The 2015 FIVB Women's World Cup was held from August 22 to September 6 in Japan. The tournament was a qualification process for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The top two ranked teams, China and Serbia, qualified for the Olympics, and joined Brazil as they had already secured a berth as the host country.

Information The FIVB Volleyball World Cup began with signing a contract between Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) and Japan Volleyball Association (JVA) for hosting the tournament on 31 January 2013. In this event, Fuji TV had the right to broadcast the tournament. Moreover, the FIVB released the qualification process of the tournament: Host country 2014 World champions 2 teams per Continental confederation considered by World ranking, Continental ranking, or Continental championship But, on 10 March 2015, the FIVB announced a change of the continental events following each continental confederation's agreement. AVC used the World ranking as of 1 January 2015. CAVB used the African Championship. CEV used the European ranking as of 1 January 2015. CSV held a qualification tournament. NORCECA used the 2015 NORCECA Champion Cup (Final Four).

Changes Olympics places Only the winners and runners-up of the competition could secure the berths in the 2016 Olympic Games. It was different from last edition which three medalists teams joined the Olympics. Qualification format The 2015 World Cup changed the format of the competition following the information above. There were not 2 wild card teams like 2011 edition. One of these spots belonged to the World champions, the other one belonged to the 2nd place of a continental event (2011 edition gave tickets to 4 of 5 continents, but 2015 edition gave tickets to all 5 continents). Competition format Competition rounds decreased from 4 in 2011 to 3. Combining rounds 1 (3 days) and 2 (2 days) in 2011 to 1 round of 5 days. The hosts also reduced the venues from 8 to 6. Pool ranking criteria In 2011 edition, match points was the first criterion, but 2015 changed it to number of matches won. All criteria are shown in section Pool standing procedure. Net touch In this edition, players can not touch the whole net and antennas, not just the white band like in 2011 edition. Roster All 14 players (maximum 12 regular players and maximum 2 liberos) can play in every match and be named in score sheets. Individual awards Individual awards were given to players by positions, unlike previous editions when awards were given to players by volleyball skills. Attribution of points FIVB approved the proposal that in case the team hosting the Olympic Games participated in a previous World Cup then they would keep the World Ranking points gained at the previous World Cup. Referee It was the first time in the competition when there was a challenge referee. In each match, there was a referee who controlled the challenge system.

Qualification 12 teams participated in the World Cup. Only teams who had not yet qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games could compete in the tournament.

Means of qualification Date Venue Qualified Host country 31 January 2013 Lausanne 2014 World Championship 23 Sep – 12 Oct 2014 Italy World Ranking for Asian Team 13 October 2014 Bangkok European Ranking 15 October 2014 Luxembourg South American Qualifier 3–7 June 2015 Comodoro Rivadavia 2015 NORCECA Champions Cup 5–7 June 2015 Havana 2015 African Championship 12–20 June 2015 Nairobi Total 12

Squads Maximum of 12 regular players and maximum of 2 liberos can be selected to play in the tournament. The rosters of 14 players of each team can be seen in the article below.

Venues Site First round Second round Third round A Tokyo Sendai Nagoya Yoyogi National Gymnasium Sendai Gymnasium Nippon Gaishi Hall Capacity: 13,291 Capacity: 7,000 Capacity: 10,000 B Matsumoto Okayama Komaki Matsumoto City Gymnasium Momotaro ArenaPark Arena Komaki Capacity: 6,000 Capacity: 11,000 Capacity: 5,000

Format Group 1 Group 2 (Host) (1) (6) (3) (7) (8) (14) (10) (19) (23) (26) (25) The competition system of the 2015 World Cup for women is the single Round-Robin system. Each team plays once against each of the 11 remaining teams. The teams were divided into 2 groups of 6 teams each. In round 1, total 30 matches in 5 days, each team plays against the other teams from the same group. For rounds 2 and 3, total 36 matches in 6 days, each teams play against the teams from another group. The pools composition followed the Serpentine system based on the World ranking where the host team was at the top position. Numbers in brackets denoted the FIVB World Ranking as of 13 October 2014 except the hosts who ranked 4th.

