Rio de Janeiro, July 19, 2015: The final day of the FIVB Volleyball World League at the Maracanazinho Arena featured two straight-sets victories; France defeated Serbia 3-0 to claim their first title while the USA upset world champions Poland to win bronze.
France’s outside spiker Earvin Ngapeth was nominated the MVP after France went from winning Group 2 to winning Group 1 a week later.
“We arrived here with less pressure than the other teams, because we were in the Group 2, but we knew that we could win,” France’s captain Benjamin Toniutti said. “We won in Brazil in 2013 and we knew that we could do it again. It is amazing, I do not know how to say the way we feel, but I think that we won’t think about this for now, maybe tomorrow. But we are so happy, we trained so hard two months and a half to get this trophy and now we go back with this trophy to France and words cannot describe this.”
France received $1m in prize money and Serbia received $500,000 for finishing second.
Key Points
• France claimed their first World League title; the previous best result was silver in 2006, when they lost 3-2 against Brazil.
• France have lost only one match in the 2015 World League, their 3-1 loss against United States on July 17 in the Final Round pool stages.
• Antonin Rouzier was France’s top scorer in the 2015 World League with 251 points.
• This was the third time that the United States played for bronze. In 1992 they beat the Netherlands 3-1 and in 2007 they won against Poland by the same score.
• The Bronze Medal Match was also a rematch of the 2012 World League final in which Poland beat the United States 3-0.
• Host nation of the World League Finals, Brazil enjoyed one victory, against the USA, and one loss, against France in Pool I. They could not advance to semifinals because of point average.
2015 World League Dream Team
• Best Outside Spiker: Earvin Ngapeth (FRA)
• 2nd Best Outside Spiker: Michal Kubiak (POL)
• Best Middle Blocker: Maxwell Holt (USA)
• 2nd Best Middle Blocker: Srecko Lisinac (SRB)
• Best Libero – Pawel Zatorski (POL)
• Best Setter – Benjamin Toniutti (FRA)
• Opposite Spiker – Aleksandar Atanasijevic (SRB)
• Most Valuable Player – Earvin Ngapeth (FRA)
Final standings:
1) France
2) Serbia
3) USA
4) Poland
5) Brazil
5) Italy
Top scoring performances
• 32 – Aleksandar Atanasijevic of Serbia v Italy (June 28)
• 30 – Matthew Anderson of USA v Brazil (July 16)
• 30 – Mitar Tzourits of Greece v China (June 21)
• 30 – Mitar Tzourits of Greece v Slovakia (June 20)
• 30 – Bartosz Kurek of Poland v Iran (June 5)
• 29 – Dai Xingyao of China v Slovakia (July 5)
• 29 – Giulio Sabbi of Italy v Serbia (June 28)
• 29 – Jan Stokr of Czech Republic v Korea (June 27)
• 28 – Bartosz Kurek of Poland v France (July 18)
• 28 – Tom Edgar of Australia v Serbia (July 4)
• 28 – Marouen Garci of Tunisia v Puerto Rico (June 14)
• 28 – Kervin Martin Pinerua Urbina of Venezuela v Spain (June 13)
• 28 – Thomas Edgar of Australia v Italy (May 30)
• 28 – Rolando Cepeda of Cuba v Argentina (May 30)
• 27 – Aleksandar Atanasijevic of Serbia v Poland (July 17)
• 27 – Olli-Pekka Ojanivsu of Finland v Portugal (July 4)
• 27 – Kunihiro Shimizu of Japan v France (June 27)
• 27 – Yuki Ishikawa of Japan v France (June 27)
• 27 – Zhi Juan of China v Greece (June 21)
• 27 – Kervin Martin Pinerua Urbina of Venezuela v Kazakhstan (June 12)
• 26 – Aleksandar Atanasijevic of Serbia v Italy (July 15)
• 26 – Baturalp Burak Gungor of Turkey v Montenegro (June 21)
• 26 – Bartosz Kurek of Poland v Russia (June 19)
• 26 – Rolando Cepeda of Cuba v Bulgaria (June 5)
• 26 – Jan Stokr of Czech Republic v Japan (May 31)
• 26 – Gavin Schmitt of Canada v Bulgaria (May 30)
• 26 – Jae-Duck Seo of Korea v Czech Republic (June 7)
• 25 – Antonin Rouzier of France v Poland (July 18)
• 25 – Antonin Rouzier of France v Brazil (July 15)
• 25 – Rolando Cepeda of Cuba v Canada (June 20)
• 25 – Jan Stokr of Czech Republic v France (June 20)
• 25 – Jan Stokr of Czech Republic v Korea (June 6)
• 25 – Todor Aleksiev of Bulgaria v Canada (May 31)
• 25 – Vladimir Nikolov of Bulgaria v Canada (May 31)
• 25 – Yuki Ishikawa of Japan v Czech Republic (May 31)
• 25 – Sam Deroo of Belgium v Finland (May 23)
• 25 – Dick Kooy of Netherlands v Portugal (May 17)
• 24 – Bartosz Kurek of Serbia v Poland (July 17)
• 24 – Casey Adam Schouten of Canada v Argentina (June 27)
• 24 – Urpo Sivula of Finland v Netherlands (June 27)
• 24 – Dick Kooy of Netherlands v Finland (June 27)
• 24 – Pavel Moroz of Russia v Poland (June 20)
• 24 – Ricardo Lucarelli of Brazil v Serbia (June 14)
• 24 – Bartosz Kurek of Poland v USA (June 12)
• 24 – Wallace de Souza of Brazil v Serbia (June 12)
• 24 – Hugo Gaspar of Portugal v Netherlands (May 17)
Top scoring performances by team
• 124 – Kazakhstan v Venezuela (June 12)
• 117 – Italy v Brazil (July 3)
• 117 – Belgium v Portugal (June 14)
• 117 – Venezuela v Kazakhstan (June 12)
• 117 – Belgium v Finland (May 24)
• 116 – Greece v China (June 21)
• 115 – Brazil v Italy (July 3)
• 115 – Brazil v Serbia (May 29)
• 114 – Argentina v Bulgaria (June 20)
• 113 – China v Slovakia (July 5)
• 113 – Serbia v Italy (June 28)
• 113 – Italy v Serbia (June 28)
• 113 – China v Greece (June 21)
• 113 – Greece v China (June 13)
• 113 – Belgium v Finland (May 23)
• 112 – Slovakia v China (July 5)
• 112 – Spain v Egypt (June 12)
• 112 – Poland v Russia (May 29)
• 111 – Poland v France (July 18)
• 111 – Argentina v Canada (June 27)
• 111 – Turkey v Montenegro (June 21)
• 111 – Finland v Portugal (July 4)
• 110 – Serbia v USA (July 18)
• 110 – France v Japan (June 27)
• 110 – China v Slovakia (June 12)
• 110 – Turkey v Puerto Rico (June 12). —- FIVB
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