FIVB Championship semi-finals preview
The second round of the Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Women's Volleyball World Championship has ended, and the semi-finals are set to begin on 13 November. Of the 16 teams that earned berths in the second round, 12 will advance to the third
round to compete for various final positions.
The top two teams from each of two pools will play off for first place. Russia won Pool E and will play the USA, Pool F’s second place finisher. Brazil was the winner of Pool F and will play the host country, Japan, in the other top seed semi-final match.
The two winners will play for the FIVB Championship while the losers will play for third place.
Russia vs USA
Russia, the defending champions, ended the second round with a 7-0 record, and lost only three sets in those seven games. They’ve dominated every team they’ve played so far in this tournament and look very good to repeat as FIVB champions.
The United States took their only two losses of the tournament in the second round against Italy and Brazil. They lost both of the matches by scores of 3-1.
Russia’s top scorer is Ekaterina Gamova, who has 166 points and sits in sixth place on the points leaders list. She’s earned 138 of her points from spikes, 17 from blocks, and 11 from serves.
Leading the American team is Destinee Hooker. She’s fifth in the scoring race with 168 points. Hooker has 141 points from spikes, 18 from blocks, and nine from serves.
Brazil vs Japan
Brazil is also undefeated in this tournament at 7-0. They lost four sets in those seven games, two of them in this round, one against Cuba and one against the US.
Japan has drawn huge crowds to their matches so far, and rewarded their fans with a 5-2 record. Their losses came to Russia and China.
Brazil doesn’t have a player in the top ten in scoring, but they have two scorers tied for twelfth. Natalia Pereira and Sheilla Castro both have 129 points. Pereira has 107 of her points from spikes, 13 from blocks, and nine from serves while Castro has
108 from spikes, 16 from blocks, and five from serves.
Brazil would normally be a strong favourite in this match, but Japan has the crowd behind them, and could play up to the Brazilians in this semi-final.
Semifinals (5th-8th place)
Serbia will play Italy, and Germany will play Turkey in the fifth-to-eighth place semi-finals.
Italy has played well in this tournament, and has a 4-3 record after the second round. Serbia is also at 4-3, but will have to elevate their play to beat the Italians.
Germany finished the second round with a 4-3 record, and will play Turkey who comes into this match with a 3-4 record.
Semifinals (9th-12th place)
Poland will play the Netherlands and Cuba will play China for the chance to take ninth place in the tournament.
Poland finished fifth in their pool with a 3-4 record while the Dutch took sixth in their pool with a 2-5 record.
China, who is ranked third in the world, has been a huge disappointment in this tournament. They finished the second round with a 3-4 record, and have been playing better of late, but were expected to be competing in a higher semi-final bracket. They should
have little trouble beating a 3-4 Cuban team, but Cuba could pull off an upset if China continues to decline.
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