Volleyball News

Canada is in a bind at the world men's volleyball championships after a 22-25, 21-25, 16-25 loss to 23rd-ranked Puerto Rico on Tuesday. The 12th-ranked Canadians are tied with seventh-ranked Argentina at 1-5 in sixth place in the eight-team Group E in second-round play. The two teams meet Wednesday in a showdown to see who advances to the final round in Tokyo beginning Saturday. ``It's going to be really tough,'' ...

Canada dropped an 18-25, 18-25, 17-25 decision to fourth-ranked Serbia and Montenegro on Wednesday to finish the first round of the world men's volleyball championships with a 3-2 record in Group D. The 12th-ranked Canadians advance to the second round, which begins Saturday with the top four teams from each of the four six-team groups. Victoria's Fred Winters led Canada on Wednesday with 13 points. Serbia and Montenegro is unbeaten ...

Russia defeated tournament favourite Brazil in five sets Thursday to win the women's world volleyball championships. Ekaterina Gamova scored a match-high 28 points and Lioubov Shashkova added 19, helping Russia to the 15-25, 25-23, 25-18, 20-25, 15-13 victory. It is Russia's first world title since the Soviet Union won in 1990 and sixth overall. ``It means a lot because this is the first gold medal for Russia after three bronze ...

Tournament favourite Brazil ground out a hard-fought win over the Netherlands on Friday to remain unbeaten and advance to the second round of the women's world volleyball championships. Walewska Oliveira scored 20 points for Brazil (3-0), which overcame a second-set loss to beat the Netherlands 25-18, 23-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-9. The United States stormed past tournament newcomer Cameroon 25-17, 25-18, 25-11 to book its second-round berth, while Olympic champion China ...

Eleven members of the University of Scranton women's volleyball team were hurt in a chain-reaction crash on a rain-soaked highway while heading to a tournament in the Virgin Islands. Brooke Hinkley, the 21-year-old captain, remained in fair condition in hospital, school spokesman Stan Zygmunt said Friday. The four-vehicle accident started Wednesday night when a car lost control on the Pennsylvania Turnpike about 30 kilometres outside of Philadelphia, hit a guardrail ...

The Cuban national volleyball team has withdrawn from next week's Anton Furlani International Cup in Ottawa citing injury, Volleyball Canada said Wednesday. A second Canadian club, featuring members of the national team's extended roster and training-centre athletes, will replace the Cubans at the Sept. 6-9 event at Scotiabank Place that also includes Argentina and Tunisia. Cuba said its players were too beat up from World League competition and will use ...

MOSCOW (AP) _ Defending champion Brazil rallied to beat France 22-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-23, 15-13 Sunday and win its fourth consecutive World League volleyball title. France, playing in its first-ever World League final, took a 2-0 lead at Luzhniki Indoor Arena and took a 2-0 lead. But Brazil took over midway through the third set and dominated the fourth. ``It's difficult to lose when you were two sets up,'' France captain Stephane Antiga said. Sebastien Ruette, who scored ...

MACAU (AP) _ Defending champion Brazil powered past China in three straight sets Sunday to retain its lead in the preliminary round of the women's volleyball World Grand Prix. The undefeated Brazilians beat the No. 4-ranked Chinese 25-22, 25-19, 25-17 to finish the first two preliminary rounds with a 6-0 record. Brazil, vying for its third straight World Grand Prix, also defeated the Dominican Republic 3-2 on Friday and downed the United States 3-1 Saturday. Russia, 5-1, was ...

MOSCOW (AP) _ Defending champion Brazil beat Russia, but the two teams will face off in a playoff rematch after both advanced to the semifinals of the World League volleyball finals on Friday. Bulgaria defeated eight-time winner Italy 25-20, 29-27, 25-19 and was the only team not to drop a set in three matches. Brazil won 15-25, 25-18, 13-25, 26-24, 15-12 and finished second to Bulgaria in Group F. In ...

MOSCOW (AP) _ Russia and Bulgaria won again Thursday to lead their groups after two days of play at the World League volleyball finals. Late substitute Sergey Baranov scored six points in the decisive fifth set and Sergey Tetyukhin spiked the winner to lift Russia to a 25-23, 21-25, 25-22, 21-25, 15-10 win over France. Bulgaria, which upset Brazil in straight sets Wednesday, scored another three-set win, beating Serbia-Montenegro 26-24, ...