Lausanne, Switzerland, November 6, 2017 - Presenting another double-gender tournament, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) has fully launched its 2017-2018 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour with the third men’s event and the women’s second. Last week, the FIVB World Tour held a double-gender event in Aalsmeer, Netherlands. There is currently one remaining double-gender event listed on the 2017 portion of the 2017-2018 FIVB World Tour schedule, which will take place in Sydney, Australia from November 22 to 26.
The World Tour moved from Qinzhou, China to the Netherlands with the double-gender FIVB Aalsmeer 1-Star tournament with a team from Italy earning the men’s gold medal and a duo from host Netherlands capturing the women’s gold medal.
FIVB Aalsmeer - Men
Winning the men’s gold medal last week at the FIVB Aalsmeer 1-Star with an unbeaten 4-0 match record was Italy’s eighth-seeded Marco Caminati/Enrico Rossi who defeated USA’s 10th-seeded qualifiers Miles Evans/Billy Kolinske in straight sets, 2-0 (21-18, 21-15) in 40 total minutes.
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour - AalsmeerIt was the first career FIVB World Tour gold medal and first final four finish for Italy’s Caminati/Rossi as a team, second career gold for Caminati and the first for Rossi. It was their 11th career FIVB World Tour event as a team.
Italy's Marco Caminati and Enrico Rossi honour their heritage as they celebrate their first FIVB gold medal that they won in Aalsmeer, Netherlands.Earning the men’s bronze medal in Aalsmeer was Turkey’s 11th-seeded qualifiers Murat Giginoglu/Hasan Mermer who came back to hold off Ukraine’s 12th-seeded qualifiers Oleksiy Denin/Sergiy Popov with an overtime win in the deciding third set, 2-1 (13-21, 21- 19, 18-16) in 52 minutes.
Turkey's Hasan Mermer and Murat Giginoglu worked diligently together to earn the bronze medal at the recent FIVB Aalsmeer tournament in the Netherlands.In the FIVB Aalsmeer 1-Star men’s semifinals, Italy’s Caminati/Rossi advanced to the gold medal match by defeating Ukraine’s Dennin/Popov in two sets, 2-0 (23-21, 21-12) in 37 minutes and USA’s Evans/Kolinski advanced by coming back to beat Turkey’s Giginoglu/Mermer in three sets 2-1 (15-21, 21-17, 15-13) in 52 minutes.
Italy’s Marco Caminati was selected as the men’s Most Outstanding Player of the FIVB Aalsmeer 1-Star.
Italy's Marco Caminati stretched all out for his team and was selected as the men's Most Outstanding Player of the FIVB Aalsmeer 1-Star tournament.
FIVB Aalsmeer - Women
Winning the women’s gold medal last week at the FIVB Aalsmeer 1-Star with an unbeaten 4-0 match record was the Netherlands’ top-seeded host-country nation’s duo Madelein Meppelink/Joy Stubbe who stopped Germany’s third-seeded Kim Behrens/Sandra Ittlinger in impressive straight, twin-score sets , 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) in just 35 minutes.
Madelein Meppelink and Joy Stubbe of the Netherlands celebrate winning gold in Aalsmeer.It was the first career FIVB World Tour gold medal for the Netherlands’ Meppelink/Stubbe as a team, the second career gold for Meppelink and first for Stubbe.
Earning the women’s bronze medal in Aalsmeer was the United States’ seventh-seeded Betsi Flint/Kelley Larsen who fought off Japan’s fourth-seeded Miki Ishii/Megumi Murakami in straight sets, 2-0 (25-13, 21-18) in only 41 minutes.
Betsi Flint and Kelly Larsen of the United States worked hard to earn the bronze medal at the FIVB Aalsmeer event in the Netherlands.In the FIVB Aalsmeer 1-Star women’s semifinals, the Netherlands’ Meppelink/Stubbe advanced to the gold medal match by winning over Japan’s Ishii/Murakami in two sets, 2-0 (21-15, 21-18) in 35 minutes and Germany’s Behrens/Ittlinger advanced by holding off the United States’ Flint/Larsen in three sets, 2-1 (21-17, 16-21, 15-9) in 47 minutes.
