There is always something going on in the world of volleyball. With no less than two world championship tournaments and a restructured women’s pro league in America underway, let’s take a look at some of the latest news from the sport.
With the Women’s Volleyball World Championships underway, the eyes of the game are on Thailand.
The event, which represents the country’s first-ever hosting of a world championship of an Olympic sport, kicked off on Friday, August 22.
Led by veteran captain Miriam Sylla, Italy are the favorites on both onshore and offshore betting websites, where people can gamble without having to go through know-your-customer (KYC) checks.
Brazil, featuring middle-blocker Adenízia Silva and the United States, whose opposite Jordan Thompson remains one to watch in Thailand this year, are also hotly-tipped, but reigning world champions Serbia, who have been world champions since 2018 but have been on a poor run of form since winning the 2022 tournament, are relative outsiders to score a threepeat.
The tournament started with a match between Argentina and Czechia, which saw the South Americans win 3-1, with their top scorer being Bianca Cugno.
This match was followed by a 3-1 win for France over Puerto Rico, while Belgium shut out Cuba to win 3-0.
Both Brazil and the United States were set to start their tournaments later that day, with Brazil due to face Slovenia and the American side up against dark horses Greece.
The hosts will compete against Egypt in their first match.
The women’s championship is not the only major competition taking place in an Asian country right now, however.
In China, the Men’s under-21 World Championships started on Thursday, August 21.
The first series of matches saw defending champions Iran beat Kazakhstan 3-1, while the same score saw lowly Cuba score a surprise win over group seeds Bulgaria.
The competition, taking place in the city of Jiangmen in the south of the country, looks set to be one of the most hotly contested events of its kind for quite some time.
As well as Iran and the hosts, the United States, Italy, and Canada all bring teams that could claim the top spot.
The Americans grabbed a win in the first match, against Thailand, thanks to a man-of-the-match performance by setter Tread Rosenthal.
The University of Hawaii star contributed three blocks, two aces, and a kill to his side’s 3-0 win, as the United States registered a pretty impressive .537 hitting rate and only made six errors in 67 separate attacks.
Opposite Cole Hartke, outside hitter Sean Kelly, middle blocker Jackson Cryst, and outside hitter Sterling Foley all joined Rosenthal in the double-digit scoring list.
Head coach John Hawks, who also serves as Head Coach of the UCLA volleyball team, said he was “excited” that his team was able to win its first match, but acknowledged that there were some issues that needed to be sorted out.
Away from the international arena, women’s volleyball in the United States is getting ready to undergo a restructuring.
The Pro Volleyball Federation and Major League Volleyball announced earlier this month that the two organisations would work together to form a unified competition called MLV.
Teams from Columbus, Dallas, Atlanta, Columbus, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids,San Francisco and Orlando will be joined by current champions Omaha, with teams from Northern California and Washington D.C. set to join next year.
With things set to really heat up next year, teams have already been looking at expanding and enhancing their current rosters.
For example, current champions, the Omaha Supernovas, have announced a deal to bring former University of Nebraska middle-blocker Leyla Blackwell, a three-time All-WCC first-teamer, on board for next season, while outside hitter Allison Mayfield will move from Omaha to the Grand Rapids Rise.
So there you have it. There are two major international tournaments going on right now which both have wide-open fields, while the American women’s domestic game looks like it could well continue its impressive growth. What happens next is, fittingly, up in the air right now, but that’s why we keep watching and loving volleyball.
