USA and Dominican Republic close to Top-Six

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, October 2, 2014 – Halfway through the second round, teams are beginning to separate themselves into three groups in the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship Italy 2014: those likely to reach the Final Round of six teams, those chasing the dream and those mathematically eliminated from the championship.

In Pool E, the leaders maintained their spots with China holding first at 14 points. Italy (13 points) and Dominican Republic (11) gained three points for second and third place. Japan was stretched to five sets today for the fourth time in this World Championship, but they won the tiebreaker for the first time to stay within contention of a top three spot out of Pool E with eight points.

In Pool F, the standings got a lot more interesting as Russia were upset by Turkey in five sets. With the loss, Russia fall to fourth place and Turkey are already eliminated. Russia trail pool leader USA (15 points) and second-place Brazil (14 points) with matches against both Brazil and Serbia to end the round. Serbia (11 points) are in third place, just ahead of Russia, and have USA still on the schedule.

Pool E Standings

1. China (4-0, 11 points); 2. Italy (4-1, 13 points); 3. Dominican Republic (5-0, 11 points); 4. Japan (2-3, 8 points); 5. Croatia (2-3, 5 points); 6. Belgium (1-4, 4 points); 7. Germany (0-5, 3 points); 8. Azerbaijan (1-4, 2 points).

Pool F Standings

1. United States (5-0, 15 points); 2. Brazil (5-0, 14 points); 3. Serbia (4-1, 11 points); 4. Russia (3-2, 10 points); 5. Turkey (1-4, 4 points); 7. Netherlands (1-4, 3 points); 6. Bulgaria (1-3, 3 points); 8. Kazakhstan (0-5, 0 points) 

Dominican Republic 3, Azerbaijan 1

Dominican Republic rallied past Azerbaijan 3-1 (23-25, 25-11, 25-21, 25-17) in Bari to remain unbeaten in seven matches at the 2014 World Championship. Having collected seven wins in a row connecting the first and second stage, the Dominican Republic kept alive their chance of reaching the top six for the first time in history. In a matchup of the two best scorers of this World Championship, Polina Rahimova notched up game high 26 points for Azerbaijan while Bethania De La Cruz finished with 16 for Dominican Republic.

These nations have met once before at a World Championship, in 2006, at Saporro, Azerbaijan won 3-1. Dominican Republic have won all five World Championship matches against European teams. Domincan Republic reaped 33 points from opponent errors, compared to 20 for Azerbaijan.

United States 3, Bulgaria 0

The USA’s clean path in the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship 2014 continued in Modena after defeating Bulgaria 3-0 (25:17, 25:18, 25:16) to move to 15 points in the second round. Kelly Murphy was the top scorer for the USA with 14 points, while the Premium Panathlon -Lella Pavarotti award for the most impressive player of the match was given to Kelsey Robinson by 2002 World Champion Simona Rinieri. Emiliya Nikolova led the score for Bulgaria with 13 points. USA dominated the net and service line advantages of 7-0 in blocks and 7-2 in aces. Bulgaria were unbeaten in two matches against United States at World Championships.

In 1956 and 1998, the Bulgarians won 3-1 and 3-0 respectively. United States are the only nation with maximum points after seven matches (21) and in the second round with 15 points. United States started the World Championship with seven victories for only the second time, after winning the first 10 matches in 2002. Back then, their first defeat came in the final against Italy. United States have won 10 of their last 12 matches against teams from Europe. The two defeats came against Russia and Italy in 2010.