2017 FIVB World League

And another World League season has come to an end: France won their 2nd FIVB World League title today at Curitiba, Brazil. This achievement is a big boost for #TeamYavbou after their dismal performance in Rio 2016. This is a hefty accomplishment, however, given their long history of being in Group 2 - they managed to get two World League titles in just two years after being promoted to Group 1 in 2015.

image from FIVB.com

The lineup that France mostly used this final leg is a pretty new team (only Ngapeth, Toniutti, Grebennikov and Le Roux are the holdovers, although Le Goff is still in the lineup), which shows how much upside the team has. Kevin Tillie, who’s one of their best defenders, isn’t in the lineup. Clevenot proved to be a revelation as the young outside hitter started in the final match (without starting in any of the games in the final leg). He was instrumental in France’s climb to the final leg since he was also used in the eliminations (over Lyneel).

Brazil had everything to win the title - the players and even the crowd behind them. It was really a toss coin in the last set. To be fair, their lineup isn’t what we’re used to seeing. Wallace and Lucarelli brought their best ‘til the end - it’s just that their middle blockers are lacking firepower.

image from FIVB.com

Canada and USA’s fight for the Bronze Medal was also a really good match. Who would have thought Canada will be in the final leg? Their coach Stephane Antiga brought them here after beefing up the Poland squad a few years back. This resulted to Canada winning their first ever World League medal.Despite the loss, USA still has something to be proud of. No Aarron Russell, David Smith, Matt Anderson, and Max Holt? They only had Micah Christenson, Erik Shoji and Taylor Sander with a mix of young guns in their current World League lineup. That’s what you get if you have a very good volleyball system - they can still manage to put up a contender team even without the whole first six! Let’s all wait for Benjamin Patch, he is such a good opposite hitter at 18 years old.

Lastly, Italy’s performance has relegated them to Group 2, what is up with that? They didn’t have Zaytsev and Juantorena and they only won 1 game. Simone Giannelli, even with his setting skills couldn’t lift this team up without good chemistry. They were really struggling even with the supposed “easy” opponents.

To review the final standing and awardees:

1	France	7	Belgium
2	Brazil	8	Poland
3	Canada	9	Bulgaria
4	USA	10	Argentina
5	Serbia	11	Iran
6	Russia	12	Italy

MVP: Earvin N'Gapeth (FRA)	Best MBs: Graham Vigrass (CAN) Kévin Le Roux (FRA)
Best Setter: Benjamin Toniutti (FRA)	Best OP: Wallace de Souza (BRA)
Best OHs: Ricardo Lucarelli Souza (BRA) Earvin N'Gapeth (FRA)	Best L: Blair Bann (CAN)

Read More

2017 FIVB World Grand Prix

Reset! We have now started another Olympic cycle in Volleyball!

The annual FIVB World Grand Prix is back!

Dominican Republic has returned to Group 1 as they topped last year’s WGP Group 2 while Germany has been relegated from Group 1 to Group 2. Korea has returned to participate in the tournament, although they are relegated to Group 2 this year (they were in Group 1 the last time they participated in 2014).

Schedule

Read More

2016 FIVB CWC: Pool B

International volleyball is back in Manila! Athough we've had a few hosting stints the past few years, this, by far, is the biggest yet! The chance to get to watch the best volleyball players in the world! We are talking about Olympians, MVPs, FIVB heroes, and world-class volleyball idols. This is an amazing event especially for real volleyball fans and very much a thing the Philippines could be proud of.

So which club teams are playing here and what can we expect from them?

Hisamitsu Springs

League: V.Premier League

Qualified via: Wildcard

CWC participation:

Watch out for: Miyu Nagaoka (OP), Risa Shinnabe (WS), Maja Tokarska (MB)

Hisamitsu Springs is a powerhouse Japanese club team with a long history of winning. With the recent appointment of Kumi Nakada as the new head coach of Japan’s national team, expect players from Hisamitsu to be staples in the NT lineup. Could this be the comeback of Risa? With Nagaoaka, Ishii, Risa, and Iwasaka who have NT experience, expect them to tough it out with the tall players from Europe and the Americas. As with any Japanese team, floor defense is their main advantage. Expect wingers to get most of the sets especially Nagaoaka as Japanese teams rely more on wingers via C sets. We expect Risa to top the receiving department as she always did with at least 70-80% reception (no jinx!). They are reinforced by Polish middle Maja Tokarska.

