Lausanne, Switzerland, September 12, 2014 — Midway through a month-long break between tournaments, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) pauses to look back on some of the significant stats from its 2014 US$10.2 million FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, Part Deux.
Following this four-week hiatus, the FIVB returns to action on the sand in Brazil with the double-gender US$800,000 FIVB São Paulo Grand Slam to be held Sept. 23-28. While Brazil has hosted more FIVB events than any nation with 64 tournaments through 2013, São Paulo will host a men and women’s FIVB World Tour event for the second straight year with this year being the last of a FIVB-record 10 double-gender grand slams on the 2014 FIVB World Tour schedule.
With 12 men’s events and 13 women’s tournaments now completed, here are some spicy sauces from the 2014 FIVB World Tour that are Part Deux of the scrumptious succulent smorgasbord of today’s treats on the FIVB Beach Volleyball menu:
Key points:
• Women’s 2014 final four country leaders –
• Women Top Rookies –
• Women’s Qualification Percentages -
• Match wins by Confederation/Country -
• Main draw wins by seeds -
• Men’s Match wins by events played together; events played total -
• Women’s Match wins by events played together; events played total -
• Women’s 2014 final four country leaders – So far on the 2014 FIVB World Tour, the United States and Brazil are tied for the most men’s final four placements with 10 each. USA has 10 medals (four gold medals, two silver, two bronze) while Brazil has seven medals (two, three, two). Third with six final four placements and four medals in Latvia (two, two, zero) followed by Italy with five final fours and four medals (two, two, zero). Fifth in men’s final fours is Germany with one medal (bronze).
• Women Top Rookies – The 2014 FIVB World Tour has witnessed some impressive ‘rookies’ on the circuit. Playing nearly or totally fulltime this year are several players hoping their journey is on the road to Rio and the 2016 Olympic Games. Brazil’s Fernanda Alves, teamed on a regular basis for the majority of this season with 2013 tour champion Taiana Lima, won her first gold at The Hague Grand Slam in the Netherlands. Alves has played the last five events with Lima and the duo is currently 11th in season earnings with $130,000. Leading in women’s ‘rookie’ season points is China’s Xinyi Xia with 1,510 points and two bronze medals while Alves is second with 1,280 points with the one gold and one fourth place finish. Third is Germany’s Isabel Schneider with 600 points in six events and a best finish of fifth. Fifth so far is Austria’s Lena Plesiutschnig with 520 points in eight events and a top finish of ninth twice.
• Women’s Qualification Percentages - Of the 13 women’s events played on the 2014 FIVB World Tour. Overall for the women, the AVC had 20 % (10 of 50 teams qualify), CEV had 35.29% (60 of 170), CSV had 82.35% (14 of 17) and NORCECA had 62.50% (20 of 32). Among individual countries by confederation, Kazakhstan (AVC) has qualified 50% (4 of 8), Germany (CEV) 80% (12 of 15), Italy (CEV) 40.00% (4 of 10), Poland (CEV) 58.33% (7 of 12), Russia (CEV) 47.37% (9 of 19), Switzerland (CEV), 50.00% (5 of 10), Brazil (CSV) 90% (9 of 10), Argentina (CSV) 100% (4 of 4), Canada (NORCECA) 63.64% (7 of 11), Mexico (NORCECA) 71.43% (5 of 7) and the United States (NORCECA) 57.14% (8 of 14).
• Match wins by Confederation/Country - Overall in men’s competition after 12 events, the CSV has won 58.8%(161-113) of its matches with NORCECA second at 57.6% (224-165), CEV third at 48.0% (603-653) and the AVC fourth with 36.1% (66-117) counting Top 24 elimination, pool play and qualifying matches. Individually for men, the United States (NORCECA) has had the best percentage at 65.2% (165-86), followed by Brazil (CSV) at 62.7% (131-78) and Chile (CSV) third at 60.0% (18-12), Latvia fourth at 59.0% (69-48) and Netherlands fifth at 55.5% (71-57). After 13 events in women’s action, the CSV leads with at 67.6% (225-108) followed by the CEV at 48.2% (576-619), NORCECA at 46.9% (165-187), and AVC fourth at 41.9% (135-187). Individually, Brazil has topped all women’s play at 72.2% (197-76) with Spain second at 63.9% (39-22), Germany third at 60.2% (159-105), the Czech Republic fourth at 55.4% (62-50) and the United States fifth at 54.9% (106-87).
• Main draw wins by seeds - For the men after 12 events in 2014, seed No.1 leads at 83.1% (59-12 total) with seed 7 second at 75.4% (49-16), seed No. 2 third at 74.2% (46-16), seed No. 4 fourth at 69.8% (44-19) and No. 3 fifth at 66.7% (44-22). For the women after 13 events in 2014, seed No. 1 has topped the winning percentage at 77.0% (57-17) with seed No. 2 in second at 76.4% (55-17) and seed 3 third at 73.2% (52-19, seed 4 fourth at 73.0% (54-20) with seed No. 7 in fifth at 70.3% (45-19).
