Hiroshima, Japan, November 9, 2011 – Defending champions Italy stand alone on top of the FIVB World Cup standings with 14 points as the only unbeaten team after collecting their fifth win while previous leaders USA suffered their first defeat, going down in straight sets to Germany, in an amazing day of volleyball action in Hiroshima and Toyama on Wednesday.

With twists and turns aplenty, Italy continued their outstanding start to the 15-day competition where they have only conceded three sets with a comfortable 3-0 (25-14, 25-14, 25-15) win over Algeria, ranked 17th in the world, at the Hiroshima Sun Plaza. Coach Massimo Barbolini took the opportunity to give his entire team a run. With stars like captain Eleonora Lo Bianco and Simon Gioli resting on the bench, world No. 7 Italy were led by Sara Anzanello up front with 16 points.

“We are very happy we finished this second round undefeated,” Barbolini said. “In this match I could see my players who don’t usually play at all; they deserved this chance. Now I think we have to concentrate on the third round. It is sure to be very, very hard. I think that every match will be very difficult moving forward. Korea is strong, Brazil, Germany, Serbia as everyone knows. So we know that this round will not be easy. We have beaten Japan, China, and the Dominican Republic already, and we know it will be even more difficult. But we are ready to play; ready to win.”

But the ground breaking results came later in the day, which drew to a close round two of the competition, when world No. 9 Germany stunned the previously unbeaten USA in straight sets (32-30, 25-18, 26-24) in an absorbing encounter at Toyama City Gymnasium. After four straight defeats at the hands of the world No. 2 in all FIVB competitions, Germany turned the form book on its end, showing great resilience and stamina to clinch the match having stood toe to toe with their more fancied opponents. In the first set especially, Angelina Grun helped Germany drew level at 22-22 after USA failed to deal with one of her big serves. It was level from 22-22 to 30-30 with USA having every set point in that phase. Finally, a miraculous reaction flick from Sshuschke-Voigt that cleared the American defence handed Germany set point and the same player put her team 1-0 up on a push shot at the net. Breathtaking stuff.

It was getting tense when Germany drew level at 22-22 in the third set after Logan Tom failed to deal with a Grun shot down the middle. Ssuschke-Voigt blocked Tom to bring up match point and the American players then looked on as a Margareta Kozuch serve landed in to bring Germany a spectacular victory.

Meanwhile, Olympic champions Brazil dropped more points in Toyama as they came from behind to edge European champions Serbia 3-2 (21-25, 21-25, 25-18, 25-19, 15-12). After conceding a point in their 3-2 win against Korea on Tuesday, the world No. 1 now sits in fifth with 10 points, four points behind leaders Italy and two behind second-placed USA and China. Germany are in fourth on 11 points.
 
Earlier in Toyama, in the “Battle of the Bottom,” Korea picked up their first win of the tournament by overcoming Kenya 3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-14) and in Hiroshima, while hosts Japan were firing on all cylinders against a young Dominican Republic team winning 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-26), three-time champions China collected their fourth win from five matches after beating Argentina 3-0 (25-10, 25-18, 25-23). The world No. 6, who have won the World Cup crown in 1981, 1985 and 2003, hadn’t been at their most dominant over the opening two rounds and a true test against heavyweights USA and Brazil lies ahead but sitting in second-equal place after four matches can’t be taken away from them. The Asian champions, who also have a World Cup silver and two bronze to their name, had posted three come-from behind wins prior to the Argentina match and although they looked inconsistent at times, they weren’t in any serious doubt of registering another.

The World Cup, which offers tickets to the London Olympic Games to the three medallists, continues until November 18 after each of the 12 teams team has played each other once, offering three points for a 3-0 or 3-1 win (a 3-2 result gives two points to the winner and one to the loser). The men’s tournament follows in Japan from November 20 to December 4.

All teams now travel to their new destinations of the third round which start on Friday and consist of three matches per team over three days in Sapporo (Site A) and Okayama (Site B).

Tournament Leading Scorers
1 Bethania De La Cruz de Peña (DOM) 94 points
2 Kim Yeon-Koung (KOR) 80 points
3 Ngelina Grun (GER) 76 points  
4 Saori Kimura (JPN) 75 points
   Sheilla Castro (BRA) 75 points
 
Top Scorers by Day
November 4: 24 - Bethania De La Cruz de Peña (Dominican Republic) v Argentina
November 5: 27 - Carolina del Pilar Costagrande (Italy) v China
November 6: 24 - Saori Kimura (Japan) v China
November 8: 29 - Bethania De La Cruz de Peña (Dominican Republic) v China and Kim Yeon-Koung (Korea) v Brazil
November 9: 24 - Sheilla Castro (Brazil) v Serbia

Top Scoring Performances
29 - Bethania De La Cruz de Peña (Dominican Republic) v China on Nov 8
29 - Kim Yeon-Koung (Korea) v Brazil on Nov 8
27 - Carolina del Pilar Costagrande (Italy) v China on Nov. 5

Top Blocking Performances
7 – Foluke Akinradewo (USA) v Germany on Nov. 9

Top Service Ace Performances
7 – Paula Yamila Nizetich (Argentina) v Algeria on Nov. 6

Highest Set Score
32-20 – Germany v USA (Set 1) on Nov. 9

Highest Scoring Matches
219 – Germany beat Serbia 3-2 (25-22, 24-26, 25-23, 23-25, 15-11) on Nov. 8
211 – Italy def. China 3-2 (25-20, 22-25, 21-25, 25-21, 15-12) on Nov. 5
210 – China def. Japan 3-2 (20-25, 25-19, 20-25, 25-23, 15-13) on Nov. 6
206 – Brazil def. Serbia 3-2 (21-25, 21-25, 25-18, 25-19, 15-12) on Nov 9
194 – Brazil def. Korea 3-2 (22-25, 25-18, 18-25, 25-13, 15-8) on Nov. 8

For more information contact:
FIVB Press Director Richard Baker
press@fivb.org or +81 (0)80 2584 4604