Lausanne, Switzerland, March 21, 2017 — The Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) held the fourth event on the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour calendar last week, third women’s event and three countries earned podium placements in Australia.
Last week in Sydney, Australia a team from Canada captured the gold medal at the women’s FIVB Sydney 2-Star tournament with teams from Australia earning both the silver and bronze medals.
Sydney - Women
Winning the women’s gold medal at the FIVB Sydney 2-Star event with an unblemished 4-0 match record was Canada’s fourth-seeded Julie Gordon/Camille Saxton who stopped Australia’s 15th-seeded Mariafe Artacho/Jessyka Ngauamo in straight sets 21-14, 21-16 in 33 minutes. It was the second FIVB World Tour gold medal for both Gordon and Saxton, who were playing in just their third FIVB event as a team. The Canadian duo won gold two weeks ago as well in Shepparton, Australia.Earning the women’s bronze medal in Sydney was Australia’s top-seeded Louise Bawden/Nicole Laird who stopped Germany’s sixth-seeded Kim Behrens/Anni Schumacher in three sets, 21-18, 22-24 and 15-11 in 54 minutes.To reach the women’s gold medal match in Sydney from their respective semifinals, Canada’s Gordon/Saxton defeated Australia’s Bawden/Laird in straight sets, 21-18, 21-16 in 35 minutes while Australia’s Artacho/Ngauamo defeated Germany’s Behrens/Schumacher in two sets, 21-29, 21-17 in 40 minutes. Canada’s Saxton was selected as the women’s most outstanding player of the FIVB Sydney 2-Star event.
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Winning the men’s gold medal at the FIVB Shepparton 1-Star event two weeks ago with a perfect 4-0 match record was Australia’s top-seeded Christopher McHugh/Damien Schumann who defeated third-seeded compatriots Cole Durant/Zachery Schubert in two twin-score sets, 21-18, 21-18 in 38 minutes. It was the first career FIVB World Tour gold medal for both McHugh and Schumann.
Earning the men’s bronze medal Shepparton was New Zealand’s second-seeded Ben O’Dea/Sam O’Dea who won in straight sets over USA’s fifth-seeded Marty Lorenz/Adam Roberts, 21-12, 21-14 in just 29 minutes.
In the Shepparton’s men’s semifinals, Australia’s McHugh/Schumann beat USA’s Lorenz/Roberts in two sets, 21-11, 21-19 in 30 minutes and Australia’s Durant/Schubert advanced to the gold medal match by coming from behind to defeat New Zealand’s B. O’Dea/S. O’Dea in three sets, 16-21, 21-17 and 15-13 in 43 minutes.
Australia’s McHugh was selected as the men’s most outstanding player of the FIVB Shepparton-Star.
FIVB star system
Officially debuting this season, the format for the new FIVB Star System has the 1-Star to 4-Star events playing single-elimination tournaments after qualification rounds (as needed) for the final main-draw spots. The FIVB 5-Star events still have 32-team qualifying tournaments followed by 32-team main draws, pool play and then single elimination for the top 24 teams from pool play.New FIVB World Ranking system
Part of the latest edition of the FIVB Sports Regulations for beach volleyball, the new FIVB World Ranking system has been established based on the FIVB Beach Volleyball Ranking Points earned at the eight best performances as a team in all FIVB sanctioned or homologated Beach Volleyball Events over a 365-days period. The FIVB World Ranking is updated every Monday after an FIVB sanctioned or homologated event granting FIVB Beach Volleyball Ranking Points.
Men's rankings/earnings
After three men’s events on the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena continue to lead this week’s FIVB World Rankings with 4,820 points while Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins duo is second with 4,650 points. Third is Brazil’s Olympic champions Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt with 4,620 points, fourth is Brazil’s Evandro Goncalves/Pedro Solberg with 4,240 points and fifth is Poland’s Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak with 3,880 points.
In the 2017 FIVB World Tour men’s earnings after three events, Brazil’s Saymon Barbosa/Alvaro Filho duo is still on top of the early money list with $40,000 in one event with one gold medal. Second is Brazil’s Evandro Goncalves/Andre Loyola with $32,000 in one event, third is USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena with $20,000 in one event and fourth is Russia’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin with $19,000 and tied for fifth with $16,000 each are USA’s Ryan Doherty/John Hyden and Poland’s Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak.
Women's rankings/earnings
For the women after three events on the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, Germany’s Olympic champions Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst have moved to the top of the current women’s FIVB World Rankings with 4,960 points and Brazil’s Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca duo is second with 4,936 points. In third with 4,760 points is USA’s April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings, fourth with 4,160 points is Gemany’s Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude and fifth with 3,730 points is Spain’s Elsa Baquerizo/Liliana Fernandez with 3,730 points.
In the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour women’s earnings after three events, Brazil’s Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca duo is in the top spot with $40,000 in earnings in one events with one gold medal, second is Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa with $32,000, third is Germany’s Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude with $20,000 and fourth is USA’s Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat with $16,000. Tied for fifth with $12,000 each in one event are Brazil’s Fernanda Alves/Barbara Seixas, Brazil’s Josemari Alves/Liliane Maestrini, Czech Republic’s Kristyna Kolocova/Michala Kvapilova and USA’s April Ross/Kerri Walsh Jennings.