• Men’s Match wins by events played together; events played total - Men after 12 events – 51 to 100 events 61.1% (110-70), 16 to 25 57.6% (254-187) and 10 to 25 53.9% (270-231). Also for men--events played total --101 to 200 events, 59.6% (425-288), over 200, 54.7% (105-87) and third is 51 to 100 total events played, 46.8% (342-389).
• Women’s Match wins by events played together; events played total - Women after 13 events – as a team 51-100, 66.1% (109-56), 10 to 15, 56.1% (280-198), 16 to 25, 53.1% (292-258) and over 100, 52.9% (37-33); events played total--over 200 events played total 68.5 % (113-52), 101 to 200, 56.1% (419-328) and 51 to 100, 50.5% (376-368).
• Match Wins by Combined Age – For men after 12 events, combined age of 60-69, 56.7% winning percentage (292-223), 50 to 59, 49.8% (542-546) and 70 and over 48.1% (38-41). For women after 13 events, combined age winning percentage, 60 to 69, 64.0% (220-124), 50 to 59, 49.6% (619-629) and 40 to 49, 45.3% (257-310).
• Total Entries –Through 12 men’s events and 13 women’s tournaments so far on the 2014 FIVB World Tour, there have been a total of 1,152 different teams entered in the various events, 571 men and 581 women. By Confederations, the CEV has had the most teams compete with 684 total (354 men, 330 women), followed way back by NORCECA with 179 (91, 88) the AVC with 160 (59, 101), CSV with 123 (61, 62) and the CAVB with 6 (6 men’s teams). By individual countries, Germany (CEV) has had the most with 102 (48 men, 54 women), followed by the United States (NORCECA) with 95 (49, 46), Brazil (CSV) with 88 (41, 47), Austria (CEV) with 66 (41, 25), the Netherlands also with 66 (30, 36), Switzerland (CEV) with 63 (34, 29), Canada (NORCECA) with 62 (30, 32), Russia with 59 (24, 35) and China (AVC) with 55 (19, 36).
Men’s 2014 final four by Confederation – So far in the men’s 2014 FIVB World Tour, the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) had recorded one final four finish and one medal (Bronze), the South American volleyball confederation (CSV) had 10 final four placements including seven medals (two gold, three silver and two bronze medals). The African volleyball confederation (CAVB) had no final fours, the European volleyball federation (CEV) has 25 final fours, including 17 medals (six, seven, four). The North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) had 11 final four placements which are all medal finishes (four gold, two silver, five bronze).
Women’s 2014 final four by Confederations – So far in the women’s 2014 FIVB World Tour, the AVC has earned four final four placements including three medals (one silver, two bronze), the CSV 17 final four finishes including 13 medals (four, six, three), the CAVB has no final four finishes, the CEV has recorded 27 final four placements including 19 podiums (five, six, eight) and NORCECA has earned four final four placements, all four being gold medals.
Men’s 2014 Elimination rounds percentages – As confederations in the men’s 2014 FIVB World Tour, the AVC has advanced 47.22% of its main draw teams from pool play to the elimination rounds (17 of 36), the CEV has advanced 74.56% of its teams (170 of 228), the CSV has advanced 87.76% of its teams (43 of 49) and NORCECA has advanced 81.69% of its tandems (58 of 71) from pool play to the elimination rounds. Looking at individual federations in the men’s play, Australia leads the AVC at 75.00% (six of eight), among the leaders in the CEV are Spain at 92.86% (13 of 14), the Netherlands at 84.00% (21 of 25), Russia at 82.35% (14 of 17), Austria at 76.19% (16 of 21) and Germany at 70.73% (29 of 41). Leading the CSV is Brazil at 94.74% (36 of 38) and the overall high percentage for advancing men’s teams from pool play to the elimination rounds is the United States (NORCECA) at 95.56% (43 of 45).
Women’s 2014 Elimination rounds percentages –As confederations in the women’s 2014 FIVB World Tour, the AVC has advanced 67.21% of its main draw teams from pool play to the elimination rounds (41 of 61), the CEV has advanced 75.00% of its teams (165 of 220), the CSV has advanced 91.53% of its duos (54 of 59) and NORCECA has advanced 68.42% of its tandems (52 of 76) from pool play to the elimination rounds. Among the individual federations in women’s play Australia leads the AVC at 81.82% (nine of 11), among the leaders in the CEV are Spain at 100% (10 of 10), Switzerland at 95.83% (23 of 24), Slovak Republic at 88.89% (eight of nine), Italy at 82.35% (14 of 17) and Germany at 80.39% (41 of 51). The leading federation from the CSV is Brazil 95.65% (44 of 46) and leading the NORCECA federation with the high percentage for advancing women’s teams from pool play is the United States at 77.50% (31 of 40).