Peru is all set to host the Gatorade Cup U20 Final Four - Volleyball

Once again the Eduardo Dibos Coliseum of Lima will host an international volleyball competition when the national female teams of hosts Peru, Argentina, Cuba and Dominican Republic battle at the Gatorade Cup U20 Final Four from October 16-19.

The friendly tournament is presented as a big sport festival with the coaches of the participating teams saying they will use it to help the consistent growth of their players while facing opponents of top level.

The host Peru will be joined by teams from Argentina, Cuba, and Dominican Republic. 

USA defeats China to seize the gold at the FIVB Women’s World Championship

Years of training and a full month of competition led up to a historic gold medal for Team USA on Sunday, as they took on the Chinese women in a four-set match filled with some of the best rallies of the competition.

The thrilling match pitted top female volleyball athletes in the world against each other, in a close battle with nearly equal skills. FIVB Women’s World Championship MVP Kimberly Hill lead her team with 20 points during the match, but China’s Opposite spiker Chunlei Zengalso put up 20 points of her own.

“She was unstoppable,” Jordan Larson-Burbach said, in a discussion with USA Volleyball about teammate Hill. “She was hitting high over the block, high in the seam, passing well and just playing her game. She’s a baller. I’m really proud of her. It’s been awesome to get to know her. Just a very fun person to be around.”

USA's coach Karch Kiraly also expressed his fulfillment with the team and Hill.

"She actually had to get talked into the tryout," he said to USA Volleyball. "She was kind of afraid and nervous about attending... and here she is MVP of World Championships less than two years later, helping lead us to our first-ever title, helping us make history.”

The second best scorers on each team also tied with 15 points each – USA’s 2012 Olympic Games silver medalist Christa Harmotto Dietzen and Ting Zhu, China’s Best Outside Hitter and MVP in 2013 FIVB Women’s Junior World Championship.

“(China) are a good team,” said USA setter Alisha Glass. “They’re a dangerous team. We were fortunate to come out with a very fast start. They battled back as they should and made it really interesting and nerve-wracking I’m sure. We just had to fight for every point. I think we eventually came out and earned it.”

Vietnam pulls off victory over Iran at the 10th Asian Girls’ U-17 Volleyball Championship

The other playoff match saw Vietnam put on a good performance to beat Iran 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-21). However, as Vietnam still violated the AVC rules and regulations by fielding players who competed in the previous edition of the tournament two years ago in Chengdu, China, Iran were recorded as having won the match with a scoreline of 25-0, 25-0, 25-0

World champions and world No.1 China will take on Chinese Taipei, Japan face New Zealand, hosts Thailand test their mettle against Kazakhstan and Korea play the Philippines.

The winners will advance to the semifinals, while the losers will be relegated to the 5th-8th playoffs.

Thursday’s results
9th-13th playoffs
Pool G: Hong Kong b India 3-0 (25-15 29-27 25-12)
Pool H: Vietnam b Iran 3-0 (25-17 25-16 25-21)

Match schedule
Friday, October 17, 2014
10am: 11th-12th playoff: Vietnam v India
12pm: Quarterfinals: China v Chinese Taipei
2pm: Quarterfinals: Japan v New Zealand
4pm: Quarterfinals: Thailand v Kazakhstan
6pm: Quarterfinals: Korea v the Philippines

Hong Kong defeats India at the Asian Girls’ U17 Volleyball Championship - Volleyball News

Courtesy: FIVB

Fast-improving Hong Kong pulled off a convincing straight-sets (25-15, 29-27, 25-12) victory over India as the 10th Asian Girls’ U-17 Volleyball Championship continued in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand on Thursday.

Hong Kong, coached by Yip Po Lam, fielded a similar line-up to the one that beat Australia 3-1 in their 9th-13thplayoffs in Pool G earlier. They included Wong Sin Yu, Tam Hin Ching Rachel and Wong Sze Wing, while India were led by Kinjal Vala and Vala Chetana.

