2017 FIVB World League – Group 1

Matches Pts Sets Points Rank Team W L W L Ratio W L Ratio 1 6 1 19 20 7 2.857 642 568 1.130 2 6 1 17 18 8 2.250 607 566 1.072 3 5 2 16 18 10 1.800 638 606 1.053 4 4 3 9 15 16 0.938 696 700 0.994 5 3 4 11 15 15 1.000 654 655 0.998 6 3 4 10 14 12 1.167 595 596 0.998 7 3 4 9 13 14 0.929 596 600 0.993 8 3 4 9 13 16 0.813 638 638 1.000 9 3 4 8 12 17 0.706 629 659 0.954 10 3 4 7 11 17 0.647 622 644 0.966 11 2 5 6 11 17 0.647 626 650 0.963 12 1 6 5 9 20 0.450 608 669 0.909

A topsy-turvy 2017 FIVB World League was thrown for a loop on Friday with upsets abound as Pool G1 and I1 kicked off competition. Pool H1, which includes the United States, Iran, Poland, and Russia, took a day off as teams traveled from Katowice to Lodz, where the last two sets of matches will be played.

The defending champions Serbia had what looked like an easy path to locking up their place in the Final 6 against Argentina, but the host team fought to the end. Serbia came away with a 3-2 win, which while not the clean sweep they might’ve been hoping for against the last-place team in the group, was enough to clinch their spot in the Final 6. With 6 wins, and only 2 matches to play, they are also assured of a top 3 seed for that final 6 – with the top seed still in play.

France, who were perfect through their first 6 games with 6 wins and 18 points, fell to Italy. The result wouldn’t have been a surprise were it not for recent events – where Italy struggled without many of their stars to a 1-5 World League start and where France was surprisingly dominant without their star Earvin Ngapeth. In his stead, tournament scoring leader Stephen Boyer continued his hot streak with 20 points – extending his lead and raising his average.

Ngapeth returned to the French bench on Friday, as promised by his coach, but didn’t get into the game, and France dropped a 5-setter. They’ve already clinched their spot in Rio, but the result was still a surprising one given recent results.

Elsewhere, Canada pulled a 3-2 win over Belgium to vault into 4th in the World League standings. They now play France and Italy to try and cement their spot in Curitaba for the Final 6 – and after Friday’s results, the outcome of neither of those games looks as confident as it did 24 hours ago. A 3-0 or 3-1 win in either should send Canada to the Final 6.

Day 7 Results (Thursday + Friday)

Pool G1:

Venue:

All times are Argentina Time (UTC−03:00).

Day 1 recap

Date Time Score Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5 Total Report 16 Jun 18:10 Brazil 3–0 Bulgaria 25–15 25–19 25–22 75–56 P2P3 16 Jun 21:10 Argentina 2–3 22–25 25–19 22–25 30–28 12–15 111–112 P2P3

Pool H (Thursday):

Venue:

Venue:

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).

Day 1 recap

Date Time Score Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5 Total Report 15 Jun 17:25 Iran 0–3 17–25 22–25 28–30 67–80 P2P3 15 Jun 20:25 Poland 0–3 22–25 17–25 21–25 60–75 P2P3

Pool I:

Venue:

All times are Central European Summer Time (UTC+02:00).

Day 1 recap

Date Time Score Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5 Total Report 16 Jun 17:10 Italy 3–2 France 20–25 25–21 24–26 25–20 16–14 110–106 P2P3 16 Jun 20:10 Belgium 2–3 23–25 13–25 26–24 25–22 10–15 97–111 P2P3

Round 3 – Day 1 Videos (Thursday + Friday)

Brazil def. Bulgaria 3-0

Serbia def. Argentina 3-2

United States def. Iran 3-0

Full replay unavailable

Russia def. Poland 3-0

Italy def. France 3-2

Canada def. Belgium 3-2