Netherlands’ Madelein Meppelink was selected as the women’s Most Outstanding Player of the FIVB Aalsmeer 1-Star tournament.
FIVB World Ranking system
Part of the latest edition of the FIVB Sports Regulations for beach volleyball published in early 2017, the 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 world rankings
Brazil’s Evandro Goncalves/Andre Loyola leads this week’s FIVB World Rankings with 4,180 points, second is Italy’s Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai with 3,920 points, third is Russia’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin with 3,900 points, fourth is USA’s Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena with 3,840 points and fifth is Brazil’s Saymon Barbosa/Alvaro Filho with 3,760 points.
Sixth is Poland’s Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak with 3,740 points, seventh is Brazil’s Olympic champions Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt with 3,340 points, eighth is Austria’s Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst with 3,156 points, ninth is Brazil’s Gustavo ‘Guto’ Carvalhaes/Pedro Solberg with 3,100 points, 10th is Canada’s Sam Pedlow/Sam Schachter with 2,900 points, 11th is Spain’s Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera with 2,800 points, 12th is Belgium’s Dries Koekelkoren/Tom van Walle with 2,572 points, 13th is Russia’s Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Artem Yarzutkin with 2,560 points, 14th is USA’s Ryan Doherty/John Hyden with 2,480 points and 15th is Mexico’s Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen with 2,460 points.
Men's earnings
In the 2017-2018 FIVB World Tour men’s earnings after three events, Russia’s Maxim Sivolap/Igor Velichko lead with $8,000 in one event with one gold medal, second is Mexico’s Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen with $6,000 in one event, third is Cuba’s Nivaldo Diaz/Sergio Gonzalez with $5,000 in one event, fourth is France’s Quincy Aye/Youssef Krou with $4,100 in two events, fifth is Belgium’s Dries Koekelkoren/Tom van Walle with $3,600 in one event, sixth is the Netherlands’ Dirk Boehle/Steven van de Velde, with $3,400 in two events, seventh is Serbia’s Djordje Klasnic/Lazar Kolaric with $3,300 in three events and eighth is Czech Republic’s Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner with $3,000 in two events.
Men's final fours
After three men’s tournaments on the World Tour, 12 countries had at least one final four placement. Tied for first with one final four placement each are Belgium (one fourth place finish), Cuba (one bronze Medal), Czech Republic (one silver medal), France (one bronze medal), Italy (one gold medal), Mexico (one silver medal), Russia (one gold medal), Serbia (one fourth place finish), Slovenia (one gold medal), Turkey (one bronze medal), Ukraine (one fourth place finish) and the United States (one silver medal).
Men's winning percentage
Based on winning percentage, after three men’s events on the FIVB World Tour with a minimum of three matches played, 2017-2018 co-leaders at 100.0 per cent are Russia’s Maxim Sivolap/Igor Velichko (5-0) and Slovenia’s Jan Pokersnik/Nejc Zemljak (4-0). Tied for third at 80.0 per cent are Cuba’s Nivaldo Diaz/Sergio Gonzalez (4-1), Italy’s Marco Caminati/Enrico Rossi (4-1), Mexico’s Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen (4-1) and United States’ Miles Evans/Billy Kolinski (4-1). Seventh at 75.0 per cent is Russia’s Ruslan Bykanov/Maksim Hudyakov (3-1) and eighth at 71.4 per cent is France’s Quincy Aye/Youssef Krou (5-2).
Men's match wins
With five match wins each on the 2017-2018 FIVB World Tour standings after three events are France’s Quincy Aye/Youssef Krou (5-2), Russia’s Maxim Sivolap/Igor Velichko (5-0), Netherlands’ Ruben Penninga/Tom van Seenis (5-3) and Serbia’s Djordje Klasnic/Lazar Kolaric (5-3). Tied for fifth with four matches wins each are Slovenia’s Jan Pokersnik/Nejc Zemljak (4-0), Cuba’s Nivaldo Diaz/Sergio Gonzalez (4-1), Mexico’s Lombardo Ontiveros/Juan Virgen (4-1), Italy’s Marco Caminati/Enrico Rossi (4-1) and United States’ Miles Evans/Billy Kolinske (4-1).