The side started strongly to win the first set without much effort 25-15, but struggled in the second set when India hit back through attacks from Vala Chetana and Kinjal Vala. However they held on to take the closely-contested set 29-27. The third set was a one-sided battle as Tam Hin Ching Rachel and Chang Ming Wei took turns penetrating the Indian defence clinching the set 25-12 and the match.

Chan Ming Wai topscored with 16 points for Hong Kong, while Kinjal Vala led India with 11 points.

The U 20 Gatorade Final Four Women’s Cup Lima - Day 1

The U 20 Gatorade Final Four Women’s Cup Lima started off at Eduardo Dibos Coliseum in Peru on Thursday.  

On the opening day of the tournament, hosts Peru and Dominican Republic settled for victories.


Peru had a tough fight with Argentina and posted 3-2(26-24, 19-25, 25-19, 15-25, 15-10). On the other hand, Dominican Republic launched authority over Cuba in straight sets 25-16, 25-20, 25-19.

Peru’s Angela Leyva led the home side with 13 points followed by Maguilaura Frias and Luciana del Valle with 12 points apiece. Argentina’s Sol Piccolo had a match-high 19 points while Irene Verasio added 14.

Natalia Martinez was the top scorer for the Dominican side with 16 points while Carmela Massip stood out for the Cubans with 10 points. The Dominicans held advantages in attacks (32-30), services (5-4) and blocks (9-5).

FIVB The Hague Grand Slam - Beach Volleyball

Long the innovative pioneer for change and development of the Olympic sport of beach volleyball, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) will again enhance the quality of its 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour this week at the double-gender US$1,000,000 FIVB The Hague Grand Slam.

Offering the largest Grand Slam purse in FIVB history and using three cities for the first time, the FIVB World Tour has had eight events in the Netherlands, four for each gender and all of the previous FIVB World Tour events have been in The Hague.

In preparation for hosting next year’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, the FIVB and the Dutch national volleyball federation will anchor this year’s tournament in the Hague and have some pool play action in both Amsterdam and Apeldoorn. All three cities along with Rotterdam are scheduled to be the host sites for next year’s world championships.

This year’s FIVB The Hague Transavia Grand Slam is the second of four consecutive FIVB Grand Slam tournaments being held in four separate countries—Switzerland, The Netherlands, the United States and Austria. With the FIVB based in Lausanne, Gstaad hosted last week’s FIVB Gstaad Grand Slam.

This week’s tournament, to be primarily played at The Hague Beach Stadium in Scheveningen, is the sixth of 10 FIVB Grand Slam events in 2014. It will start Tuesday and run through Sunday for both. The tournament format has a one-day qualification tournament on Tuesday to determine the final eight spots in each gender’s 32-team main draw tournaments followed by round-robin pool play and a single-elimination bracket for the final 24 teams. The women’s and men’s medal matches are scheduled for Sunday.

The total entry list for the 2014 FIVB The Hague Transavia Grand Slam includes 93 men’s teams from 34 countries and 72 women’s teams from 30 countries selected by their respective national federations.

The Hague Beach Stadium in Scheveningen will see the qualification tournaments for each gender, some pool play as well as the single elimination ‘knock out’ phase from Friday to Sunday, July 18-20. Additional pool play will be held during event week in the two other cities.

USA qualifies for the semifinals of the NORCECA U-19 Championship - Volleyball News

The United States advanced to Saturday’s semifinals of the NORCECA Boys’ U19 Continental Championship after defeating Puerto Rico, 25-17, 25-18, 25-18 on Wednesday at the Cox Business Center.

 

Team USA finishes pool play at 2-0. Puerto Rico (1-1) will play Guatemala in Thursday’s quarterfinals. The top three finishing teams at the tournament qualify for the 2015 FIVB Boys’ U19 World Championship.

