Turks and Dutch stay unbeaten in World Grand Prix

Luxembourg, Luxembourg, August 4, 2014.  Turkey and the Netherlands are the only European teams that managed to stay unbeaten in Groups 1 and 2 of the 2014 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix after the end of the second weekend of play.

The women’s national squad of Turkey was able to overpower the strong team of Russia in the final match of the tournament in Ankara.  The home heroines pleased the crowd with a 3:2 (25-23, 29-27, 14-25, 18-25, 15-10) victory that put them at 7 points in the second place of Group 1’s standings after leader Brazil with the full plate of 9 points.

“I am very happy to finish this round with three victories,” Turkey’s coach Massimo Barbolini said.  “It was difficult to imagine before the start of the competition.  I am proud of all my players.  The game with Russia was the hardest game we played in this pool.  We played against the world and European champions.  They are changing some players, but they always have good rosters.  Ankara fans are very important for us.  I hope they continue to support us next week.  Again, strong teams are coming here next weekend.”

“We lost, but I think we played well,” Russia coach Yury Marichev commented.  “We are trying to find the optimal composition of our team.  This tournament gave me a lot of information about my players.”

Also with seven points, but from two wins and one loss, Russia is in fourth place with another European team, Serbia, in third.  The southern European side recovered from its Friday loss to Thailand to close the tournament in Hwaseong with a 3:1 (25-22, 26-24, 21-25, 25-9) victory over host Korea.  “We focused only on blocking Kim Yeon-Koung and cared less about the other aspects,” Serbia’s coach Zoran Terzic shared the recipe for victory.  “We won the game and I am looking forward to the Final Six in Japan.”

In the other match in Hwaseong on Sunday, Germany managed to hammer out its first victory in the competition.  Giovanni Guidetti’s players shut out Thailand by 3:0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-21).  “I was afraid of losing the fighting spirit of our team after two consecutive defeats,” he admitted. “Fortunately, we really wanted to win and get out of that pit.”  These first three points for the Germans place them in ninth place in the current standings.

Italy also recovered from its Friday loss to Brazil and ended its home tournament in Sassari with a 3:2 (25-18, 18-25, 25-22, 18-25, 15-10) victory over China to step into the sixth position in the table with five points, one short of fifth-placed Korea.  “This was a real team victory.  We wanted two wins and I am happy with that,” Italy’s coach Marco Bonitta commented.

In the second-tier race, the Netherlands claimed its sixth consecutive victory and secured its place in the Final Four in Poland.  The Dutch overpowered Canada by 3:2 (15-25, 25-20, 25-19, 21-25, 15-9) at the tournament in Leuven, Belgium and with 16 points, nine clear of fifth-placed Peru, which only has two victories so far, are now sure of their top four finish after the remaining matches next weekend.  “It was not expected that we would lose one point against Canada, but we never thought we could lose this game and at the end we cleared the situation with a lot of concentration,” Dutch player Judith Pietersen said.  Host Belgium shut out Argentina by 3:0 (28-26, 25-16, 25-19) in the other match in Leuven on Sunday and with 13 points in fourth place seems well on the way to qualifying for the finals.

Poland finished its participation in the other pool, in Trujillo, with a 3:2 (18-25, 25-23, 25-18, 22-25, 15-12) win against host Peru.  The organizer of Group 2’s Final Four is in third place with 14 points, trailing to second-placed Puerto Rico on set ratio.

Click here for more info on the 2014 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix.