France made quick work of Canada, while Belgium edge Italy in four sets. All four teams are 1-1 after two days of play, although France and Belgium are at the top with four points apiece. Belgium stays in the race for the Final Six and will face France on Sunday, while Italy will play Canada will only pride on the line.
France 3, Canada 0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-21)
France cruised to the sweep of Canada, while Stephen Boyer dominated the stats sheet with 25 points, including 24 kills. France put down 49 kills and served up seven aces, while limiting Canada to 29 kills and one ace. The Canadians did win the battle at the net, outblocking the French 6-3.
Boyer, who continues to lead World League scoring with 151 points in his eight matches, helped France to a 14-10 edge in the opening set, then his team finished off the stanza on a 7-0 run. The Canadians boasted an early 5-3 lead in Set 2, only to see it slip away as the French service game and their own miscues gave France the 25-15 win. France built an 18-12 lead in Set 3 and never looked back in closing out the 25-21 win.
“My team played very well today: almost without mistakes, very intelligent,” French coach Laurent Tillie said. “This team is a perfect mix of young players and experienced players. Yesterday I was not happy at all, but today I have to compliment my team. Especially Stephen Boyer was outstanding.”
Aiding Boyer in the attack for France were Trevor Clevenot andJulien Lyneel, with 10 and nine points respectively.
Stephen Maar paced Canada with 12 points, but the side struggled to land offensive attacks thanks to a stout French defense. Sharone Vernon-Evans added eight points, including seven kills.
“France played a very well organized game, they never gave us the opportunity to execute our own game plan,” Maar said. “Luckily we still have chances to qualify for the Final 6. We want to secure that berth as quickly as possible tomorrow against Italy.”
Belgium 3, Italy 1 (25-22, 26-24, 25-27, 25-16)
Belgium squeaked past Italy in four sets on Saturday. The Italians pounded down 61 kills, but gave up 37 points on errors in the loss. Belgium used 46 kills, 12 blocks and six aces to grab the victory.
After a 14-14 tie in Set 1, Italian miscues began to pile up and gave Belgium the 20-18 lead en route to the 24-22 win. Italy led Set 2 nearly throughout, going ahead 22-18, only to see the lead slip away as Belgium score four straight and carried the momentum to a 26-24 victory.
Belgium had a chance to close out the match in three sets as it led 25-24, but Italy prevailed after Luca Vettori saved match point with a key block. The Belgians took out their aggression, cruising to the final set victory after going up 15-13 and following with seven straight points.
Bram Van Den Dries racked up 20 points, including 16 kills, to pace the Belgians. Sam Deroo and Simon Van De Voorde also tallied double-digit point totals with 14 and 10. Deroo added 12 kills, while Van De Voorde managed six kills, three blocks and an ace.
Vettori managed a match-high 22 points, with 20 kills, but it was not enough for the Italian side. Iacopo Botto added 14 points, including 13 kills.
2017 FIVB World Tour – Tangshan Open
· June 17-18, 2017
· Jiangning, Nanjing, China
· Schedule/Results
In a busy weekend in FIVB World Tour action, events were held in Hague, Netherlands; Jiangning, Nanjing, China; and Monaco.
At the Tangshan Two-Star for women, China’s Shuhui Wen and Xinyi Xia, Lithuania’s Ieva Dumbauskaite and Monika Poviliatyte, Czech Republic’s Martina Bonnerova and Sarka Nakladalova and Americans Kelly Larsen and Betsi Flint advanced through the first three rounds to Sunday’s semifinals.
Wen/Xia face Dubmauskaite/Poviliatyte in Sunday’s semifinals, while Bonnerova/Nakladalova takes on Larsen/Flint. Bonnerova/Nakladalova look to make their second final of the season, after finishing second at the Lankawi One-Star. The other three teams are making their 2017 FIVB Tour semifinal debut.
Wen/Xia made their way to the semis with sweeps of Thailand’s Rumpaipruet Numwong/Khanittha Hongpak (21-19, 21-12) and Canadians Megan Nagy/Marie-Christine Lapoint (21-9, 21-14) and a quarterfinal win over countrywomen and heavily favored Fan Wang/ Yuan Yue (13-21, 21-17, 15-11).
Dumbauskaite/Poviliatyte downed Japan’s Sayaka Mizoe/Suzuka Hashimoto 18-21, 21-12, 15-13 in the Round of 16 and topped Vanuatu’s Loti Joe/Linline Matauatu 21-13, 21-13 in the quarters. The Tangshan Open marks the Lithuanian side’s first FIVB World Tour of the season.
“We knew that the number one player from Vanuatu (Loti Joe) is really strong, she has a lot of experience,” Dumbauskaite said. “So we came to the court really focused and we talked with each other that we have to fight for each point, it doesn’t matter the result and we are really happy. We are in an FIVB tournament top four which is amazing for us.”