 

On Wednesday, The United States’ serving and blocking kept Puerto Rico from mounting a threat. Team USA led in blocks (12-2) and aces (9-1) as well as kills (37-26). Puerto Rico scored 24 points on U.S. errors while committing 17.

 

“I thought it was a great USA effort,” U.S. Head Coach Ken Shibuya said. “We haven’t had much time together, but I was completely excited that we were able to do the things we have been working on. Every time we step on the court we are getting better.”

 

One negative aspect of the match for the U.S. was an injury to setter Josh Tuaniga, who hurt his hand in the third set. His status for the semifinals is not known.

 

Jordan Ewert led the U.S. in scoring with 11 points on six kills, a match-high four blocks and one ace. T.J. DeFalco added 10 points on eight attacks, one block and one ace.

 

Puerto Rico Team Captain Luis Ocasio led his team with 11 points on 10 kills and one block. Yadiel Nadal added eight points on eight kills.

 

“We gave 100 percent and we played well,” Puerto Rico Captain Luis Ocasio said. “But it was a tough match and we needed to play even better to win.”

 

The closest set was the second as Puerto Rico was leading 11-9 before the U.S. came back to tie it at 12-12 and took the 13-12 lead on a kill by Micah Ma’a. The U.S. increased the lead to 16-13 at the second technical timeout and Puerto Rico didn’t respond

Former Italian star Zorzi have his say about National Volleyball Team

Former Italian volleyball star Andrea Zorzi thinks Italy are looking good to win the FIVB World League on current form, and warns that Iran may have missed their chance to qualify after running Russia close on Wednesday in his latest video blog.

“USA were unpredictably dominated by Italy, and the home side can win with the skills of Zaytsev and Kovar,” he says. “The USA attack was average, not good enough to win.” 

Iran, meanwhile will have to beat Brazil on Friday to get through. “Iran were in control at the end of set four, but Russia eventually won quite easily. Ghafour performed really well for Iran, but Brazil are a better side now than when Iran beat them.”

Karla Borger and Britta Büthe of Germany remain unbeaten in Pool D

Karla Borger and Britta Büthe of Germany kept the hopes up for the home fans in the Pool Play of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Berlin smart Grand Slam, which is currently underway.

Photo credit: FIVB

Borge and Büthe took on Italy’s Marta Menegatti/ Viktoria Orsi Toth on Thursday. The home duo had the advantage of local fans and familiar conditions, which enabled them to win against visiting Italian team 2-0 (21-17, 21-12).  The Germans completed the winning streak of three matches and finished the round robin as top team in the pool D.

However, the  two other German teams couldn't make their mark and finished last in their pool.

“I was a bit surprised that we won this match with these numbers, especially the difference in the second set, because it did not feel like that”, said Borger.

“We made many mistakes. I had some aces, but also a lot of mistakes in service, served a lot without pressure. So I think we have to work on some stuff. They stopped playing, maybe because we had some lucky balls, in, out, touching the net. I think t
hat took them a little bit out of the game.”

Ross-Walsh aim for Gold at the Berlin smart Grand Slam - Beach Volleyball

The US pairing of April Ross and Kerri Walsh secured the top position at the Moscow Grand Slam last week. In the next run, the duo seems right on track for another gold medal in the ongoing Berlin Smart Grand Slam.

They finished the final round robin match in straight sets and defeated Australia’s Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy 2-0 (21-15, 21-15). 

April Ross - FIVB Photo Gallery

In the pool matches, April Ross/ Kerri Walsh completely white-washed and finished on the top level. They received a a forfeit from fellow Americans Pavlik/Fopma in their opening pool match and scored  2-0 (21-12, 25-23) win over Polish team Brzostek/Kolosinka on Wednesday. 

The winning American duo successfully advance to the second knockout round unbeaten. 

The Berlin smart Grand Slam continues on Friday with the final pool round and first knockout round for the men and the first and second elimination rounds for the women.

