The 2023 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League was the fifth edition of the FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League, an annual Women's international volleyball tournament. It was held between May and July 2023, and the final round took place at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, United States.
Following the results of 2022 Nations League and 2022 Challenger Cup, Belgium were replaced by debutants Croatia in this edition.
Turkey claimed their first VNL title after defeating China in the final. China took the silver medal, which was their best result in this tournament. Poland won their first medal of the tournament, claiming the bronze after defeating finals hosts the United States in the third place match. Melissa Vargas of Turkey named as the MVP of the tournament.
Teams Qualification Sixteen teams qualified for the competition. Eleven of them qualified as core teams which cannot face relegation. Five other teams were selected as challenger teams which could be relegated from the tournament. Croatia replaced Belgium after winning the 2022 Challenger Cup.
CountryConfederationDesignationPrevious appearancesPrevious best performanceTotalFirstLastCSVCore team420182022Runners-up (2019, 2021, 2022)CEVChallenger team22019202214th place (2022)NORCECAChallenger team22021202212th place (2022)AVCCore team4201820223rd place (2018, 2019)CEVChallenger team0NoneDebutNORCECAChallenger team4201820226th place (2021)CEVCore team42018202210th place (2019, 2021, 2022)CEVCore team420182022Champions (2022)AVCCore team4201820224th place (2021)CEVCore team4201820225th place (2018)CEVChallenger team4201820225th place (2019)CEVCore team4201820223rd place (2022)AVCCore team42018202212th place (2018)AVCCore team4201820228th place (2022)CEVCore team420182022Runners-up (2018)NORCECACore team420182022Champions (2018, 2019, 2021)
Format Preliminary round The format of play is the same as edition 2022. The new format will see 16 women's teams competing in pools of 8 teams during the pool phase. Each team plays 12 matches during the pool stage. Eight teams will then move into the final knockout phase of the competition.
Final round The VNL Finals will see the top eight teams moving directly to the knockout phase which will consist of eight matches in total: four quarterfinals, two semi-finals and the bronze and gold medal matches.
Final 8 direct elimination formula: The first ranked team will play a quarterfinal match against the eighth ranked team, the second ranked team will play a quarterfinal match against the seventh ranked team, the third ranked team will play a quarterfinal match against the sixth ranked team, the fourth ranked team will play a quarterfinal match against the fifth ranked team. The national team of the hosting territory of the event will have a guaranteed berth for the Final round. If the host nation does not finish in the top eight in Preliminary round, they will replace the eighth place team and play as the eighth seed.
Pool composition The overview of pools was released on 11 November 2022.
Week 1Week 2Week 3Pool 1TurkeyPool 2JapanPool 3Hong Kong, ChinaPool 4BrazilPool 5South KoreaPool 6Thailand
Venues Preliminary round
Week 1Pool 1Pool 2Antalya, TurkeyNagoya, JapanAntalya Sports HallNippon Gaishi HallCapacity: 10,000Capacity: 10,000Week 2Pool 3Pool 4Hong Kong, ChinaBrasília, BrazilHong Kong ColiseumNilson Nelson GymnasiumCapacity: 12,500Capacity: 11,105Week 3Pool 5Pool 6Suwon, South KoreaBangkok, ThailandChilbo GymnasiumIndoor Stadium HuamarkCapacity: 4,407Capacity: 8,000
Final round All matchesArlington, Texas, USACollege Park CenterCapacity: 7,000
Competition schedule ●Preliminary round●Final round
Week 130 May – 4 JunWeek 213–18 JunWeek 327 Jun – 2 JulWeek 412–16 Jul32 matches32 matches32 matches8 matches
Pool standing procedure Advancement out of pool play is decided by the following: Total number of victories (matches won, matches lost) In the event of a tie, the following first tiebreaker will apply: The teams will be ranked by the most points gained per match as follows: Match won 3–0 or 3–1: 3 points for the winner, 0 points for the loser Match won 3–2: 2 points for the winner, 1 point for the loser Match forfeited: 3 points for the winner, 0 points (0–25, 0–25, 0–25) for the loser If teams are still tied after examining the number of victories and points gained, then the FIVB will examine the results in order to break the tie in the following order: Sets quotient: if two or more teams are tied on the number of points gained, they will be ranked by the quotient resulting from the division of the number of all sets won by the number of all sets lost. Points quotient: if the tie persists based on the sets quotient, the teams will be ranked by the quotient resulting from the division of all points scored by the total of points lost during all sets. If the tie persists based on the points quotient, the tie will be broken based on the team that won the match of the Round Robin Phase between the tied teams. When the tie in points quotient is between three or more teams, these teams ranked taking into consideration only the matches involving the teams in question.