Pool standing procedure Number of matches won Match points Sets ratio Points ratio Result of the last match between the tied teams

Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 match points for the winner, 0 match points for the loser Match won 3–2: 2 match points for the winner, 1 match point for the loser

Results

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+09:00).

First round

Site A

Site B

Second round

Site A

Site B

Third round

Site A

Site B

Final standing

Rank Team 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics

Team roster Yuan Xinyue, Zhu Ting, Shen Jingsi, Yang Junjing, Wei Qiuyue, Zeng Chunlei (c), Zhang Changning, Zhang Xiaoya, Lin Li, Ding Xia, Yan Ni, Wang Mengjie, Liu Yanhan, Liu Xiaotong Head coach Lang Ping

Awards

Most valuable player Zhu Ting Best Setter Niverka Marte Best Outside Hitters Brankica Mihajlović Tatiana Kosheleva Best Middle Blockers Daymara Lescay TeTori Dixon Best Opposite Hitter Nataliya Obmochaeva Best libero Brenda Castillo

Statistics leaders

Best Scorers Rank Name Points 1 Kim Yeon-koung 197 2 Nataliya Obmochaeva 161 3 Tijana Bošković 159 4 Miyu Nagaoka 156 5 Sarina Koga 150 6 Mercy Moim 146 7 Brankica Mihajlovic 142 7 Tatiana Kosheleva 142 9 Zhu Ting 141 10 Kim Hee-jin 136

Best Spikers Rank Name %Succ 1 Zhu Ting 52.07 2 Brankica Mihajlovic 51.60 3 Tatiana Kosheleva 50.43 4 Nicole Fawcett 50.00 5 Tijana Bošković 48.70 6 Nataliya Obmochaeva 48.58 7 Zhang Changning 46.05 8 Kim Yeon-koung 45.64 9 Yonkaira Peña 45.57 10 Zeng Chunlei 44.10

Best Blockers Rank Name Avg/set 1 Alena Rojas 0.74 2 Daymara Lescay 0.74 3 Zhu Ting 0.68 4 TeTori Dixon 0.61 5 Irina Fetisova 0.61 6 Tatiana Kosheleva 0.61 7 Emilce Sosa 0.58 8 Nicole Fawcett 0.58 9 Ruth Jepngetich 0.58 10 Milena Rašić 0.57

Best Servers Rank Name Avg/set 1 Zhang Changning 0.57 2 Miyu Nagaoka 0.44 3 Katherine Regalado 0.41 4 Sarina Koga 0.39 5 Haruka Miyashita 0.37 6 Prisilla Rivera 0.36 7 Yan Ni 0.35 8 Foluke Akinradewo 0.31 9 Jovana Stevanović 0.31 10 Milena Rašić 0.29

Best Setters Rank Name Avg/set 1 Niverka Marte 7.67 2 Haruka Miyashita 6.98 3 Ekaterina Kosianenko 6.68 4 Maja Ognjenović 6.67 5 Alisha Glass 6.56 6 Shen Jingsi 5.89 7 Zoila La Rosa 5.51 8 Yael Castiglione 5.24 9 Yamila Hernández 4.76 10 Molly Kreklow 4.47

Best Diggers Rank Name Avg/set 1 Brenda Castillo 5.15 2 Tatiana Rizzo 3.71 3 Susan Egoavil 3.64 4 Anna Malova 3.08 5 Brackcides Khadambi 2.50 6 Emily Borrell 2.45 7 Kayla Banwarth 2.44 8 Katherinne Olemar 2.44 9 Ryma Mebarki 2.27 10 Miyu Nagaoka 2.17

Best Receivers Rank Name %Eff 1 Sarina Koga 57.78 2 Saori Kimura 56.68 3 Anna Malova 54.31 4 Kim Yeon-koung 53.89 5 Tijana Malešević 51.79 6 Katherinne Olemar 48.07 7 Kimberly Hill 45.83 8 Yana Shcherban 44.09 9 Yonkaira Peña 40.65 10 Karla Ortiz 40.31

References

External links Player statistics