Berlin is hosting a FIVB World Tour women’s event for the 9th time and a men’s event for the 15th time. After the $800.000 Berlin smart Grand Slam the FIVB World Tour continues its seven-event swing through Europe.

There are three more double-gender FIVB Grand Slams on the European continent: the FIVB Stavanger Grand Slam in Norway (June 24-28), the FIVB Gstaad Grand Slam in Switzerland (July 8-13) and finally the FIVB Transavia Grand Slam, played in three different cities in the Netherlands (July 15-20), but based in The Hague.

Colombia Women’s Volleyball Team secures spot in 2015 FIVB World Grand Prix

Maria Alejandra Marin

Women’s volleyball squads from Colombia and Peru came into contest on Tuesday, June 17, 2014. Colombian girls hammered Peru 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-20). The victory enabled Colombia to secure a spot in next year’s FIVB World Grand Prix.

It will be the first time ever that Colombia will join the Grand Prix. Moreover, the team will also play for the seventh position at the XIII Women’s Volleyball Pan American Cup at Carlos Martinez Balmori Multisport Hall of Autonomous State University of Hidalgo.

In the past, Colombia participated in the cup twice. The team had finished eleventh in 2012 and 9th in 2013. On the other hand, Peruvian team took part in eight tournaments with a silver medal in 2010 but an eighth place in 2013.

Brazilian Mauro Marasciulo, coach of Colombia, expressed great joy after the first ever victory of Colombia over Peru in an international senior tournament.

 “The Federation is making a sacrifice and a great work to develop the girls who last year qualified to the U-20 world championship and now to the Grand Prix. The future is in their hands.”

An elated Maria Alejandra Marin, captain of Colombia, said: “We are happy because to win the right to go to the Grand Prix is something unprecedented for us. We know Peru is a tough rival and we were studying them and got the win.”’

Natalia Malaga, coach of Peru: “The satisfaction is for the team with the best result and Peru didn’t play in spite of being the team with the higher level. But unfortunately, putting aside the technical part, my players didn’t show the personal part and their attitude was bad, something that disappointed me.”

Shoulder injury forces Diana Malinova to withdraw - Beach Volleyball News

Photo credit: FIVB

Bulgaria's reigning national champion and former Balkan champion Diana Malinova withdrew from the Final Four matches of the last National Beach Volleyball Tour event in Kazanlak two weeks ago.She sustained a shoulder injury, which forced her to take a break from the game. Hence, Diana Malinova and her partner Rusena Slancheva will stay off the court unless her recovery.

She is considered one of the most decorated female beach volleyball players in Bulgaria. She will have to miss the 1st Round of the 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup, where the southern European country hosts the battles in Pool G this coming weekend in Kardzhali.

For the upcoming matches in Pool G, where Bulgaria is in the company of Albania, Finland and Serbia, Diana Malinova will be replaced by Irena Mishonova as Rusena Slancheva’s teammate.

“I feel strong pain in my shoulder, which does not allow me to take part in this important tournament,” Malinova explained.  “I hope to recover and return to the court as fast as possible.  I wish the girls the best of luck in this competition.  I really hope to be part of the national team again soon…”

FIVB World League Group 3 Semifinal schedule announced - Volleyball News

The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has recently announced the semifinal schedule for Group 3 of the World League. The news was released from the FIVB headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

According to the schedule, teams from Cuba and China will contest their skills in the first semifinal on 28th June. The Bursa Cengiz Gollu Volleyball Hall in Turkey will provide the backdrop for the match.

Next up, home team Turkey will take on Slovakia in the second semifinal.

The 2014 edition of the FIVB World League will feature a total of 28 teams, which will be divided into three groups, with Group 3 consisting of Pools F and G, both with four teams each.

The round-robin play of the tournament was played in the first two weeks of this month. As a result, Cuba won Pool F with a 5-1 record, whereas Turks were second with a 4-2 record. Mexico (2-4) were third and Tunisia (1-5) fourth.

