would include him on the outside hitter top 10 list

[@worawatspk.1626]

FiveOne Volleyball pls upload OH Ranking.

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

Working on it!

[@worawatspk.1626]

FiveOne Volleyball Hope Anderson to be NO 1

[@adonisluong43]

For me, Anderson plays much better as an OPP. It seems he used to prefer to be the wing spiker but his international performances as an opp always excel!

[@tjescotjeskuh9498]

Great video, I've learnt a thing or two.

[@Lumiere20]

10)Jiang Chuan 9)Gyorgy Grozer 8)Mariusz Wlazly 7)Nimir Abdel-Aziz 6)Stephen Boyer 5)Tsvetan Sokolov 4)Aleksander Atanasijevic 3)Ivan Zaytsev 2)Wallace Souza 1)Maxim Mikhaylov

[@dianacondori1904]

Love the channel.

[@iagoferreira4644]

I think Wallace is the best of all

[@shreyas0024]

Great video. Can you also please make a video on volleyball professional career? Thank you

[@Jaksksbdkkd]

Great Video, where can I find your podcast? Since I am from Germany I love Grozer. I thought he was the best Player of the Europen Chcampionchip last year. He allmost brought Germany the championchip mostly by him self. Hopefully he can come back to form!

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

Justus Bauwens you can find the podcast on my website fiveonevb.com 😀

[@jpjoaopedrosdg]

Good list, congrats

[@joelk1425]

Nice shots

[@henrikwesthoff4145]

anyone who watched the world championships know kurek is No 1

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

He had a great redemption in the World Championship. When I made this video he was coming off of 2 years of poor performance though

[@paolobignardi2131]

Before the world championship, Kurek spent 3 years underperforming

[@dimitaryosifov159]

Come on. Fuck off with those Polish players. Might be world class as squad but individuals are far away from the top.

[@heniekgoab8746]

when 2019 ?

[@intocks_]

“The youngest player on this list at 22 years old”... so I guess nishida isn’t on it then I’m disappointed

[@VolleyballExplained]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIC8d3p8pcyjmbM Here is a video on Nishida's serve explained, if you like :)

[@khalel2151]

nishida is playing then but has limited court time. maybe the reason why he is not recognized right away.

[@dolphinreacts532]

2018 so this was before he leveled up

[@erijak2935]

Nimir would be #1 instead of 7 if ur making a new version of this

[@clavecarlaenlle8093]

Matt Anderson should be included in the list though he did play as an Open spiker in Zenit Kazan but he is originally an opposite spiker and he is very effective with it.

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

Yeah could have put him on either list realistically

[@clavecarlaenlle8093]

And look at USA team right now, they are too strong and steady in the Men's World Championships 2018 and Anderson is playing his best as opposite! Rooting for US team to win til the end!

[@felipemaldonado8028]

At VNL Matt also played outside (since Sander was away), so I understand why they didn't include him here

[@agnusborealis9362]

Fair enough. Though personally I would put Wallace de Souza on the #1 spot.

[@mamdouh15551]

Beautiful

[@mirochaz]

1. Atana 2. Mikhaylov 3. Sokolov 4. Zaytsev 5. Kurek 6. Wallace 7. Boyer 8.Grozier 9. Wlasly 10. Demir

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

I like this list except Wlazly had a really poor year

[@rangerover5333]

1.Poletaev

[@abhmd4481]

Atana? No

[@futebolantigo]

1- Wallace (Brazil) 2- Anderson (USA) 3- Kurek (Poland) 4- Atanasijević (Serbia) 5- Mikhailov (Russia) 6- Boyer (France) 7- Zaytsev (Italy) 8- Sokolov (Bulgaria) 9- Grozer (Germany) 10 - Vernon-Evans (Canada)

[@MrEndocytosis]

Pleeeeaaaaasseee Ben Patch, for the love of god, please learn how to float serve!!!

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

I feel like he has some sort of mental barrier towards serving. Watching him in Valentia behind the service line was painful

[@MrEndocytosis]

I feel like Speraw's aggressive serving philosophy will keep the US from being one of the top 2 teams in the world, besides, its boring AF to watch, as Paul Sunderland said, there's a lot of points being scored and not a lot of volleyball being played. Its like jump serving is some sort of pissing contest on Team USA.

[@SnailKingGY]

@@MrEndocytosis Honestly I think with his height, reach, and just pure athleticism, Patch could have a mean float serve like David Lee (who at one point had the second most aces in a tournament) or maybe a deadly float/spin hybrid that Chritenson and Bieniek have.

