2017 WORLD GRAND CHAMPIONS CUP
- Women – September 5-9
- Men – September 12-17
- Nagoya and Osaka, Japan
- Women – Schedule/Results
- Men – Schedule
- Power Rankings
Both Team USA and France have a 1-1 record at the 2017 FIVB World Grand Champions Cup and are both looking to secure their second win at the competition.
The two teams squared away twice this summer at the FIVB World League, where France took down the Americans twice, though, at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, Team USA took the preliminary round match from the Frenchmen in four.
The test will be set for the two squads as France is missing their star player, Earvin N’gapeth, who helped France to the World League victory this year. Team USA, on the other hand, will look to bounce back from their disappointment in the finals of the World League, as they have brought back some of their senior players for the competition. Matthew Anderson, Max Holt and David Smith have looked bring up the Americans in the competition.
France has been led by Stephen Boyer, who has put down 24 points while Thibault Rossard has added another 23. Overall, the French’s output has been low at the competition, though they have only participated in three-set matches so far.
Team USA has been led by Anderson who has put down 30 points followed by Max Holt with 20. The United States has relied on the veteran players in this competition while trying to sprinkle in the younger players they used all summer. During the team’s first-day win over Japan, the squad used just the more experienced players, while against Iran they opened up the floor to the younger players like Ben Patch and Jeff Jendryk who contributed 12 points apiece in the loss.
Editor’s note: Video not made available in the United States. If you are not in the United States, but an error in YouTube’s geolocation service is still blocking your access, you can use a program like TunnelBear to redirect to the proper country.
Leave a Reply