Nonetheless, Turkey is already confirmed for the Final Four for being the hosts of the competition. It means the second-placed team in Pool G would take the final spot.

On the other hand, China topped Pool G with a 5-1 record, followed by Slovakia (3-3), Spain (2-4) and Puerto Rico (2-4). Slovakia qualified as the best second-placed team.

The Final Four for Pools C, D and E will take place on the weekend of July 11-13, with the winner there advancing to the Final Six for Pools A and B from July 16 to 20.

VCP Beach Volleyball Grassroots course held in Zimbabwe

In the recent memory, the capital of Zimbabwe hosted a VCP Beach Volleyball Grassroots course. The city of Harare served a great host to the attendees of the course. The course completed it run from June 10 to 14.

The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) sent Yaniv Norman, an experienced instructor, to supervise the activity. Mr. E.K. Kondo, the 2nd Vice President of the Zimbabwe Volleyball Federation also played an influential role in conduction the course.

Around 25 participants from all over the country showed up and benefitted from the opportunity. Everyone seemed kind of motivated and showed great interest. The participants learned both the theoretical and practical aspects of the course. 

The participants were mainly physical education teachers and volleyball coaches, and for most of them, it was their first experience of beach volleyball. On the final day of the course, a beach volleyball tournament was organized in order to implement some of the topics that had been taught. This allowed the participants to apply their playing, refereeing and organizing skills to game situations. 

The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Berlin smart Grand Slam kicks off

The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Berlin smart Grand Slam is just around the corner. The tournament is scheduled to start off on Tuesday, June 17 and the Beach Volleyball madness will be continued till 22^nd June.

The world’s best beach volleyball teams have headed to Germany this week to showcase their mesmerizing skills on the centre court. The city centre, at the Washingtonplatz is ready to host the thrilling competition.

“We have the best beach volleyball players in the world coming here, in one of the most beautiful cities, and an amazing venue. This will be a world class event for both players and spectators.”

Teams from Germany will have a great edge over outsiders as they will get huge support from local fans. However, there will be world’s finest players and it will be great to see the matches.

 “Our sport becomes more and more popular and has the attention of a lot of people”, said Matisik, who won bronze at the World Championships with Jonathan Erdmann last year. “Playing beach volleyball in the heart of Berlin and near the government quarters will be a special experience for all of us athletes.”

Last year’s silver medallist Katrin Holtwick: “I wouldn’t say no to first place this time. Supported by our home crowd we will try to deliver a similar performance. Holtwick and her partner Ilka Semmler lost the final last year to Brazil’s Talita Antunes and Taiana Lima.

Watch out for your favourite players and teams. Cheers

Melissa Humana-Paredes and Taylor Pischke settle for bronze

It is the second year in a row that Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Taylor Pischke ended up third in the competition. They won the bronze medal at FIVB
U23 World Championship on Sunday, while playing at Myslowice, Poland.

Australia defeated the Canadian side in the semifinal on Saturday. However, the pairing of Humana-Paredes and Taylor Pischke came back with a 2-1 (21-18, 14-21, 15-10) win over Finland’s Taru Lahti and Anniina Parkkinen in the third position match.

 Pischke: “To be honest it was pretty tough to come out and bounce back and play that third place match, cause obviously we did not want to be there. It was a tough loss against Australia. We had a lot of chances to win that one.” 

After coming out strong against Finland, the Canadian girls let loose a little in the second set and the Finish girls took their chances to win it. In the tiebreak Humana-Paredes and Pischke got their act together and claimed third place after all. 

“It was important we came back and won the bronze”, said Pischke. “Not the colour we wanted, but a medal is a medal and we are happy.”

Australia’s Laird/Artacho earn gold at the FIVB Beach Volleyball U23 World Championships

The dynamic and charismatic pairing to Nicole Laird and Mariafe Artacho from Australia put up great show on the sands of Myslowice, Poland. The Aussies posted 2-1 (21-19, 17-21, 15-7) victory over  USA’s Lara Dykstra/ Jace Pardon in the final showdown of the FIVB Beach Volleyball U23 World  Championships.

