COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 1, 2008) – The U.S. Women’s National Indoor Volleyball team has won five straight matches and takes a 5-1 FIVB World Grand Prix record into the final preliminary weekend at Taipei, Chinese Taipei July 4-6.
Team USA will face three of the top five teams in the World Grand Prix standings during Pool H play, including two rematches from earlier in the schedule. The U.S. challenges Poland (0-6) on July 4 at 3 p.m. (1 a.m. Mountain Time), less than a week after the Americans swept the Polish squad 25-17, 25-16, 25-20 in Poland on June 29. Team USA plays Turkey (4-2) on July 5 at 3 p.m. (1 a.m. Mountain Time). Turkey defeated the U.S. on the opening day of the World Grand Prix. Team USA concludes the preliminary round versus Italy (5-1) on July 6 at 5 p.m. (3 a.m. Mountain Time). The Italians won the last meeting on Nov. 16, 2007, as both teams squared off for the gold medal on the final day of the 2007 FIVB World Cup in Japan.
The U.S. is in a three-way tie for second place in the 12-team tournament with Italy and Brazil, one loss behind undefeated tournament leaders China. Based on the tiebreaker of points won ratio, the Americans (1.203 points ratio) hold a slim advantage over Brazil (1.191) and Italy (1.117). Turkey is currently ranked fifth in the World Grand Prix standings.
After this weekend’s third and final preliminary round weekend, the top five teams will travel to Japan and join the host country in the six-team FIVB World Grand Prix Finals. The round-robin Finals will be played July 9-13 at Yokohoma. The overall ranking in the preliminary round is decided by the total number of World Grand Prix Points (GPP) gained by the teams in the preliminary matches with two points awarded for a win and one point for a loss.
The U.S. has not qualified for the World Grand Prix Final Round since 2004, the last Olympic Games year. The Americans finished third in 2004, followed by eighth place in 2005, seventh place in 2006 and eighth place in 2007. Team USA has won the premier annual event in 1995 and 2001. Brazil has won three of the last four titles, while defending champion Netherlands failed to qualify for this year’s World Grand Prix. Italy has medaled in the last four World Grand Prix events with silver medals in 2004 and 2005, and bronze medals in 2006 and 2007. China, the 2008 World Grand Prix leader, finished second last year as it hosted the Finals in Ningbo.