Lineup:

#	Name	Pos	Height	Spike	Block
1	Miyu Nagaoka ©	OP	179	308	303
2	Chizuru Koto	S	171	295	281
3	Risa Shinnabe	WS	173	293	285
4	Nana Iwasaka	MB	187	299	290
5	Yumi Mizuta	MB	181	300	285
6	Yuki Ishii	WS	180	302	287
7	Haruka Kanamori	MB	176	297	290
8	Rika Nomoto	WS	180	310	291
9	Maja Tokarska	MB	193	325	293
10	Hitomi Kodama	MB	179	284	277
11	Erika Sakae	S	168	273	267
12	Yuka Imamura	WS	175	295	290
13	Kiyora Obikawa	MB	183	298	290
14	Fumika Moriya	MB	180	302	285
15	Ayano Nakaoji	S	167	290	275
16	Risa Ishibashi	MB	178	292	284
17	Hikari Kato	WS	179	297	282
18	Mana Toe	L	163	278	264
19	Akane Ukishima	WS	172	286	273
20	Sayaka Tsutsui	L	158	260	247

Vakifbank Istanbul

League: Turkish Volleyball League 1

Qualified via: Wildcard

CWC participation: Third

Watch out for: Zhu Ting (WS), Kim Hill (WS)

If there is a team which has a target on its back, it's probably Vakifbank. With several choices at the outside: Rio Olympics MVP Zhu Ting, World Championships MVP Kim Hill, and Sonsirma who has led Vakif all these years. Expect Coach Guidetti to surprise us with his starting six. Will sloetjes get the opposite? Rasic is a mainstay and you know she can deliver as she also helped serbia advanced to the finals. She was leading in service and is a mutiawarded best blocker. We want to see Naz work hard to give her attackers a good set. The hard part for coach guidetti is to balance the wingers. Opposites dont really receive so we expect the two outside to help the libero. In this case, sonsirma and hill are the obvious choice but zhu ting's power is also needed.

Volero Zurich

 

League: Swiss League

Qualified via: Wildcard

CWC participation: Fourth time

Watch out for: Foluke Akinradewo (MB), Olesia Rykhliuk (OP)

Volero Zurich has been a frequent participant in CWC, having hosted the event in the last 3 years. Watch out for American Foluke Akinradewo and Ukranian Olesia Rykhliuk.

Lineup:

#	Name	Pos	Height	Spike	Block
1	Julie Lengweiler		188	305	300
3	Josefa Fabiola Almeida De Sousa Alves		184	300	285
4	Bojana Zivkovic		186	300	292
5	Dobriana Rabadzhieva		194	305	285
6	Gabi Schottroff		192	302	285
7	Olesia Rykhliuk		196	316	304
8	Silvija Popovic		178	286	276
9	Natalya Mammadova ©		196	319	302
10	Irina Malkova		192	306	294
12	Mariana Costa		181	295	283
13	Gizem Karadayi		178	290	285
14	Kenia Carcaces Opón		190	322	300
15	Ekaterina Orlova		193	307	301
16	Foluke Akinradewo		191	331	300
17	Laura Unternährer		179	303	283

Bangkok Glass

League: Thailand Volleyball League

Qualified via: 2015 Asian Club Champions

CWC participation: First

Watch out for: Thi Ngoc Hua (MB), Wilavan Apinyapong (WS), Pornpun Guedpard (S)

Bangkok Glass VC is a mix of new and veteran players. With Pornpun at the setter's position, expect every hitter to get her touches. She's mastered Pleumjit's quicks and even a decent blocker at the right side. Vietnamese import Thi Ngoc Hua is also an explosive middle as she can hit off tempo middle plays. You don't want to underestimate a longtime Thai national team captain Wilavan as she will definitely look for those empty spaces and even directly target the weakest defenders. She will beat the block if she gets a good set and plays good combinations in the middle. They suffered a huge loss vs NEC at the semifinals of the 2016 Asian Club Championships (in Laguna!) so we expect a comeback game from them!

Lineup:

#	Name	Pos	Height	Spike	Block
1	Maliwan Prabnarong		173	280	275
2	Thitapa Tongsidee		173	270	265
3	Sutadta Chuewulim		173	265	254
4	Wirawan Sattayanuchit		176	245	250
5	Pleumjit Thinkaow C		180	298	281
6	Thidarat Phengvechai		175	286	277
7	Pimpila Muekkhuntod		168	270	268
8	Wilavan Apinyapong		174	294	282
9	Jarasporn Bundasak		180	290	280
10	Jutarat Montripila		175	290	280
11	Pornpun Guedpard		170	270	267
12	Karina Krause		178	295	285
13	Witita Balee		170	270	262
14	Rasamee Supamool		178	285	276
15	Tikamporn Changkeaw		165	254	243
16	Ashley Frazier		187	302	294
17	Wanida Kodrueang		170	283	272
18	Anongporn Promrat		179	260	254
19	Pattrathip Santrakoon		165	265	254
20	Thi Ngoc Hoa Nguyen		183	295	293

Read More