The winning duo settled for gold and received great amount of applause from fans all over the world. The American team played a clever game with cuts and dinks around Laird’s big block and pushed the Australians to the limit.

“We knew it was going to be tough, USA always comes to play”, said Artacho, who added a second medal to her bronze at the Junior World Champs in 2012. “They are very competitive, we knew it was going to be a three-setter.”

USA fought back strong after dropping the opening set and pushed the match into a tiebreak. “We dropped concentration a bit, made a few errors”, said Laird about the second set. “But USA leapt into the game as well. All credit where there is credit due. But we were prepared for a long game.”

With strong serving and placed attacks down the line Artacho made the difference in the third set. At the first Australian set point Laird scored the winning point with her serve.

“Mariafe has a little bit of magic in her back pocket”, said Laird about her partner. “She’s had that her whole volleyball career and I never get stressed in the back of the sets, because I feel save that she will pull something out. It was a fight, but we got back.” 

Australia downs Canada to move to the finals of FIVB Beach Volleyball U23 World Championships

What a terrific performance by the Australian duo Nicole Laird and Mariafe Artacho defeated, who managed to beat last year’s bronze medalists Melissa Humana-Paredes and Taylor Pischke on Sunday.

They posted 2-1(18-21, 22-20, 15-9) and secured berth in the final showdown of the FIVB Beach Volleyball U23 World Championships.

The Aussies put up a great effort and proved to be better in the game.  They dropped the first set but came up with a better strategy in the following two sets. Canadian duo attacked from different sides but failed to return in the game.

“It feels a bit unreal”, said Laird, who will play her first medal match ever. “There was nothing to lose at the end of the second. I thought we might as well find a way to win and it paid off.”

Artacho already won bronze at the Junior World Championships in 2012, but this will be her first final too. “It’s amazing”, she said. “It’s an amazing experience, and we are going all the way now. I did not even remember we were behind in the second. For us it was just take it to the end, to the last whistle. So we were patient, just one at a time and stuck together.”

Iran hammers Brazil in the FIVB World League match

Brazilian and Iranian men's volleyball squads battled out their skills in Pool A of the FIVB World League on Friday. The latter proved to be better and sent Brazil to defeat in a five-set thriller 3-2 (18-25, 27-25, 20-25, 25-17, 15-9).

Iran lost their opening Pool A match against Brazil 3-2 in Brazil last week before routing the Olympic silver medallists 3-0 in their second match. On home turf in Tehran on Friday, the Iranians recovered from 0-1 and 1-2 to edge the Brazilians 3-2 (18-25, 27-25, 20-25, 25-17, 15-9). The local fans supported the team and backed up with screams and shouts.

“Most volleyball experts described Iran as the weakest team in the World League, but the reality is something different,” Iran captain Saeid Marouf said. "We have always been backed by the fans, who double our motivation to win, even against the world champions Brazil. I believe the engines of volleyball in Iran are working very well.”

Canada celebrates 3-0 win over Cuba in Women's Pan American Cup - Volleyball News

The dynamic women's volleyball team from Canada had an impressive 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-21) victory over Cuban counterparts. The vicotry improved Canada to 3-0 in Pool A. The Mexico city hosted the match on Friday.

Canada's Kyla Richey and Lisa Barclay showed impressive performance and added 11 and 10 points, respectively. They were the top-scorers from Canadian side, while Lucille Charuk and Marissa Field each added eight tallies. Field had 3 blocks to lead Canada to a 6-3 margin in the blocking category.

Cuban Melissa Vargas put a great effort as she concluded with a match-high 20 points in the losing cause.

In the next run, Canada is scheduled to meet host Mexico on Saturday. The team spirits are high, but Mexico is likely to give Canada a tough competition.