Italy qualifies for FIVB World Grand Prix on last day of qualification tournament
The women’s 2011 Federation Internationale de Volleyba (FIVB) World Grand Prix - European Qualification Tournament ended Wednesday with Italy holding on to be the third qualifier after Germany and Russia had clinched their qualifications to the Grand Prix
on Tuesday.
Heading into the tournament, only two teams were to qualify for the Grand Prix, but the FIVB Board of Administration endorsed a recommendation to extend the number of participating teams in the Grand Prix to 16. This gave Europe an additional spot, and allowed
the third place finisher in this tournament to also qualify.
Poland and Serbia will also be taking part in the 2011 Grand Prix.
Heading into the final round, Italy needed to either beat an undefeated Russian squad, or The Netherlands had to lose to Turkey.
Turkey vs. The Netherlands 3:0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-20)
The first match of the day saw Turkey match up against Holland. Turkey won 3-0 with Neslihan Darnel scoring 24 points. Maret Grothues and Caroline Wensink each had 10 points for Holland, and Manon Flier had 11.
Turkey only had a 50% efficiency rating on the attack, but beat Holland in blocks 9-6. The “Oranjes” didn’t look good in any of their games except for their 3-0 victory over the Italians.
Bulgaria vs. Germany 0:3 (24-26, 26-28, 22-25)
Germany moved into first place in the tournament with their win over Bulgaria, finishing with a 4-1 record. Their only loss came to Russia on day three of the tournament.
Margareta Anna Kozuch was the top scorer for Germany with 17 points, and Emiliya Nikolova had 15 points for Bulgaria. Germany bested Bulgaria in blocks 12-11.
Italy vs. Russia 3:1 (25-22, 17-25, 25-21, 25-20)
Knowledge that they had already clinched third must have taken some of the pressure off Italy. They knocked off the previously undefeated Russians 3-0. Russia had decided not to start two of their better players in Katya Gamova and Yulia Merkulova, but the
Italians still looked good against a tough Russian team.
Russia got 20 points from Nataliya Goncharova while the Italians got 17 out of Francesca Piccinini and 16 from Serena Ortolani. Russia still crushed Italy in blocks 12-6.
Individual Awards
Turkey didn’t qualify for the Grand Prix, but they did take home a few individual awards as Neslihan Darnel won tournament MVP and Best Scorer. Bahar Toksoy also won Best Blocker for Turkey.
Russia took home two awards, Evgenya Startseva won the award for Best Setter and Ekaterina Gamova won for Best Spiker.
Enrica Merlo won the only award for Italy, Best Libero, and Germany’s only award went to Kathleen Weiss for Best Server.
Final standings
1. Germany 4-1
2. Russia 4-1
3. Italy 3-2
4. Turkey 2-3
5. The Netherlands 1-4
6. Bulgaria 1-4
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