The Dutch Women's National Volleyball Team has had an interesting few years. After winning the 2007 World Grand Prix, they failed to qualify for last year's final tournament.

But the disappointment of not taking part in the 2008 edition has been tempered by the fact that the team is back this year and ready to prove themselves.

The team took part in the prestigious Montreux Volley Masters in Switzerland in early June, where they placed fourth behind winners Brazil, runners-up Italy and China.

In July, the team will participate in the third round of the 2010 Women's World Championship Qualification Tournament at home Almere, where they will play Germany, Azerbaijan and Slovenia. The top two finishers will advance to the Final Round in Japan next fall.

For the 2009 FIVB World Grand Prix, the team will travel to Poland (July 31-August 2), Taipei (August 7-9) and Hong Kong (August 14-16) in an attempt to qualify for the finals in Japan, before taking part in the European Championship in Poland in September.

The team's World Grand Prix victory in 2007 was their first medal finish at the tournament, with a fourth-place finish in 2003 and sixth in the 2005 edition being their best showings to that point.

August 2007 was a month to remember for the Dutch women. They spent the entire month traveling for the World Grand Prix, first playing in Verona, Italy, where they got off to an inauspicious start by losing to Brazil (0-3) and Italy (0-3).

The team, led by coach Avital Selinger, got their first win at the tournament against Taiwan (3-0). A week later the Dutch women defeated Japan (3-2) and Taiwan (3-0) in Tokyo. The first match of that weekend was a straight-sets loss, however, once again to Brazil.

In the last weekend, the Dutch women had to win all its matches in order to reach the finals. In Macau, the women played to the best of their ability and beat Cuba (3-1), China (3-2) and USA (3-1).

The Dutch held on to their top form in the week of the finals. This resulted in an impressive series of victories, including over Olympic champion China (3-2), former European Champion Italy (3-1), defending Grand Prix winner Brazil (3-2), the then European Champion Poland (3-0) and World Champion Russia (3-2).

For the first time in history, the Netherlands won gold on the elite international level. There was also a personal success for Manon Flier, who was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

Last year, the Dutch failed to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics after losses to Poland and Turkey at the European Qualification Tournament in Halle.

In May 2008 the Dutch won silver at the Abu Dhabi International Women's Volleyball Tournament. After defeating Australia (3-0), Italy (3-2), Egypt (3-0), Algeria (3-0) and Germany (3-1), the Netherlands lost the final match against Cuba (1-3).

At the Montreux Volley Masters a month later, a rejuvenated Dutch team finished fourth. The team lost to Cuba, Italia and China (all 0-3), but defeated Germany (3-0) and Serbia (3-2).

In Ekaterinburg, Russia, the Netherlands earned bronze at the Boris Yeltsin Cup. Bulgaria and Ukraine were too strong for the Netherlands (2-3), but Croatia, Belarus and Russia (3-1) were defeated.

In September the Netherlands played against World Champion Russia in the DELA Trophy in preparation for the 2009 FIVB World Grand Prix European Qualification in Omsk. Both games were won by the Dutch (3-0 and 3-1).

During the European Qualification tournament in Omsk with five other countries, the Dutch lost only one set in its first four games (against Serbia, Italy, France and Germany). Only Russia was too strong for the Dutch women (0-3). Together with Russia and Germany, the Netherlands qualified for the 2009 FIVB World Grand Prix.