VolleyMob’s Year in Volleyball: January 2017

As 2017 winds down, VolleyMob is taking a look back at the past year in volleyball with a month by month recap of the year that was. January began with the passing of a legend and included many personnel changes on the domestic and international stages as well as standout performances and milestone events.

• Legendary BYU men’s coach Carl McGown passed away on Dec. 30 and was laid to rest Jan. 5.
• On January 3, USA Volleyball Announced Jamie Davis As New CEO. Davis has a background in TV, retail and sports consulting.
• On January 5, Inky Ajanaku Earns 2016 Honda Sports Award for Volleyball after leading Stanford to the NCAA championship, making her eligible for the national collegiate woman athlete of the year award.
• Former beach and indoor star and current U.S. Women’s National Team coach Karch Kiraly, beach volleyball standout Misty May-Treanor were announces among 25 inaugural inductees to SoCal Hall of Fame.
• Forty-six year old Brazilian Olympian Helia Rogerio de Souza Pinto aka ‘Fofao’ ends one year retirement and accepts offer to join Spanish club Ibsa CV JAV Olimpico Gran Canaria
• On January 7, the Lewis University men’s team bested NJIT in four sets to earn head coach Dan Friend his 400th career victory.
• The first round of European qualifying for the 2017 FIVB Men’s U21 Championships wrapped up, leaving six teams still in play – Ukraine, Serbia, Bulgaria, Poland, Germany and Belgium.
• On the women’s side, seven U20 teams advanced to the second round of qualifying: Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Turkey and Croatia.
• In a unique incident, four crude bombs were found in a  volleyball court in India, mimicking a similar incident that happened stateside in June.
• After 32 years and five national titles, the most recent coming in December, Stanford’s John Dunning announced his retirement.
• In a unique twist on beach volleyball, Russia hosted the first officially recognized snow volleyball tournament in St. Petersburg.
• Just a few months after taking bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Dutch pair Alexander Brouwer and Christiaan Varenhorst won the Dutch Indoor Beach Title.
• In the first major shakeup in the men’s college ranks, Lucas Yoder led USC to upset over #3 Long Beach State in four sets.
• New Jersey’s Immaculate Heart continued its domination of the non-public group at the New Jersey state championships, bringing home their 10th straight state title.
• After leading the Brazilian men’s team to Olympic gold in Rio, head coach Bernardo Rezende announced his retirement.
• Fenerbahce took gold at the men’s Turkish Cup, its third in club history and first since 2012.
• The final round of the CEV U18 European Championships were set with 11 teams advancing.
• Scott Touzinsky, who was a member of the 2008 Olympic gold medal team from the United States, announced his retirement from the game at age 34, wrapping up his career after an injury while with Polish team Jastrzebski.
• Gatorade announced its 50 girls state players of the year, including Stephanie Samedy (Minnesota) and Madison Lilley (Kansas), who went on to star in their collegiate rookie seasons.
• With the Olympics concluded and team’s turning their attention to Tokyo 2020, the Turkish Women’s National team made a coaching change, hiring VakifBank’s Giovanni Giudetti.
• Volleyball Canada also made a change on the women’s side, naming Marcello Abbondanza, head coach of CEV Champions League bronze medalist Fenerbahce, as its new court boss.
• In a milestone move, Borhani & Giveh joined the Bulgarian club Shumen, making the duo the first women To play outside of the Islamic Republic.
• Five players transferred out of the Arizona State women’s program following the 2016 season, with the latest being Kylie Pickrell.
• The first hint of things to come from the new USA Volleyball CEO came as he announced his intent to create a domestic Professional Indoor League.
• Amongst doping allegations from the 2016 Olympics, good news came to the Russian Men’s Volleyball team, which was cleared of doping and allowed to keep its 2012 gold medal.
• As the beach season geared up, Brazil’s #2 men’s pair Evandro and Pedro Solberg announced it was splitting up.
• The Ohio State Men built on their 2016 title by extending their school record win streak to 32 matches.
• Stanford found its new head coach, hiring Illinois’ Kevin Hambly to replace John Dunnning.
• In the Indiana high school ranks, longtime Cathedral coach Jean Kesterson announced her retirement after 27 years and eight state titles.