USA win first World Championship title, China and Brazil complete the podium
Despite their legacy of success over the past 30-plus years, the USA had never won the World Championship title - or any of the three major women's international titles including the Olympic Games and FIVB World Cup before. Best scorers of Sunday’s gold medal match were Kimberly Hill for USA and Chunlei Zeng for China with 20 kills each. USA had the edge in blocking (14-9) and serving (6-5). USA coach Karch Kiraly: "We came here to make history and we made it. It was a tough battle, but we made it." USA captain Christa Dietzen: "It's the first time for the USA and we made it. We represented present and future volleyball programs, but most importantly we did it together." United States have qualified for the final for the second time at the World Championships. In 2002, they lost 3-2 against Italy. United States have won two silver and two bronze medals at the world championships and have become the third nation to complete the medal set following Russia/Soviet Union and Japan. In the match for bronze, World No. 1 Brazil overcame the disappointment of Saturday's semifinal defeat to USA and outlasted hosts Italy 3-2 (25-15, 25-13, 22-25, 22-25, 15-7) in front of a 12,600-strong sellout crowd, to finish third in the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championships. It is Brazil’s fourth-best appearance ever, after the silver medals of 1994, 2006 and 2010. For Italy, it is the second-best finish ever after the gold medal of 2002. Best scorer of the bronze medal match was Italy’s Valentina Diouf with 31 points. Sheilla contributed 21 kills for Brazil. Brazil had the edge in blocking (11-6), Italy in serving (7-5). Brazil have finished in the top four for the fifth time in the last six editions, finishing the third time in a row on the podium. They only finished seventh in 2002. Italy have finished in the top four for the third time after 2002 (gold), 2006 (fourth) and today (fourth). Brazil have surpassed Japan's 87 wins at the World Championship. Only Russia/Soviet Union have won more matches (120). Medal Round Match Results For bronze: Italy-Brazil / 2-3 / VIEW For gold: China-USA / 1-3 / VIEW FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship Italy 2014 Dream Team Best Outside Spiker: Ting Zhu (China) Second Best Outside Spiker: Kimberly Hill (USA) Best Middle Blocker: Thaisa (Brazil) Second Best Middle Blocker: Junjing Yang (China) Best Libero: Monica DeGennaro (Italy) Best Setter: Alisha Glass (USA) Best Opposite: Sheilla (Brazil) Most Valuable Player: Kimberly Hill (USA) Final Ranking 1. USA 2. China 3. Brazil 4. Italy 5. Russia -. Dominican Republic 7. Japan -. Serbia 9. Germany -. Turkey 11. Belgium --. Bulgaria 13. Croatia --. Netherlands 15. Azerbaijan --. Kazakhstan 17. Argentina --. Canada --. Thailand --. Puerto Rico 21. Tunisia --. Cameroon --. Mexico --. Cuba TOP PERFORMANCES Top scorer by day Polina Rahimova- 33 of Azerbaijan v Japan on 23-9-14 Brankica Mihajlovic- 31 of Serbia v Bulgaria on 24-9-14 Polina Rahimova- 32 of Azerbaijan v Puerto Rico on 25-9-14 Lise Van Hecke- 23 of Belgium v Azerbaijan on 27-9-14 Tatiana Kosheleva-31 of Russia v USA on 28-9-14 Bethania De La Cruz De Peña-30 of Dominican Republic v Belgium and Lise Van Hecke-30 of Belgium v Dominican Republic on 1-10-14 Tatiana Kosheleva-32 of Russia v Turkey on 2-10-14 Bethania De La Cruz De Peña-37 of Dominican Republic v China on 4-10-14 Bethania De La Cruz De Peña-25 of Dominican Republic v Japan and Vasileva Elitsa-25 of Bulgaria v Netherlands on 5-10-14 Antonella Del Core-15 of Italy v USA and Thaisa-15 of Brazil v China and Jaqueline-15 of Brazil v China and Fe Garay-15 of Brazil v China on 8-10-14 Bethania De La Cruz De Peña-39 of Dominican Republic v China on 9-10-14 Tatiana Kosheleva-15 of Russia v Italy on 10-10-14 Ting Zhu-32 of China v Italy on 11-10-14 Valentina Diouf-31 of Italy v Brazil on 12-10-14 Top scoring performances 39- Bethania De La Cruz De Peña of Dominican Republic v China on 9-10-14 37- Bethania De La Cruz De Peña of Dominican Republic v China on 4-10-14 36- Polina Rahimova of Azerbaijan v Croatia on 4-10-14 33- Polina Rahimova of Azerbaijan v Japan on 23-9-14 32- Polina Rahimova of Azerbaijan v Puerto Rico on 25-9-14 32- Tatiana Kosheleva of Russia v Turkey on 2-10-14 32- Ting Zhu of China v Italy on 11-10-14 Top blocking performances 10- Kubra Akman of Turkey v Bulgaria on 25-9-14 9- Zhu Ting of China v Japan on 28-9-14 Top serving performances 6- Regla Gracia Gonzalez of Cuba v Azerbaijan on 29-9-14 5- Mizuho Ishida of Japan v Azerbaijan on 23-9-14 5- Margareta Kozuch of Germany v Croatia on 28-9-14 5- Valentina Diouf of Italy v China on 11-10-14 Top team blocking performances 24- Brazil v Turkey on 27-9-14 19- China v Japan on 28-9-14 Top team serving performances 13- Azerbaijan v Croatia on 4-10-14 13- Croatia v Tunisia on 27-9-14 12- Germany v Croatia on 28-9-14 Highest scoring sets 36-34 Thailand v Mexico (2nd set) on 25-9-14 34-32 USA v Russia (1st set) on 28-9-14 32-30 Netherlands v Mexico (1st set) on 28-9-14 Highest scoring matches 220- USA v Russia 3-1 (34-32, 25-19, 29-31, 26-24) on 28-9-14 218- Azerbaijan v Puerto Rico 3-2 (25-20, 24-26, 26-24, 16-25, 17-15) on 25-9-14 218- Croatia v Dominican Republic 2-3 (22-25, 13-25, 25-22, 26-24, 17-19) on 25-9-14 218- Turkey v Russia 3-2 (19-25, 25-27, 25-22, 25-22, 15-13) on 2-10-14 218- China v Dominican Republic 3-2 (22-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-23, 15-12) on 9-10-14
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