WATCH: Full Match Replays From Day 7 of Group 1 Play

2017 FIVB World League – Group 1

June 2nd-July 8th, 2017
Event site
Event Schedule

		Matches		Pts	Sets			Points
Rank	Team	W	L	Pts	W	L	Ratio	W	L	Ratio
1	France	6	1	19	20	7	2.857	642	568	1.130
2	Serbia	6	1	17	18	8	2.250	607	566	1.072
3	Brazil	5	2	16	18	10	1.800	638	606	1.053
4	Canada	4	3	9	15	16	0.938	696	700	0.994
5	Belgium	3	4	11	15	15	1.000	654	655	0.998
6	United States	3	4	10	14	12	1.167	595	596	0.998
7	Russia	3	4	9	13	14	0.929	596	600	0.993
8	Poland	3	4	9	13	16	0.813	638	638	1.000
9	Bulgaria	3	4	8	12	17	0.706	629	659	0.954
10	Iran	3	4	7	11	17	0.647	622	644	0.966
11	Italy	2	5	6	11	17	0.647	626	650	0.963
12	Argentina	1	6	5	9	20	0.450	608	669	0.909

A topsy-turvy 2017 FIVB World League was thrown for a loop on Friday with upsets abound as Pool G1 and I1 kicked off competition. Pool H1, which includes the United States, Iran, Poland, and Russia, took a day off as teams traveled from Katowice to Lodz, where the last two sets of matches will be played.

The defending champions Serbia had what looked like an easy path to locking up their place in the Final 6 against Argentina, but the host team fought to the end. Serbia came away with a 3-2 win, which while not the clean sweep they might’ve been hoping for against the last-place team in the group, was enough to clinch their spot in the Final 6. With 6 wins, and only 2 matches to play, they are also assured of a top 3 seed for that final 6 – with the top seed still in play.

France, who were perfect through their first 6 games with 6 wins and 18 points, fell to Italy. The result wouldn’t have been a surprise were it not for recent events – where Italy struggled without many of their stars to a 1-5 World League start and where France was surprisingly dominant without their star Earvin Ngapeth. In his stead, tournament scoring leader Stephen Boyer continued his hot streak with 20 points – extending his lead and raising his average.

Ngapeth returned to the French bench on Friday, as promised by his coach, but didn’t get into the game, and France dropped a 5-setter. They’ve already clinched their spot in Rio, but the result was still a surprising one given recent results.

Elsewhere, Canada pulled a 3-2 win over Belgium to vault into 4th in the World League standings. They now play France and Italy to try and cement their spot in Curitaba for the Final 6 – and after Friday’s results, the outcome of neither of those games looks as confident as it did 24 hours ago. A 3-0 or 3-1 win in either should send Canada to the Final 6.

Day 7 Results (Thursday + Friday)

Pool G1:

Venue: Orfeo Superdomo, Córdoba, Argentina
All times are Argentina Time (UTC−03:00).
Day 1 recap

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
16 Jun	18:10	Brazil	3–0	Bulgaria	25–15	25–19	25–22			75–56	P2 P3
16 Jun	21:10	Argentina	2–3	Serbia	22–25	25–19	22–25	30–28	12–15	111–112	P2 P3

Pool H (Thursday):

Venue: Spodek, Katowice, Poland (15 June)
Venue: Atlas Arena, Łódź, Poland (17–18 June)
All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Day 1 recap

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
15 Jun	17:25	Iran	0–3	United States	17–25	22–25	28–30			67–80	P2 P3
15 Jun	20:25	Poland	0–3	Russia	22–25	17–25	21–25			60–75	P2 P3

Pool I:

Venue: Lotto Arena, Antwerp, Belgium
All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).
Day 1 recap

Date	Time		Score		Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5	Total	Report
16 Jun	17:10	Italy	3–2	France	20–25	25–21	24–26	25–20	16–14	110–106	P2 P3
16 Jun	20:10	Belgium	2–3	Canada	23–25	13–25	26–24	25–22	10–15	97–111	P2 P3