VolleyMob Year in Review: August 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. August was jam packed with international beach volleyball on the AVP and FIVB Tours as well as in world championships, while the college season geared up.

• Cubans Nivaldo Diaz and Sergio Gonzalez bested No. 1 seeded Brazilians Alvaro Filho and Saymon Santos in three sets to top Pool A at the Beach World Championships.  The win gave the Cubans the pool title and also marked just the second time in Beach Worlds history a No. 1 seed had fallen in the preliminary rounds. The Brazilians were knocked out of the tournament just one match later in the Round of 32, falling to Dutch duo Christiaan Varenhorst and Maarten van Garderen.
• Japan won the Asian Men’s Senior Championships with four-set effort against Kazakhstan. The title was the second straight and ninth overall for the Japanese, while the silver medal matched the Kazakhs best ever finish (also 1993).
• Twenty-one collegiate players were nominated by their conferences as candidates for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.
• Italy bested the United States in four sets to secure its spot in the Women’s World Grand Prix semifinals, eliminating the Americans from the tournament, marking its first time off the podium since 2014. Italy went on to the championship match, where it fell to Brazil in five sets.
• Defending Olympic champs Kira Walkenhorst and Laura Ludwig from Germany knocked off top seeded Brazilian pair Larissa and Talita to earn their spot in the gold medal match at the Beach World Championships. The duo went on to finish off a grand slam for the year, following a European Championship, Olympic Gold and World Tour championship with the Beach Volleyball World title, defeating Americans April Ross and Lauren Fendrick in the final.
• In men’s Beach Worlds action, Brazilians Evandro Oliveira and Andre Stein spoiled the Cinderella story of Austrian hometown heroes Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst, besting the Austrians for gold in front of a sellout crowd of more than 10,000. With the win, Evandro became the youngest player ever to win a Beach Worlds title.
• As the collegiate women’s volleyball season kicked off, Texas was picked as No. 1 in the AVCA Preseason Coaches Poll, ahead of defending champions Stanford.
• The Brazilian men’s national team claimed its spot at the 2018 FIVB World Championships by winning the South American championship with a sweep of Venezuela. Iran and China secured their spots at the Asian Men’s World Qualifier.
• Bulgarian men’s national team member Spas Bayrev was given a year-long suspension for testing positive for a banned substance earlier in the year.
• Kansas outside hitter Patricia Montero suffered a season-ending ACL injury in preseason practice.
• Two-time defending European beach champions Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst of Germany saw their dream year and quest to three-peat come to an end in the event quarterfinals, falling to countrywomen Nadja Glenzke and Julia Grossner. Glenzke and Grossner went on to win a three-set affair to grab the gold medal.
• On the men’s side, Italians Nicolai and Lupo earned their third finals appearance in four years. The pair bested Latvians Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins for the gold medal.
• The Brazilian women’s national team claimed its 12^th straight South American continental championship, topping Columbia via sweep.
• Nebraska setter Kelly Hunter missed both of the team’s opening weekend matches due to injury. The Huskers were bested by No. 18 Oregon in the season opener and fell to No. 12 Florida the following day.
• Emily Day and Brittany Hochevar won their second straight AVP crown, winning the Manhattan Beach Open, besting Nicole Branagh and Brandie Wilkerson for the title. Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena dropped the first set against Trevor Crab and Sean Rosenthal, but rebounded for the win in the men’s title match.
• The first hint of a change in name and format of the World League and World Grand Prix arose.
• The opening day of the European Championships saw a record crowd of more than 65,000, but the homestanding Polish fans were sent home disappointed as Poland fell via sweep to Serbia.
• Argentina knocked off defending U23 World Champions Russia in five sets to claim the 2017 crown. It was the first ever world title for the Argentines in any volleyball competition.
• No. 12 Florida handed No. 1 Texas a loss in the season opening VERT Challenge in Gainesville in front of the second largest crowd in program history. All-American Carli Snyder notched 14 kills, 20 digs and six aces for the Gators in the upset.
• Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena closed out the FIVB World Tour with the title at the Swatch Beach Finals in Hamburg, Germany. The American pair swept World Champions Evandro and Andre of Brazil to take gold. The victory gave Dalhausser his 37^th career world tour title, which moves him into third all-time.
• After failing to defend their European Championship crown, Germans Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst bounced back by repeating as Swatch Beach World Tour champs with a three-set win over Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda ‘Duda’ Santos.
• Stanford opposite Merete Lutz missed opening weekend with injury, but the Cardinal still rolled to a 3-0 record at the Long Beach State and to the top spot in the VolleyMob and AVCA polls.
• Defending champion France was ousted from the European men’s championships.while 2015 bronze medalist Italy also made an early exit, falling in the quarterfinals.