[@MrEndocytosis]

@@SnailKingGY agreed, especially since they use the Mikasa ball that can float like crazy and move all over the place unlike the molten that is used in college and NORCECA.

[@emiliaszczygielska2975]

You could improve the pronunciation of several names, especially the Slavic ones, it's always nice to do it right.

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

I try my best but if you have any names in particular that I could pronounce better, please let me know!

[@felipemaldonado8028]

The only change I'd do to the list would be exchange Boyer with Sokolov. Boyer was a hitting machine on the VNL.

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

He carries so much of the offensive load for France which allows them to play outsides who focus on passing and serving. Great player. I just think Sokolov was such a huge part of Lube almost winning the SuperLega and Champions League this year. But Boyer will still improve no doubt.

[@felipemaldonado8028]

You're right about Sokolov. Boyer is only 22 years old, I reckon he will climb higher and higher in this ranking

[@exertsflash8400]

Lube would have barely challenge Perugia or Zenit Kazan without Sokolov. Boyer is an amazing prospect but it's too early to tell.

[@hogatak2683]

Where is Kurek ?

[@sakusakuhue1594]

＠FiveOne Volleyball Hey maybe you can make new Top 10 Opposites in Volleyball for 2021 version. I think there are a lot of updates at this moment.

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

Thats the plan

[@sobhanborah463]

Zaytsev my Idol❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@leslie7872]

the #1 opposite is nishida, standing at a massive 6'1" .. jk.

[@ganbayrss9710]

Leslie its true no joke!

[@lxtboosss1625]

@@ganbayrss9710 XD

[@silviotrc2992]

exactly

[@obaizhassan5095]

What about viktor poletaev?

[@dardays1735]

Im not arguing, dude got jacked through out the decade, and he just got better and better winning the 2018 champioship i mean you cant complain about that.

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

Dar Days dude is built now

[@dardays1735]

FiveOne Volleyball right??! He looks like one of those guys that compete for Gladiator competition or something. Lol

[@martineitor_1094]

I think that Grozer should be higher on this list and Kurek instead of Wazly

[@growthepie]

Jiang plays for Beijing. Good person.

[@UmbertoCalecailrayocalecano]

I Think right now the best of all of them is nimir Abdel Aziz, without any doubt

[@hiddevanderleer6600]

our dutch captain

[@bardloe5714]

Can we get another content like this🥺

[@efx80]

2019 and 2020 !!

[@tiemrutirakentaake360]

should check Nishida from Japan mate thanks . New and young player

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

smRUTI I'm a big fan of nishida! Check out the video I did of the "top 5 prospects of nations league"

[@felipemaldonado8028]

He's in the video though 0:25

[@maydiademmasibog5889]

FiveOne Volleyball Yes, Dont forget Nishida 😊

[@SuperNomms]

when do you go on whit middle Blockers, dude?

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

maurizio HERDOZA opposites >outsides>setters>middles>libero

[@YungGemini]

Dude was right about Nimir

[@miguelalejandromejiabustam5206]

Nishida? Kurek? Vernon? Anderson?

[@martinjohnson2830]

what happened to liberman agamez and gavin schmitt

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

If I made this video in 2011 they might be included

[@Jagoda-xy7gh]

Kurek?

[@darudechang5679]

I think kurek at this point in time is better than wlazly. Did you see how he just kept scoring and scoring relentless against russia this year? the guy was unbelievable. He’s shown a great deal of improvement from what he was just a few years back imo

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

He was unstoppable that game but for every one of those, he has 4 average ones. +he just mailed in a full club season

[@ristomakela2334]

Kurek for me has always been somewhat overrated. Just too inconsistent to be considered as one of the best opposites in the world.

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

I'm guessing Damien Schulz will play over him a lot in the world championships

[@michielmandervelt5213]

Kurek showed at the WC that you were wrong

[@zulhamharahap8480]

1 maxim 2 bartoz 3 wallace 4 zatysev 5 astanasevic 6 anderson 7 nishida 8 grozer 9 nimir 10 a ghafour

[@venkysangem3247]

I Love Ivan Zaytsev

[@lii_no9910]

Patch?

[@jprariston]

I don't get why "gymnastics-like" attacks are bad. Anyone plz?

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

Not a bad thing necessarily. Just hard for the average person to replicate

[@TimE-in8dq]

I think Nishida and Tom Edgar should have been on the list. But apart from that it's top stuff

[@finn3883]

tom edgar isn’t that good

[@bjsoil4478]

Wallace tops them all

[@sumedhbhalerao8071]

I think Nishida also part of top 10

[@sickdewd5694]

Tom Edgar????

