Field for Final 6 of 2017 FIVB World Grand Prix is Set

  0 Braden Keith | July 23rd, 2017 | Asian Volleyball, Brazilian Volleyball, European volleyball, FIVB World Grand Prix, International Volleyball, News, NORCECA volleyball, South American Volleyball, U.S. Men's National Team

2017 FIVB VOLLEYBALL WORLD GRAND PRIX

  • Group 1
  • July 7th – August 6th
  • FIVB World Grand Prix Round 1
  • Schedule/Results

The field for the Final 6 of the 2017 FIVB World Grand Prix has been set. Serbia, the United States, Brazil, Netherlands, Italy, and the hosts China will advance to Nanjing.

Final Group 1 Preliminary Standings:

Matches Pts Sets Points
Rank Team W L W L Ratio W L Ratio
1  Serbia 7 2 22 23 8 2.875 735 621 1.184
2  United States 6 3 19 23 14 1.643 843 778 1.084
3  Brazil 6 3 18 20 13 1.538 765 702 1.090
4  Netherlands 6 3 17 22 13 1.692 781 736 1.061
5  Italy 6 3 16 19 14 1.357 748 720 1.039
6  Japan 6 3 13 20 20 1.000 868 876 0.991
7  China 5 4 13 17 19 0.895 818 838 0.976
8  Dominican Republic 4 5 11 15 21 0.714 782 808 0.968
9  Russia 3 6 13 17 20 0.850 801 830 0.965
10  Thailand 3 6 11 16 18 0.889 726 751 0.967
11  Turkey 2 7 7 11 22 0.500 696 780 0.892
12  Belgium 0 9 2 6 27 0.222 659 782 0.843

After a week off, the teams will be split into two pools, J1 and K1, of 3 teams each. Each team will play the other two teams in their pool once each, and the top two teams from each pool will advance to the semi-finals. Unlike in the preliminary intercontinental rounds, the Final 6 will compare teams only to those in their pool to determine who advances.

The Final 6 will be almost identical to last year. The only differences are that Italy has qualified instead of Russia, and Serbia has qualified as well (exchanging for Thailand, who was the host and automatically qualified for last year’s Final 6). If it weren’t for Thailand’s automatic qualification, Serbia would have qualified for last year’s Final 6.

Pool J1 on paper is the toughest of the groups. China are the defending Olympic Champions, and while they were only 7th in preliminary play, they rested their Olympic MVP and captain Zhu Ting for much of the opening pools, which resulted in losses where they might have otherwise won. Brazil are the defending World League champions, and after a slow start to the tournament (they went 3-3 in the first two weeks of play), they roared home to a final-weekend sweep. A young team that gelled in their first major tournament together picked up all 9 points against Belgium, the Netherlands, and the USA.

The Dutch are the peculiar team here. They were 5-1 in the first two weeks of play, but then limped into the final by losing 3-1 to the USA, 3-1 to Brazil, and being one rotation away from losing to Belgium, though they ultimately won 3-2. That point was one of only 2 won by Belgium in their 9 matches.

Meanwhile, Pool K1 features Serbia, who have the hot hand; the United States, who are a shall of their Olympic bronze medal team but have been playing some of the best volleyball of any team in the tournament; and Italy, who feature Paola Egonu, the leading scorer in group 1 through the finish of preliminary play.

Pool J1

Matches Pts Sets Points
Rank Team W L W L Ratio W L Ratio
1  China 0 0 0 0 0 MAX 0 0 MAX
1  Brazil 0 0 0 0 0 MAX 0 0 MAX
1  Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 MAX 0 0 MAX
Date Time Score Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5 Total Report
2 Aug 15:00 China   Netherlands
3 Aug 15:00 Brazil   Netherlands
4 Aug 15:00 China   Brazil
Pool K1
Matches Pts Sets Points
Rank Team W L W L Ratio W L Ratio
1  Serbia 0 0 0 0 0 MAX 0 0 MAX
1  United States 0 0 0 0 0 MAX 0 0 MAX
1  Italy 0 0 0 0 0 MAX 0 0 MAX
Date Time Score Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5 Total Report
2 Aug 19:30 Serbia   Italy
3 Aug 19:30 United States   Italy
4 Aug 19:30 Serbia   United States

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About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of VolleyMob.com. Braden's first foray into sports journalism came in 2010, when he launched a swimming website called The Swimmers' Circle. Two years later, he joined SwimSwam.com as a co-founder. Long huge fans of volleyball, when Braden and the SwimSwam partners sought an opportunity to …

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