After weeks of voting, we proudly announce the winners of Volleywood’s 2016 The BEST Awards!
Best Female Player: Zhu Ting (China)
No words needed on why Zhu is the best female volleyball player of 2016.
Most Inspiring Men’s Team: Serbia
They suffered a heartbreak when the team failed to qualify for the 2016 Olympics but reached the top of the world when they won the 2016 FIVB World League crown against eventual Olympic Champions Brazil.
Per Wiki: He had proved himself an up-and-coming star within volleyball, by achieving the Finals MVP award at the 2014-2015 Italian Volleyball League won by his team against Modena Volley. He then followed the trend up by taking the starting 7 in the national team, despite competition by players like Dragan Travica, Michele Baranowicz and Marco Falaschi.
Best Male Player: Simone Gianelli (Italia)
Per Wiki: He had proved himself an up-and-coming star within volleyball, by achieving the Finals MVP award at the 2014-2015 Italian Volleyball League won by his team against Modena Volley. He then followed the trend up by taking the starting 7 in the national team, despite competition by players like Dragan Travica, Michele Baranowicz and Marco Falaschi.
In his first year in the national team he won a silver medal at the 2015 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Cup and a bronze medal at the 2015 Men’s European Volleyball Championship, where he was also awarded the prize for best setter, the youngest in the history of the tournament.
Gianelli was one of the key players at the 2016 Rio Olympics where Italia won a silver medal. He is indeed the CHILD WONDER of the Volleyball world. Young but talented.
Most Inspiring Women’s Team: PSL F2 LOGISTICS
They didn’t win a match at the 2016 FIVB Club World Champs in Manila but Mika Aereen Reyes, Jaja Santiago, former Volleywood Idol Rachel Daquis, Yevgeniya Nyukhalova, Ekaterina Krivets, Lindsay Stalzer, Lynda Morales & Team PSL F2 Logistics Manila tried their very best against the best club teams and some of the world’s best players. From the start until the very end of the tournament, they played with their hearts out.
May we also add that local player Jaja Santiago made every Filipino fan very proud with her performance.
Best Opposite Hitter: Ivan Zaytsev (Italia)
2016 was no doubt Zaytsev’s year.
At the 2016 Olympics, he was THE MAN OF THE HOUR during the semifinal match against Team USA. Who could forget that amazing service run he did in Set 4?
After Rio, Zaytsev’s popularity in his country and all over the world just skyrocketed. He is the MOST followed Italian volleyball player on Instagram with more than 389,000 followers. Zaytsev was featured in several interviews, magazine covers and most of all inked an endorsement with Adidas.
Lifetime Achievement Awardees: Ekaterina Gamova (Russia), Antonella Del Core (Italia), Logan Tom (USA) & Sheilla Castro (Brazil)
Our generation is very lucky to have witnessed the amazing talents of these 3 women.
Gamova has won a lot of awards & medals including 2 Olympic silver medals and 2 World Championship titles.
The outside hitter is a 2 time FIVB World Cup Champion & 2 time European Champions plus several major international & professional achievements. Del Core is one of the few players in the world who has great all-around volleyball skills.
Within the last decade, Sheilla became the best in her position & has 2 Olympic gold medals plus several FIVB Grand Prix gold. She is a 2 time FIVB Grand Prix MVP.
Logan Tom, who made her Olympic debut at age 19, is a 4 time Olympian and 2 time Olympic silver medalist. The outside hitter has also won several medals and individuals awards with Team USA including 4 FIVB Grand Prix Gold medals (2001, 2010, 2011, 2012), MVP at the 2003 Grand Prix and Best Scorer at the 2008 Olympics.
She last played for Team USA at the 2012 Olympics and spent the 2015-2016 professional season in the Indonesian League. Although she has not officially announced her retirement from the sport, Logan Tom still remains as one of the best and most complete volleyball players our generation has ever seen.
Best Setter: Maja Ognjenovic (Serbia)
If you watched all of Serbia’s matches during the 2016 Olympics, Maja played an outstanding tournament from start to finish. She makes you want to become a setter because of how she does it and displays her skills. In case you didn’t know, the 32 year old is 3 time Olympian (2008, 2012, 2016) and an Olympic silver medalist.
Best Setter: Micah Christenson (USA)
At only 23 years old, Micah has already proved a lot on why he is one of the world’s best setters. He led Team USA to win gold at the 2015 FIVB World Cup which qualified them to the Olympics. In Rio, Micah and team won a bronze medal after being 2 sets down against 2012 Olympic champions Russia.
He also got married this year.
Best Opposite Hitter: Nataliya Goncharova (Russia)
There are 2 Russian players behind the team’s success in 2016. One is the explosive Tatiana Kosheleva and the other one is the silent but deadly Nataliya Goncharova. Nataliya played a huge role to qualify Russia to the 2016 Olympics. Although Russia had a disastrous quarterfinal match against Serbia, Gocharova finished the tourney as one of the best spikers and scorers. During the 2016 Grand Prix, she was (statistically) the Best Scorer, #3 Best Blocker and #7 Best Spiker of the Final Round.