Women's rankings
Brazil’s Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca duo continues at the top of the current women’s FIVB World Rankings with 5,560 points, second is Canada’s Melissa Humana-Parades/Sarah Pavan with 4,480 points, third is Germany’s Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude with 4,240 points, fourth is Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa with 4,000 points and fifth is Czech Republic’s Barbora Hermannova/Marketa Slukova with 3,460 points.
Sixth is Brazil’s Fernanda Alves/Barbara Seixas with 3,180 points, seventh is USA’s Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat with 3,060 points, eighth is Czech Republic’s Kristyna Kolocova/Michala Kvapilova with 3,032 points, ninth is Switzerland’s Joana Heidrich/Anouk Verge-Depre with 2,940 points, 10th is Australia’s Louise Bawden/Taliqua Clancy with 2,616 points, 11th is Canada’s Heather Bansley/Brandie Wilkerson with 2,600 points, 12th is Germany’s Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst with 2,544 points, 13th is Switzerland’s Nina Betschart/Tanja Huberli with 2,412 points, 14th is Germany’s Victoria Bieneck/Isabel Schneider with 2,060 points and 15th is Germany’s Nadja Glenzke/Julia Grossner with 1,990 points.
Women's earnings
In the 2017-2018 FIVB World Tour women’s earnings after two events, Australia’s Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy lead with $8,000 in one event with one gold medal, second is Poland’s Katarzyna Kociolek/Kinga Kolosinska with $6,000 in one event, third is USA’s Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat with $5,000 in one event, fourth is Germany’s Kim Behrens/Sandra Ittlinger with $4,400 in two events and fifth is China’s Fan Wang/Xinyi Xia with $3,600 in one event.
Women's final fours
After two women’s tournaments on the World Tour, seven countries had at least one final four placement. First with two final four placements is the United States (two bronze medals). Tied for second with one final four placement each are Australia (one gold medal), China (one fourth place finish), Germany (one silver medal), Japan (one fourth place finish), Netherlands’ (one gold medal) and Poland (one silver medal).
Women's winning percentage
Based on winning percentage after two women’s events on the 2017-2018 FIVB World Tour with a minimum of two matches played, 2018 co-leaders at 100.0 per cent are Australia’s Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy (5-0) and the Netherlands’ Madelein Meppelink/Joy Stubbe ( 4-0, tied for third at 80.0 per cent each are the United States’ Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat (4-1) and Poland’s Katarzyna Kociolek/Kinga Kolosinska (4-1), fifth at 75.0 per cent is the United States’ Betsi Flint/Kelley Larsen (3-1) and sixth at 71.4 per cent is Germany’s Kim Behrens/Sandra Ittlinger (5-2).
Women's match wins
With five match wins each on the 2017-2018 FIVB World Tour standings after two women’s events co-leading are Australia’s Mariafe Artacho/Taliqua Clancy (5-0) and Germany’s Kim Behrens/Sandra Ittinger (5-2). Tied for third with four match wins each are the Netherlands’ Madelein Meppelink/Joy Stubbe (4-0), the United States’ Summer Ross/Brooke Sweat (4-1) and Poland’s Katarzyna Kociolek/Kinga Kolosinska (4-1). Tied for fifth with three match wins each are the United States’ Betsi Flint/Kelley Larsen (3-1), China’s Fan Wang/Xinyi Xia (3-2) and Japan’s Miki Ishii/Megumi Murakami (3-3).
On the horizon
The 2017 portion of the 2017-2018 FIVB World Tour started in Montpellier, France with a men’s 1-Star tournament (September 7-9) and continued four weeks later in Qinzhou, China with a double-gender 3-Star event (October 11-15). Next was the double-gender FIVB Aalsmeer 1-Star (October 25-29) in the Netherlands and the 2017 portion of the FIVB World Tour will conclude with the double-gender FIVB Sydney 2-Star (November 22-26) in Australia.
Growing history
The Sydney 2-Star event will be the 371st men’s tournament since the FIVB began play in 1987 and the 335th women’s tournament since the FIVB launched women’s competition started in 1992.