Sapporo, Japan, November 11, 2011 – World Cup leaders Italy collected their sixth win from as many matches with a comfortable (25-15, 25-12, 25-17) win over Korea in Sapporo on Friday as the opening day of the third round saw more movement in the tournament leaderboard.

Nineteen points from Italy's leading scorer Carolina del Pilar Costagrande helped the world No. 7 move to 17 points, maintaining their two point lead ahead of World Grand Prix champions USA on 15 and Germany on 14 points. Korea, who had their leading scorer Kim Yeon-Koung rested after the first set with an eye to Saturday's match against Japan, remain in 10th place in the standings with four points.

“I think we played well from beginning to end, in every set, for the entire match,” Italy coach Massimo Barbolini said. “This matters for the next match too (against Brazil), as we have to pay - in some way - the same attention, the same concentration. Brazil is a very strong team. I think now we can play a good match because we have the skills to do it. It will be the most difficult match for us in the competition so far.”

In the game of the day and the highest scoring match of the competition to date, a stunning block from captain Fabiana Claudino clinched a crucial 3-2 (25-23, 25-27, 21-25, 25-20, 17-15) victory for Brazil against China in Sapporo. Both teams were ruthless in attack and amazing in defence and it was a match of discipline and dynamism. Three time champions China looked to have the match in the bag at 2-1 up, but Olympic title holders and world No. 1 Brazil, who are yet to win a World Cup, showed their class with great stamina and a work ethic to die for to fight back, with Fabiana's block on Ruoqi Hui sealing the deal. The five-set win, Brazil's fifth win and third 3-2 result in six matches, kept them in fifth position on 12 points while China slipped to fourth behind Germany on 13. Leading the Brazilians with 21 points was Paula Pequeno. She was supported by Fabiana who posted 19 points and a tournament record equalling seven blocks in the match. For China, Zhang Lei scored 18 points, with Ruoqi and Yang Junjing supporting with 17.

“The game was close throughout. We took the first set, the second and third they won and had rhythm,” Brazil coach Jose Roberto Guimaraes said. “In the fourth I brought out Sassá, who played well in service reception, it really helped our spiking. Our service was not so good but we aim to improve it against Italy.”

With the 3-2 win, Brazil dropped more points, collecting two rather than the maximum three and although they have the same win:loss record as USA and Germany (5:1) they have suffered from the three matches which they have won 3-2 against Korea, Serbia and now China. Ze Roberto expressed his disappointment with the new system, which was introduced by the FIVB for all competitions earlier this year. “Of course the first criteria is victory. The points, ok… but the victory is first. The points system, I don’t believe in this. If you win 11 matches 3-2, you cannot qualify, it’s crazy,” he said.

Looking ahead to Saturday’s fascinating showdown against Italy, Ze Roberto added: “We had in our group [during the first two rounds] Serbia, the European champs, Germany who were second, and the second seeded USA. Our group was stronger [than Italy’s] in the first and second leg. Italy beat China 3-2, the same as us. We have to wait to the end of the tournament [to see what happens].”

Meanwhile in Okayama, USA and Germany earned their fifth victories of the competition beating Argentina 3-0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-19) and Algeria 3-0 (25-10, 25-8, 25-19) respectively while the Dominican Republic earned their second win when they overcame winless Kenya 3-1 (25-18, 25-14, 26-28, 25-19).

The last game in Sapporo saw European champions Serbia overcome Japan in straight sets (25-22, 25-20, 25-21) to move above the hosts in the standings to sixth with 11 points.

In a mouth watering day of action on Saturday in Sapporo, Italy (1st) play Brazil (5th) and Serbia (6th) take on China (4th) in the first two games while in Okayama, USA (2nd) shouldn’t be too troubled by Algeria (12th) and Germany (3rd) face the Dominican Republic (8th).

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.

FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Cup Highlights

Tournament Leading Scorers
1 Bethania De La Cruz de Peña (DOM) 112 points
2 Sheilla Castro (BRA) 93 points
3 Hui Ruoqi (CHN) 91 points  
4 Kimura Saori (JPN) 89 points
5 Wang Yimei (CHN) 88 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
November 11: 21 – Paula Pequeno (Brazil) v China

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
7 – Christiane Fürst (GER) v Algeria on Nov. 11
7 – Fabiana Claudino (BRA) v China on Nov. 11

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
223 – Brazil beat China 3-2 (25-23, 25-27, 21-25, 25-20, 17-15) on Nov. 11
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

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