At only 27 years old, the volleyball world will for sure see more of the Russian muse in the years to come.
Best Libero: Jenia Grebennikov (France)
Isn’t he the most adorable libero in the world?
Aside from his charming personality, the French libero and 2016 Olympian has well established himself as one of the best players in his position. He was named as the Best Libero at the 2015/2016 CEV Champions League and 2016 FIVB World League on top of his team bronze medal.
Best Women’s Team Head Coach: Lang Ping (China)
Each time she coaches a team in the Olympics, the legendary Lang Ping always wins a medal (Silver 1996 Atlanta, Silver 2008 Beijing & Gold 2016 Rio). She has made history with her success as a player and as coach so it’s not a surprised why volleyball fans voted for her. Lang Ping is unsure of her future. She will either retire or continue her job with the national team.
Best Outside Hitter: Zhu Ting (China)
Her superb performance at the 2015 FIVB World Cup continued up to the gold medal match at the 2016 Olympics in Rio where Zhu led China to win GOLD. She was eventually named as the Most Valuable Player of the Olympics.
Best Outside Hitter: Michal Kubiak (Poland)
He may not be a scoring machine for his team but what makes Kubiak a great teammate and a great player in his position is that he is a LEADER. His all around skills helped Poland attain a ticket to the 2016 Olympics. Michal, who currently plays in the Japanese League, was named as the MVP of the 2015/2016 season of the Turkish League.
Best Middle Blocker: Max Holt (USA)
2016 is Max Holt’s year for sure. He was recently named as USA Volleyball’s 2016 Male Indoor Player Of The Year after helping Team USA to win the bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics. The 29 year old is considered as one of the world’s best players in his position. He is currently playing in the Italian League with Modena.
Best Libero: Lin Li (China)
Under Coach Lang Ping, Lin Li improved her libero skills to help China win the gold at the 2016 Olympics. The 24 year old won the “Best Libero” award at the 2016 FIVB Grand Prix and 2016 Olympics. She had a great season with China and we should see more of her next year and in the years to come.
Best Middle Blocker: Thaisa (Brazil)
Despite a heartbreaking journey at the 2016 Olympics in front of their home fans, the 29 year old Brazilian middle blocker still has a wonderful 2016 season. She led Brazil to win the 2016 FIVB Grand Prix and was awarded as the “Second Best Middle Blocker”.
On a professional level, Thaisa & her Turkish club team, Eczacıbaşı VitrA Voleybol, won the gold medal at the 2016 Club World Championship held in Manila. 2016 is Thaisa’s first time playing abroad and she is enjoying the experience so far.
Coach Of The Year: Nikola Grbic (Serbia)
The 2000 Olympic gold medalist and former star setter of the national team he now coaches led Serbia to win its first FIVB World League crown this year. After the victory, he delivered an emotional speech during the post match conference:
“I want to congratulate my guys. All of them – my players, my staff, because they have supported me for three months, even I was sometime unsupportable. But that’s just me. I asked them to come here to the final and play like we played. I knew that we need to suffer a lot if we want to achieve it. I mean that every day we needed to practice very hard, much harder than we practiced the year before or ever. So that’s why I am saying it was hard to be with me every day. We reached the point when we practiced in the gym with 38 degrees. We managed to finish the practice after 2,5 hour and I said: you will remember this moment when we arrive there. I’m proud of the team, because they trusted me, had faith in me and followed me. I just want to say thanks.”
After failing to qualify for the 2016 Olympics at the Qualification Tournament earlier this year, Grbic’s was prepared to leave his post but the Serbian Federation gave him another chance. In the end, Grbic and Serbia ended the 2016 season with a gold medal around their necks and they also made history.
Lifetime Achievement Awardees: Antonin Rouzier (France), Reid Priddy (USA), Gavin Schmitt (Canada) & Sergio (Brazil)
He waited for a long time to finally achieve his dream to play in the Olympics. After his journey in Rio with Team Yavbou, the 30 year old shocked the world with his retirement from the national team.
With France, Antonin achieved some of the most memorable victories like winning the 2015 FIVB World League,and the 2015 European Championship. He was named as the Most Valuable Player at the 2015 FIVB World League and Best Outside Spiker at the 2016 FIVB World League.
Reid concluded his indoor career with Team USA by winning a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics. His other achievements include a gold medal at the 2008 Olympics and 2008 FIVB World League. The 39 year old may switch to beach volleyball and we may see him in his 5th Olympics in Tokyo if things go well.
Although he still remains as a professional player and currently plays in the Polish League with Resovia, Canadian scoring machine decided to end his career with the national team after the 2016 Olympics – which is perhaps one of his greatest achievements with Team Canada.
Can we safely that Brazilian libero Sergio is or was the BEST libero our generation has ever seen? He has 2 Olympics god medals, 2 World Championship crowns, 2 World Cup titles, 2 World Grand Champions Cup gold medals and 7 FIVB World League crowns plus over 40 individual awards with the Brazilian national team from 2001 – 2016.
He ended his career on a very high note and with a gold medal around his neck in front of their home fans.
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