FIVB women's European Qualification Tuesday wrap-up: Russia clinches Grand Prix berth
Russia's women clinched a spot in the next Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) World Grand Prix volleyball event with a win Tuesday over Turkey at the women's European Qualification Tournament.
FIVB announced yesterday that the top three teams from the tournament will qualify for the 2011 FIVB World Grand Prix instead of just the top two as originally stated.
Six teams are participating in the round robin tournament: Russia, Germany, The Netherlands, Turkey, Bulgaria, and the host country, Italy.
Russia vs. Turkey 3:1 (24-26, 25-22, 25-23, 28-26)
Russia, who failed to qualify for the 2010 World Grand Prix, improved their record to a perfect 4-0 with another impressive performance, a 3-1 win over Turkey.
Neslihan Darnel of the Turkish team played very well, scoring 38 points, but a glut of mistakes cost Turkey the game, and a place in the top three. Turkey made 17 errors from the serving line and a total
of 31. They now have a record of 1-3.
For Russia, Ekaterina Gamova had 16 points and Nataliya Goncharova had 15.
The Netherlands vs. Bulgaria 0-3 (21-25, 17-25, 22-25)
The Netherlands’ record fell to 1-3, but they are still alive despite the surprise loss to Bulgaria yesterday. They beat Italy on Monday, and with a win over Bulgaria they would have been in a very good
position heading into the final day, but after a well played game by Bulgaria the Netherlands’ hopes are hanging by a thread.
Eva Yaneva scored 15 points for Bulgaria, Manon Flier scored 19 for Holland, and Bulgaria bested the “Oranjes” 10 to 6 in blocks.
Bulgaria improved their record to 1-3, but cannot qualify for the Grand Prix even with a win over Germany in their final game.
Germany vs. Italy 3:1 (25-22, 16-25, 25-20, 25-22)
After losing to Holland, Italy needed to beat Germany to clinch a top three spot in the tournament. With the loss they now either need to beat Russia in their final game, or Holland must lose to Turkey.
Germany improved to 3-1, and clinched their spot in the top three while Italy saw their record fall to 2-2.
Saskia Hippe was the top scorer for Germany with 15 points, and teammate Corina Ssuschke had another 13. Lucia Bosetti was the Italian top scorer with 15 points.
The Netherlands plays first in the last round so Italy will know heading into their game against Russia if they need to win to qualify. So far attendance has been high for the Italian games, and with so
much on the line in this last one the fans should be out in full force.
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