Brazil's Natalia Pereira attacks against Italy during the preliminary round of the World Grand Prix. Both teams will be part of the six-team World Grand Prix Finals being held July 22-26 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.
Lausanne, Switzerland, July 18, 2015 – The 23rd FIVB World Grand Prix will have six of the top seven ranked teams in the world converging on Omaha, Nebraska, USA, to play in the five-day, round-robin competition slated for July 22-26 at the 17,000-seat CenturyLink Center.
Brazil (9-0, 27 points) and China (9-0, 26 points) went through the nine-match preliminary schedule without a loss. Second-ranked Brazil, will be seeking their third straight World Grand Prix title and become the first country to do so twice. The Brazilians have a record 10 overall titles. China, ranked third in the world and finishing second in the preliminary standings, will be seeking their second World Grand Prix title.
Host United States (8-1, 24 points), ranked first in the world, finished the preliminary round in third place with its only loss coming to China on July 18. The match was a rematch of the FIVB World Championship gold-medal match in which the Americans won in four sets. USA rank second with five World Grand Prix titles and was the last team other than Brazil to win gold (2010-2012).
Italy and Russia finished fourth and fifth in the preliminary round with identical 5-4 records and 14 points. Italy is ranked fifth in the world, while Russia is seventh. Russia have won the title three times in the previous 22 editions. Japan (4-5, 13 points), ranked fourth in the world, earned the final ticket to Omaha with a key win over Thailand on July 18.
This year marks the first time that the U.S. will host the Finals in the 23-year history of the event, which is the premier annual international women’s volleyball tournament.