Squads
Preliminary round Ranking
Week 1 Pool 1 All times are Further-eastern European Time (UTC+03:00).
Pool 2 All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+09:00).
Week 2 Pool 3 All times are Hong Kong Time (UTC+08:00).
Pool 4 All times are Brazil Time (UTC−03:00).
Week 3 Pool 5 All times are Korea Standard Time (UTC+09:00).
Pool 6 All times are Thailand Standard Time (UTC+07:00).
Final round All times are Central Daylight Time (UTC−05:00).
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Third place match
Final
Final standing
RankTeam45678910111213141516 Source: VNL 2023 final standings
14–woman rosterGizem Örge, Simge Aköz, Cansu Özbay, Melissa Vargas, Ayça Aykaç, Hande Baladın, Derya Cebecioğlu, Elif Şahin, Eda Erdem (c), Saliha Şahin, Zehra Güneş, Aslı Kalaç, İlkin Aydın, Ebrar KarakurtHead coach Daniele Santarelli
Awards
Most valuable player Melissa Vargas Best setter Diao Linyu Best outside spikers Li Yingying Martyna Łukasik Best middle blockers Zehra Güneş Yuan Xinyue Best opposite spiker Melissa Vargas Best libero Gizem Örge
Statistics leaders Preliminary round Statistics leaders correct as of Week 3 of preliminary round.
Best ScorersPlayerAttacksBlocksServesTotal1 Magdalena Stysiak2063242422 Li Yingying21413132403 Gaila González19728142394 Sylvia Nwakalor2023132365 Alexa Gray2081310231
Best AttackersPlayerSpikesFaultsShots1 Li Yingying2145415350.834212 Alexa Gray2086724140.315163 Magdalena Stysiak2067117145.984484 Sylvia Nwakalor2026917145.704425 Gaila González1978518442.27466
Best BlockersPlayerFaultsRebounds1 Agnieszka Korneluk4360673.581702 Mira Todorova3935453.361193 Jineiry Martinez3545822.921624 Emily Maglio3549752.921595 Camilla Weitzel3455842.83173
Best ServersPlayerAcesFaultsHits1 Maria Yordanova19211151.581552 Sarina Koga17191491.421853 Camilla Weitzel16181511.331854 Hanna Orthmann1536841.251355 Gaila González14351501.17199
Best SettersPlayerFaults1 Brie King2661694422.1712262 Pia Kästner264685822.0011283 Diao Linyu2511179720.9210594 Nanami Seki220773018.339575 Francesca Bosio2054102217.081229
Best DiggersPlayerDigsFaultsReceptions1 Mila Pashkuleva176411914.672362 Izabela Štimac160382113.332193 Anna Pogany158582913.172454 Minami Nishimura151391712.582075 Teodora Pusic144492812.00221
Best ReceiversPlayerExcellentsFaults1 Chatchu-on Moksri821822525.233252 Izabela Štimac801912835.242273 Li Yingying761313134.552204 Lina Alsmeier751513832.892285 Wang Yunlu731517228.08260
Final round Statistics leaders correct as of final round.
Best ScorersPlayerAttacksBlocksServesTotal1 Melissa Vargas5555652 Magdalena Stysiak5213563 Li Yingying4821514 Martyna Łukasik3512385 Andrea Drews323237
Best AttackersPlayerSpikesFaultsShots1 Melissa Vargas55124250.461092 Magdalena Stysiak52225141.601253 Li Yingying48124545.711054 Martyna Łukasik3573843.75805 Andrea Drews32223834.7892
Best BlockersPlayerFaultsRebounds1 Zehra Güneş1412184.67442 Eda Erdem1217214.00503 Yuan Xinyue1014153.33394 Joanna Pacak8262.67165 Chiaka Ogbogu810192.6737
Best ServersPlayerAcesFaultsHits1 Melissa Vargas54391.67482 Agnieszka Korneluk37261.00363 Magdalena Stysiak38301.00414 Micha Hancock34341.00415 Ebrar Karakurt33411.0047
Best SettersPlayerFaults1 Diao Linyu71116123.672332 Katarzyna Wenerska42222514.002693 Micha Hancock37523112.332734 Macris Carneiro3607236.001085 Pia Kästner3338926.40125
Best DiggersPlayerDigsFaultsReceptions1 Gizem Örge4614615.33662 Maria Stenzel4010213.33523 Justine Wong-Orantes3919413.00624 Magdalena Stysiak354211.67415 Wang Mengjie388510.0043
Best ReceiversPlayerExcellentsFaults1 Martyna Łukasik2265825.58862 Maria Stenzel2113735.59593 Lena Stigrot1602341.03394 Wang Yunlu1683925.40635 Kelsey Robinson1413329.1748
See also 2023 FIVB Volleyball Women's Challenger Cup
Notes
References
External links