After 3 weeks of intense traveling matches, we proudly present to you the 6 teams that have qualified for the 2017 FIVB Grand Prix Finals to be held in Ningbo, China from August 2nd until August 6th.
Pool A:
China
Brazil
The Netherlands
Pool B:
Serbia
USA
Italy
After a round robin format, the top 2 teams from each pool advance to the Semifinal Round.
Day 2
MATCH RESULT: Brazil 3-2 The Netherlands (25-27, 25-23, 22-25, 25-22, 15-11)
Brazil would’ve been eliminated from the Finals if they lost to The Netherlands last night. Natalia and Team already suffered a humiliating defeat in 3 sets against China 2 days ago.
The Brazilian resilience paid off in the end and gave them a win against Robin De Kruijf and Holland in 5 sets.
Tandara and Rosamaria scored 25 and 22 while Dutch outside hitter turned opposite Celeste Plak scored 28.
Is Brazil in the Final 4? Not yet. In order for Brazil to make it to the Semifinal Round, China must defeat The Netherlands regardless if it’s in 3 or 4 or 5 sets. The Dutch team winning in 5 against China may eliminate Brazil but the chances are very small.
Italy 3-1 USA (25-21, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21)
With veterans and star players like Jordan Larson, Kim Hill, Rachael Adams and Foluke Akinradewo taking a break, Coach Kiraly’s squad lost to a young but strong Italian team in 4 sets. This defeat means USA has been eliminated from the Final Round and concludes their journey in 5th place.
Italy’s scoring machine Paola Egonu was on fire scoring 32 points while left handed opposite hitter Andrew Drews scored 16 points for the American squad captained by 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Carli Lloyd.
Italy will Serbia next but both teams have qualified for the Final 4.
Day 1
Serbia 3-2 USA (25-22, 25-17, 23-25, 18-25, 15-11)
After winning the first 2 sets, Serbia lost focus and allowed Carli Lloyd and Team to win the next 2 sets. Luckily, Serbia was able to show their full power in the 5th set t clinch the match. Mihajlovic and Boskovic led Serbia with 25 and 22 points respectively. While the American squad was led by Michelle Bartsch who scored 18 points.
USA faces Italy next and must win the match in 3 or 4 sets to qualify for the Final 4. Serbia gets a day off and plays Italy the day after.
China 3-0 Brazil (25-22, 25-17, 29-27)
We really thought Brazil has picked their game after defeating Team USA last week in the final match of the Preliminary Round to qualify for the Final 6 but we were wrong. Throughout the entire match, Brazil struggled against the Chinese wall and the heavy hits of Zhu Ting who scored 16 points. The return of 2016 Olympic Champion Zhang Changning also helped China win this match in 3 sets.
Brazil faces The Dutch team tomorrow and must win this match to keep their dream to play in the Final 4 alive. Hosts China will get a day off and will return on the court on Friday against The Netherlands.
CHINA
The 2016 Olympic Champions finished 7th at the end of the preliminary round but qualifies for the Final Round as the host country. We saw a lot of new faces in the starting six including 18 year old middle blocker Yi Gao.
Team captain Zhu Ting still proves to be the team’s best scorer BUT rumor has it that another Olympic champion will rejoin the team for the Finals. She is none other than Zhang Changning.
VOLLEYWOOD PREDICTION: China will finish 4th.
SERBIA
Despite being a post Olympic year – meaning lots of veterans and star players taking a break after the Olympics – Coach Terzic is fielding his best players since day 1 of the competition. Serbia has the same starters from their 2016 Olympics team which won silver except for the missing the Maja Ognjenović.
Mihajlovic remians in near unstoppable shape and is the tourney’s Best Scorer after 3 rounds.
VOLLEYWOOD PREDICTION: Serbia will finish 1st.
USA
If outside hitter Michelle Bartsch recovers in time after tweaking her ankle, then this squad can win a medal mainly because of their winning attitude. The Americans know how to play solid volleyball which includes tough serving and effective blocking.
2016 Olympic bronze medalists Kelly Murphy and Carli Lloyd would have to step up their leadership as they guide newcomers to the team including Madison Kingdon and libero Justine Wong-Orantes.
VOLLEYWOOD PREDICTION: USA will finish 3rd.
BRAZIL
If they lost their last match yesterday against USA, Brazil would’ve failed to make it to the Finals. It’s great to see this team evolving to a much stronger team after losing their previous games to Thailand, Serbia and Japan. After experimenting with his starters, it looks like Coach ZRG has found his winning combo with Natalia, Rosamaria, Adenizia, Carol, Roberta, Tandara and Suelen/Gabi.
However, this team is still lacking that emotional leader. For a very long time, Brazilian fans were so used to seeing Fabiana, Fabi, Sheilla, Jaque, Dani Lins and Thaisa leading the team every step of the way. This current squad still needs the emotional spark plug to ignite the fire within.
VOLLEYWOOD PREDICTION: Brazil will finish 2nd.
ITALY
Throughout the preliminary round, Italy’s offense has now become a one dimensional. The team heavily relies on the performance of their 18 year old opposite hitter Paola Egonu. If she plays bad, the team struggles to win. If she plays good, then everyone else around her picks up their game.
VOLLEYWOOD PREDICTION: Italy will finish 5th/6th.
THE NETHERLANDS
If you look at the Dutch team compare to last year’s Olympic team, you will see 2 major changes. One is that they have a new coach, Jamie Morrison, and the other change is that Celeste Plak is now an opposite hitter. Lonneke Sloetjes is currently recovering from a minor surger in her knee.
We love seeing The Oranges on the court because of their fighting spirit and their winning attitude just like the American squad BUT there seems to be a missing piece when they are on the court. We’re not sure if it’s leadership or a reliable scorer when the team needs one. Our opinion is also based on the team’s performance at the World Championship Qualification Tourney when this team lost to Azerbaijan and will now compete in the last qualifying tourney. The other basis we have is that this team almost lost to win-less Belgium yesterday in an epic 5 set match.
VOLLEYWOOD PREDICTION: The Netherlands will finish 5th/6th.
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