Bonnerova/Nakladalova topped Russians Yulia Abalakina/Ksenia Dabizha 21-19, 21-18 in the round of 24 and China’s Xinxin Wang/Chen Xue 21-19, 21-19 in the round of 16. The duo then defeated Americans Emily Stockman/Kimberly Dicello in the quarterfinals, 21-19, 21-15.
Larsen/Flint won all three of their matches in straight sets, notching a 21-7, 21-11 win over China’s Jing Wang/Jiaxi Wang; downing Japan’s Miki Ishii/Negynu Murakami 22-20, 21-15 and topping Thailand’s Varapatsorn Radarong/Tanarattha Udomchavee 21-15, 21-18 in the quarters
The first two rounds of the Main Draw of the Women’s One Star Monaco stop on the FIVB World Tour were played on Saturday, setting up semifinals action and podium matches on Sunday.
The women’s only $10,000 FIVB Monaco One-Star is the 10th women’s event on the FIVB World Tour and marks the first time a FIVB beach volleyball event has been staged in the city.
Thirty teams from 21 countries were on the entry list. Italy and Germany each boast three teams, while the United States, Slovenia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Denmark feature two apiece. Also in the field are teams from Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Israel, Japan, Norway, Scotland, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Sweden and Switzerland.
There will be a new champion crowned as Germans Kim Behrens and Anni Schumacher, Greeks Panagiota Karagkouni and Konstantina Tsopoulou, New Zealanders Shaunna Marie Polley and Kelsie Wills and Brazilians Juliana Da Silva and Carol Horta advanced through to the semifinals with 2-0 marks.
Behrens/Schumacher made the final of the Shepparton One-Star in March, but fell to Canada’s Gordon/Saxton in the championship match. The duo finished fourth at the Sydney Two-Star.
The Monaco One Star marks the FIVB Tour debut for Polley/Wills, while Juliana/Carol are making their first semifinal appearance since teaming up at the beginning of the season. Horta made the semis of the Xiamen Three Star with Maria Antonelli in April.
Behrens/Schumacher played in the day’s opening match, downing the Israeli team of Sofia Starikov and Yael Yellin 2-0 (21-9, 21-9). Later in the day, they made quick work of Japan’s Azusa Futami and Akiko Hasegawa 2-0 (21-10, 21-14).
Karagkouni/Tsopoulou made their way to Sunday’s action with straight set wins over Tadva Yoken and Sigrid Simonsson of Sweden (21-11, 21-15) and Serbia’s Tijana Basic and Milena Matic (21-14, 21-15).
Polley/Wills topped Laura Giombini and Agata Zuccarelli of Italy 21-16, 19-21, 17-15 and Denmark’s Line Trans and Maria Tyndeskov 21-19, 21-17 to move on.
Juliana/Carol edged Americans Lara Dykstra and Jace Pardon 16-21, 24-22, 15-11 in the first round and made it past the French team of Margaux Carrere and Alexia Richard 21-15, 14-21, 15-9 in the second.
Sunday’s first semifinal pits Behrens/Schumacher against Karagkouni/Tsopoulou. The second features Juliana/Carol vs. Polley and Wills.
Japan edged out Turkey in a back-and-forth five-setter, while China downed Australia in four sets on Day 2 of Pool G2 action.
The victory puts China alone at the top of the group at 2-0, building on its Friday sweep of Turkey. Meanwhile Australia and Japan now stand at 1-1.
Japan 3, Turkey 2 (22-25, 25-12, 22-25, 25-19, 15-12) Yuki Ishikawa downed 21 kills, while Masahiro Yanagida served up five aces and added 12 kills to lift Japan over Turkey on Saturday. The Japanese managed eight aces in the match, while also adding 61 kills and seven blocks. Turkey tallied 52 kills, 12 blocks and four aces, but gave Japan 33 points on errors.
“One of the reasons of the win today is serving, it worked well today,” Japanese coach Nakagaichi Yuichi said. “But we also made lots of easy mistakes; we have to practice after the match.”
Set 1 was a back-and-forth affair as Japan led 16-15 at the midway point and Turkey rallied for a 19-16 lead and the 25-23 win. In Set 2, Japan cruised to a 16-8 advantage in a 25-12 drubbing. Set 3 saw Turkey lead 13-11, but Japan take a late 19-17 edge. The teams tied at 21 before an ace by Mert Matic and a few Japanese miscues gave Turkey the 25-22 win.
In Set 4, Turkey built an early 6-3 lead and boasted a 12-10 advantage midway through, but Japan used its offensive firepower to grab a 21-17 edge, before wrapping up the 25-19 win with two aces by Issei Otake.
Japan took a 10-7 lead in the decisive fifth set and held off a late Turkish charge for the win. Turkey was within one at 11-10, prompting a Japanese timeout, but it was not enough.