[@kevintomita8782]

Where is nashida

[@florianhollermann1952]

Grozer on his peak would be instant top 1 for sure.

[@justinmartin3379]

I’d take a dialed in Zaytsev over any of the other guys

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

He's a monster when he's dialed in but it seems to getting rarer these days. It also doesn't help that Wallace and Mikhaylov are the definition of consistency

[@justinmartin3379]

FiveOne Volleyball true, also kinda surprised Ahmed Salah from Egypt didn’t get a single vote. I know he’s getting old and Egypt doesn’t get much exposure, but I think he could still outperform some of the honorable mention guys if given a chance.

[@exertsflash8400]

@@fiveonevolleyball8112 because Italy's players have no phenomenal attackers outside of Zaytsev and Juantorena. Consistency matters but Brazil and Russia are two national teams that can carry on without Mikhailov as much as I love this guy and Wallace. If there's anything better than a consistent player. It's a consistent team.

[@Chicko_Perez]

Sokolov won't be able to attend he World Championship

[@jf7456]

Wallace de Souza is better than Mikailov!

[@abhmd4481]

No

[@riteshnegimatung9179]

nashida

[@martijnjaspers4871]

Nimir

[@shunxi7689]

西田も入ってんじゃん！

[@AdeM-kc7sc]

Kurek. Full stop.

[@sherylcalimquim5776]

Werest yuji nishida his the best opposte tooooo

[@kentsuo7023]

Where is yuji nishida

[@xfadex9386]

i can you forget yuji nishida the legend ❤️

[@dimifraga7663]

1-Wallace de Souza!

[@papuiatlau4398]

bartosk kurek

[@AnHoang-jj8cn]

Grozer number 1

[@mudividim7347]

Mikhailov its he monster..

[@arniekhen9273]

matt should be on this list...he wasjust the best opposite spiker in nations league!!!!...

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

He is a great player but as I mentioned in the video I included him as an outside because he plays that position for Zenit Kazan and still receives when he plays oppo for team USA

[@chareaanace_s8462]

He was also the best Opposite at WCH 2018 Matt Anderson

[@arniekhen9273]

@@chareaanace_s8462 yeah....he could have been the mvp if team usa was the champion.....

[@azizikarim5427]

Mattew Anderson

[@SeniaCade]

Why don’t you include women?

[@javedrg1665]

Really? no NGAPETH?? if its only 2018 you shouldn't have Wallace. He is the most all around players whereas wallace hits on the right side.

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

This is for opposites, check out Ngapeth in my top 10 outsides video

[@finn3883]

are you clueless

[@lampone_1471]

Wlazły at 8th? Top 3 is the worst option, for me steel the best in the world, doesnt matter that he dont play for his country anymore

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

He was great in Skra this year but his age is starting to show

[@richmondlaureno5130]

Matt Anderson no. 1

[@jaro8056]

Leon?

[@guitarman2312]

Jaro Pol outiside hitter not opposite

[@estebantedesco1348]

Where is Yuji Nishida?? he's a BEAST

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

Did you watch my video I did of him?

[@SnailKingGY]

Can't really put him up there yet. He's the little man's dream player, but thats what I think is keeping him from being top 10. He's great at offense, but without a great setter to get him 1-on-1 and late middles, he has a difficult time getting past huge blocks. Plus everyone on this list has a better block than he does, and while Yuji is a great athlete, he's has trouble timing his block to taller players, who can straight hit over him if he's a millisecond late or early.

[@finn3883]

@@SnailKingGY exactly so true

[@matthewkuo4347]

Where's Antonin Rouzier!!

[@manashsingh1313]

He is not playing for France currently

[@agnusborealis9362]

Huh??? Mikhaulov is #1? Should be Wallace De Souza of Brazil! Again this author doesnt really understand stats.. sorry..😊

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

Mikhaylov this year: 5.51 points per set on 60% hitting, 0.78 aces per set and 0.38 blocks per set Wallace this year: 4.89 points per set on 53% hitting, 0.4 aces per match, 0.34 blocks per set Stats are the biggest thing I use when constructing these lists.

[@abhmd4481]

He relied on numbers and facts, not on emotions.

[@waduhek8223]

Booooringgggggg

[@nunsangazadeng8721]

Where Kurek and Patch

[@fiveonevolleyball8112]

kurek wasn't as good when I made this list and Patch is pretty average