Polish players congratulate each other following their win over Peru on Tuesday which saw them book a spot in the second round

Following Monday’s rest day, four teams joined defending champions Russia, World Grand Prix title holders USA, Olympic champions Brazil, Italy, Japan, Serbia and Korea, who had already confirmed their places in the second round on Sunday. With 11 teams through to the second round and four virtually there, only Peru and Costa Rica remain in contention for the fourth spot in Pool A.

The FIVB Women’s World Championship involves 24 teams and is played from October 29 until November 14 encompassing five cities across first and second rounds, semifinals and finals. The top four teams in the four first round (Oct. 29 - Nov. 3) pools will advance to the second round (Nov. 6 - Nov. 10) before the top six teams in the each of the two pools will advance to the semifinals (Nov. 13) and finals (Nov. 14).

Pool A in Tokyo

With FIVB Women’s World Championship 2006 bronze medalists Serbia and hosts Japan already through to the second round, it was left for Poland to beat Peru in straight sets 3-0 (25-10, 25-15, 25-16) to confirm their place in the next phase. The world No. 8 had to rely on Japan beating Costa Rica in the last match of the day which they did, repeating their 2006 World Championship victory, comfortably in straight sets (25-9, 25-13, 25-8) leaving the first match on Wednesday between Costa Rica and Peru as a virtual playoff for the fourth position in the group. “Our team is very happy that we won this game,” Poland middle blocker Milena Sadurek, who scored six points, said. “I think that our play was very, very good, in every element — serving, blocking and our attack and defence was also very good. This was a very important game for us. I’m really happy that we won.“ The first match of the day saw unbeaten Serbia repeat their straight sets win at the 2008 Olympic Games over Algeria in what was the only other match between the two nations. The 3-0 (25-15, 25-12, 25-21) result extinguished any hope Algeria had of advancing in the competition by handing the African champions their fourth defeat from as many matches.

Pool B in Hamamatsu

World Grand Champions Cup title holders Italy and Olympic champions Brazil were already through so it was left for the Netherlands to virtually sew up the third spot in the group with a comfortable 3-0 (25-8, 25-14, 25-11) win over Kenya, their third in as many matches against their African opponents. “I’m happy with the victory. It’s good that we had some opportunities to play with some different players today,” Netherlands captain Manon Flier said. “We played quite well, but made maybe too many errors in the service. It was good to see how Kenya play with a lot of joy.” The Netherlands, ranked 10^th in the world, now have two wins and two defeats and only a substantial defeat at the hands of Puerto Rico (1-3), who lost to Brazil on Tuesday 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-20) in their final first round match on Wednesday, which would represent the first defeat for the Netherlands in four matches against their NORCECA opponents, will see Puerto Rico advance. The Czech Republic, ranked 38^th in the world, also put themselves in strong contention by upsetting world No. 4 Italy 3-2 (25-27, 27-29, 25-23, 25-22, 17-15) which, with 235 points, became the highest scoring match of the competition, surpassing the 220 points between Poland and Japan on day one. With a 2-2 record and winless Kenya as opposition on Wednesday, they are heavily favoured to advance. 

Pool C in Matsumoto

Germany joined World Grand Prix champions USA, who recorded their 15^th successive victory with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-19) win over Kazakhstan on Tuesday, in the second round with a straight-sets victory (26-24, 25-18, 25-21) over Croatia, the third win from four matches for Germany, while Croatia dropped to 1-3. Margareta Kozuch carried most of the offensive load of Germany registering 19 points including one block and two serving aces. Senna Usic and Jelena Alajbeg charted 15 and 11 respectively for Croatia. “I'm very satisfied with the performance of my team because we knew that Croatia have very good individual players with a lot of experience and play at a high level, and we know they are a team that can play well in competitions such as the World Championship,” Germany coach Giovanni Guidetti said. “I also want to congratulate Kathy Weiss, who's playing a great World Championship; you know how important the setter is. She's managing the team very well and understands who is the right player at the right moment and that's something you can't teach.” Meanwhile, Cuba went a long way towards confirming their place in the second round with a 3-0 (25-19, 29-27, 27-25) win over Thailand, leaving both sides with two wins and two defeats. In their favour is their points ratio and with a final match against USA and Thailand playing Germany, Cuba will most likely need it with Croatia, one win and three defeats, expected to claim their second win of the tournament against winless Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