Serhat Coskun tallied a match-high 26 points, with 22 kills and four blocks. Matic added 18 points, with 14 kills and four blocks.
“Congratulations to Japan,” Turkey coach Joshko Milenkoski said. “We changed a little today; we started with new opposite and middle blockers. We started well today, we had chance to win, but Japan started to serving well. They had amazing serves, which caused us big problem. We did good in blocks but made too many mistakes. However, I am satisfied with the team because some of the players were playing their first game, I think they played well.”
China 3, Australia 1 (17-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-17)
A few points here and there were the difference in the match between the host Chinese and Australia on Saturday. China tallied one more kill (49-48), three more blocks (10-7), two more aces (5-3) and got help from two more miscues (28-26) in a close four-set match.
Australia scored five straight to stretch a 16-15 advantage to six at 21-15 en route to a 25-17 Set 1 win. China bounced back to take an 11-7 lead in Set 2. Australia tied it up at 13 but could not break through. Set 3 was tied 15-all at the midway point and again at 20-all late, but a kill by Chuan Jiang was the final dagger in a 25-23 Japanese win. Australia fell behind 14-7 in Set 4 and never recovered as Libin Liu heated up down the stretch in the 25-17 victory.
Jiang led all hitters with 23 points, including 18 kills and four aces. Liu (15) and Daoshuai Ji (14) also posted double-digit points efforts. Ji managed 13 kills, while Liu scored 12 kills and three blocks. Lincoln Alexander Williams led Australia with 19 points, including 16 kills and two aces. Samuel Walker (13) and Beau Graham (10) followed.
Slovenia downed home-standing Egypt in a hotly contested sweep, with each set decided by just two points and the second building to a 39-37 score, while Portugal managed a four-set win over Finland to start Pool H2 play on Friday.
Portugal 3, Finland 1 (20-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-22)
Portugal served up 14 aces in the match, while Finland countered with 13 blocks in a slim decision which the Portuguese won 95-88 on points.
Portugal managed 49 kills, four blocks and 14 aces, while their Finnish counterparts put up 45 kills, 13 blocks and two aces.
“Our performance in the last matches was not good and we needed this win to promote our confidence,” Portuguese coach Hugo Silva said. “Tomorrow’s match against Egypt is a crucial match – who will win, will continue in the Group 2.”
Finland used its block to get ahead in Set 1 then turned to Urpo Sivula for some offense en route to the 25-20 win. A strong service game lifted Portugal to the 25-22 Set 2 victory. After an early tie at 6-all, Portugal built a 16-11 lead in Set 3 and never looked back in a 25-19 as Finland continued to struggle with reception and defense. The final stanza was back and forth until Portugal got two kills fromValdir Sequeira to go up 21-20 and held on for the 25-22 win.
Sequeira led the way for Portugal with 19 points, including 12 kills and six aces, while Alexandre Ferreira followed with 17 points, a match-high 15 kills and two aces. Lourenco Martins added 12 points, including 10 kills, while Phelipe Martins chipped in nine points, with a team-leading three blocks.
Three Finnish players managed double-digit point totals: Sivula (14), Jan Helenius (12) andElviss Krastins (10). Sivula put down 12 kills and added two aces, while Helenius registered 10 kills. Tommi Siirila tallied a team-best four blocks.
Our serves and reception were not good and Portugal was better than us,” Finland coach Tuomas Sammeluvo said. “We had some crucial moments in the third and fourth set, we could fight against them but we didn’t profit from these moments and we lost.
Slovenia 3, Egypt 0 (25-23, 39-37, 25-23)
Egypt put up quite a fight, but fell just short in each stanza against a tough Slovenian team. It was miscues that did the Egyptians in, as they committed 29 while receiving help from just 22 from their foes. The rest of the stat sheet was fairly even with Slovenia winning the offensive battle (47-45), the teams tied in blocks (8 apiece) and Egypt winning from the service line (8-5).
Egypt trailed 7-2 at the start of the match, but rallied to within two at 17-15 en route to a 18-all tie and eventually a 21-20 advantage. Slovenia took back the lead at 23-22 and held on for the win.
Egypt took a two-point lead at 6-4 but Slovenia caught up at 9-all before going ahead 18-13 after a series of Egyptian miscues. The home side bounced back to catch up at 18-18 and eventually earn set-point chances at 24-23 and 26-25. A kill by Mitja Gasparini, however, grabbed Slovenia the 39-37 win.
Slovenia built a 14-10 lead in Set 3, but Egypt rallied to knot the score at 16. The teams tied several times down the stretch and Egypt took a 22-21 lead on a block. The comeback was not to be, however, as Slovenia closed out the stanza with a 4-1 run.
Gasparini and Tine Urnaut paced the Slovenian attack with 18 and 15 points respectively. Gasparini managed 17 kills and a block, while Urnaut followed with 12 kills and three aces.
Ahmed Abdelhay put up a match-high 23 points, including 19 kills, two blocks and two aces for Egypt. Omar Hassan and Ahmed Shafik added 11 points apiece, including Hassan’s team-best three blocks.
Kyle Russell, a member of the U.S. Men’s national “B” team has transferred from MKS Bedzin in the Polish league to Berlin Recycling Volleys in the German Bundesliga.
BR Volleys is under new leadership after hiring Australian Luke Reynolds as coach in May. Reynolds has since added three Australian players – Paul Caroll, Luke Perry and Adam White. And now another English speaker will join the side in Russell.
Russell, who played collegiately at UC Irvine, joins a roster which includes eight players from BR Volley’s Bundesliga championship team. The title marked the team’s eighth overall and second straight.
The side also finished fourth, falling to eventual champion Zenit Kazan in the semifinals and to Cucine Lube Civitanova in the bronze medal match.
BR Volleys says they will use Russell as an opposite in 2017-18 despite his ability to cover both attacking positions.
With the addition of Russell, BR Volleys’ roster is now full. Other new players to join the side are: Australian Adam White (Tours Volleyball, France); Dutch setter Daan van Haarlem (Kldano voleijbal, Czech Republic) and German middle blocker Georg Klein (VfB Friedrichshafen).
The side finished fourth, falling to eventual champion Zenit Kazan in the semifinals and to Cucine Lube Civitanova in the bronze medal match.
The team did win the German Bundesliga title in 2017, after finishing second in regular season play, topping Friedrichshafen for its eighth title and second straight.
Reynold’s former boss at Jastrzebski Weglem, Mark Lebedewowi said the silver lining is that Reynold’s departure reflects well on the club, which finished third in the Polish league playoffs.
“The work that Luke has done with us was noticed by a top European Club,” Lebedewowi said. “He is an ambitious coach.
In his final statement, Reynolds expressed gratitude for the club and high hopes for his professional future.
“To the club, the fans, players and coaches, I would like to say that I loved being a part of this club,” Reynolds said. “Coming to work every day was a great pleasure. From the happy faces, joking and hard work on the pitch and in the gym, there is no better environment or group of people to work with. That is why it was so extremely difficult to leave something so wonderful. I could only do so in the face of enormous challenges and adventure.
“To move to the Club from Berlin as the first coach is to fulfill my dream as a coach, in addition to the possibility of playing in the Champions League and continuing work to become a better trainer. This is my farewell to Jastrzebski Weglem, but I hope and keep my fingers crossed that soon we meet again, either in the framework of preseason preparations or in European competition.”
Reynolds played collegiately for the Brandon University Bobcats in Manitoba, Canada.
United States men’s national team players Kawika Shoji and Taylor Sander talk ambitions, contributions and Team USA in this back and forth interview with FIVB.
Shoji, the setter and newly-minted team captain, shares about his new responsibilities, including public speaking and press conferences, and the family atmosphere on the squad,
Sander, an outside hitter, talks about his drive to be the best he can be for his team on all sides of the ball and his time at the 2016 Olympics.
The pair, which are two of six members of the bronze medal Olympic team on the World League roster, also talk about leaving team physio Aaron Brock sleeping on the bus at the airport during this summer’s World League jaunt.
Get to know these two members of Team USA better below.
The Russian women’s national team has named its roster for the Boris Yeltsin Cup, which will take play from June 26-30 in Yekaterinburg.
The event will pit Russia against Kazakstan, Turkey, Bulgaria and Serbia.
The squad will be without Tatiana Kosheleva, Nataliya Goncharova and Ekaterina Pankova, who are being given time off to rest ahead of the European championships in September. The trio also was left off the Grand Prix roster, announced June 9.
The roster consists of three setters, nine hitters, three middle blockers and two liberos.
All 17 players are among the team’s Grand Prix roster. Middle blocker Irina Koroleva (Zaryazhko) managed 44 points for the team in European qualification, while middle Irina Fetisova added 0.82 stuffs per set.
Yana Shcherban, Korolova, Daria Malygina and Fetisova from the 2016 Olympic team are included in the potential lineup.
In a move that most coaches probably wish they could emulate, Belgian coach Vital Heynen took the microphone and interviewed himself.
He pulled no punches regarding his competitive drive, how his desire to win spills into passionate rants at his players, and his team’s upcoming match against Serbia.
The 48-year old Heynan coached Germany to fifth place at the 2012 Olympics and to a bronze medal at the 2014 FIVB World Championships, before taking over the Belgian squad in January 2016.
Belgium is 3-3 in World League play so far and faces off with Canada Friday afternoon to begin Group I1 play. Italy and France round out the group. All matches are being played in Antwerp, Belgium.