Men's final fours
After three men’s tournaments on the 2017 FIVB World Tour regular season schedule, seven countries have at least one final four placement. Leading with three final four placements is the United States (one bronze medal, two fourth place finishes) and tied for second with two each are Brazil (one gold medal, one silver medal), Australia (one gold medal, one silver medal) and Russia (one gold medal, one bronze medal) and tied for fifth with one final four placement each are Germany (one fourth place finish), New Zealand (one bronze medal) and Poland (one silver medal).
Women's final fours
After three women’s FIVB World Tour events to date on the 2017 calendar, five countries have earned at least one final four finish. Leader in final four placements with four is Germany (one silver medal, one bronze medal, two fourth place finishes) while second with three is Australia (one silver medal, two bronze medals), tied for third with two each are Brazil (one gold medal, one silver medal) and Canada (two gold medals) and fifth with one final four placement is the United States (one fourth place finish).
Men's winning percentage/match wins
Based on percentage, statistically, in men’s action after three events on the 2017 FIVB World Tour calendar with a minimum of four matches played, the co-leaders at 100.00% is Brazil’s Saymon Barbosa/Alvaro Filho (8-0) and Australia’s Christopher McHugh/Damien Schumann (4-0), third at 85.7% is USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena (6-1). Tied for fourth at 80.0% each are USA’s Taylor Crabb/Jake Gibb (4-1), Poland’s Michal Bryl/Grzegorz Fijalek (4-1) and Italy’s Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai (4-1). Tied for seventh at 77.8% are Poland’s Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak (7-2) and Russia’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin (7-2)
With eight match wins this season through three events on the 2017 FIVB World Tour, leading this category is Brazil’s Saymon Barbosa/Alvaro Filho (8-0), tied for second with seven match wins each are Poland’s Piotr Kantor/Bartoz Losiak (7-2) and Russia’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin (7-2) and tied for fourth with six match wins each are Australia’s Cole Durant/Zachery Schubert (6-2) and USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena (6-1). Tied for sixth with five match wins each are USA’s Ryan Doherty/John Hyden (5-3), Brazil’s Evandro Goncalves/Andre Loyola (5-3), Russia’s Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Artem Yarzutkin (5-4) and Switzerland’s Nico Beeler/Marco Krattiger (5-4). Tied for 10th with four match wins each are Australia’s Christopher McHugh/Damien Schumann (4-0), USA’s Taylor Crabb/Jake Gibb (4-1), Poland’s Michal Bryl/Grzegorz Fijalek (4-1), Italy’s Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai, Brazil’s Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt (4-2), USA’s Trevor Crabb/Sean Rosenthal (4-2) and Germany’s Markus Bockermann/Lars Fluggen (4-4).
Women's winning percentage/match wins
Based on percentage, statistically, in women’s action after three events on the 2017 FIVB World Tour calendar with a minimum of three matches played, the leader at 88.9% is Canada’s Julie Gordon/Camille Saxton (8-1), second at 85.7% is Brazil’s Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca (6-1), tied for third at 80.0% Australia’s Mariafe Artacho/Jessyka Ngauamo (4-1) and USA’s Kerri Walsh Jennings/April Ross (4-1). Tied for fifth at 75.0% are Czech Republic’s Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova (3-1) and Australia’s Phoebe Bell/Nicole Laird (3-1) and tied for seventh at 71.4% are USA’s Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat (5-2), Germany’s Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude (5-2), Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa (5-2), Brazil’s Josemari Alves/Liliane Maestrini (5-2) and Brazil’s Fernanda Alves/Barbara Seixas (5-2).
For the women in match wins following three events on the 2017 FIVB calendar, the leader with eight match wins is Canada’s Julie Gordon/Camille Saxton, second with six match wins is Brazil’s Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca (6-1) while tied for third with five match wins each are USA’s Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat (5-2), Germany’s Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude (5-2), Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa (5-2), Brazil’s Josemari Alves/Liliane Maestrini (5-2) and Brazil’s Fernanda Alves/Barbara Seixas (5-2).
On the horizon
Following the women’s only FIVB Sydney 2-Star event will be the double-gender FIVB Langkawi 1-Star tournament in Malaysia (April 15-16) followed by the double-gender FIVB Xiamen 3-Star event in China (April 20-23).
Growing history
The double-gender FIVB Langkawi 1-Star event will be the 356th men’s tournament since the FIVB began play in 1987 and the 317th FIVB women’s tournament since their competition started in 1992.
FIVB event format
The new format of all the FIVB Beach Volleyball international tournaments using the Star System from 1-5 has qualifying and a 32-team single-elimination tournament for 5-Star tournaments starting with qualifying followed by pool play and then single elimination knockout rounds. The 1-Star through 4-Star tournaments will modify as needed the basic format to accommodate the particular event with most having a single-elimination tournament. Country Quota playoffs returned as needed in 2015 to determine the final teams for the qualification tournament.