Pool D in Osaka

With defending champion Russia and Korea, who fought out a 3-1 (25-18, 25-17, 19-25, 25-22) win to Russia on Tuesday, already through to the second round, Turkey rallied for a five-set victory 3-2 (19-25, 20-25, 25-14, 25-17, 15-8) over Canada to become the third team from the group to advance. Superb play and a match-high 25 points from star Neslihan Darnel, the top scorer at the competition entering the match, again powered Turkey in the comeback. Sarah Pavan was the top scorer for Canada with 17 points. “Canada had their best game of the tournament, and we started off the worst of our games so far,” Turkey coach Mehmet Bedestenlioglu said. “When Korea beat China (on Sunday), our players had a new goal and we lost concentration at the start today as a result.” China became the fourth team from the group to book a second round spot after completing a (25-12, 25-21, 25-14) win over the Dominican Republic, who are eliminated along with Canada with one game to play.


Match Schedule – Nov 3

Pool Standings
Pool A (Tokyo): Japan 8, Serbia 8, Poland 6, Peru 5, Costa Rica 5, Algeria 4

Pool B (Hamamatsu): Brazil 8, Italy 7, Netherlands 6, Czech Republic 6, Puerto Rico 5, Kenya 4

Pool C (Matsumoto): USA 8, Germany 7, Thailand 6, Cuba 6, Croatia 5, Kazakhstan 4

Pool D (Osaka): Russia 8, Korea 7, Turkey 7, China 6, Dominican Republic 4, Canada 4

Highest Scorer By Day

Day 1 (1^st Rd): 28 points by Destinee Hooker (USA) in USA’s 3-1 win over Thailand in Matsumoto
Day 2 (1^st Rd): 35 points by Manon Flier (NED) in Italy’s 3-2 win over the Netherlands in Hamamatsu

Day 3 (1^st Rd): 27 points by Neslihan Darnel (TUR) in Turkey’s 3-2 win over the Dominican Republic
Day 4 (1^st Rd): 34 points by Aneta Havlickova (CZE) in Czech Republic’s 3-2 win over Italy

Highest Set Score

34-32 (CRO v CUB in Pool C) played on October 29 (Day 1) in Matsumoto. * Women’s World Championship record

Highest Scoring Matches

235 (CZE v ITA in 1^st Round) 3-2 (25-27, 27-29,         25-23, 25-22, 17-15) played on November 2 in Hamamatsu
220 (POL v JPN in 1st Round) 2-3 (28-26, 25-21, 20-25, 23-25, 12-15) played on October 29 in Tokyo
218 (NED v ITA in 1^st Round) 2-3 (25-18, 21-25, 23-25, 28-26, 12-15) played on October 30 in Hamamatsu
212 (TUR v DOM in 1^st Round)         3-2 (25-20, 25-14, 23-25, 23-25, 17-15) played on October 31 in Osaka
211 (CZE v BRA in 1^st Round) 2-3 (25-22, 22-25, 25-23, 20-25, 9-15) played on October 30 in Hamamatsu

Tournament Top Scorers

103 Neslihan Darnel (TUR)
82 Aneta Havlickova (CZE)
81 Manon Flier (NED)
76 Ekaterina Gamova (RUS)
74 Yeon-Koung Kim (KOR)

Birthdays on November 3

Lydia Maiyo (KEN) turns 22

FIVB Tournaments Coming Soon

The FIVB Club World Championships (December 14-21, 2010)  in Doha, Qatar

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships (June 17-26) Rome, Italy