USA Women defend Grand Prix title in Long Beach this weekend - Articles

LONG BEACH, California (June 15, 2016) – The FIVB World Grand Prix returns to the United States for the second time in two years as the U.S. Women’s National Team hosts the Group 1 Pool E preliminary round June 17-19 at the Walter Pyramid on the Long Beach State University campus in California. Team USA, ranked No. 1 in the world by the FIVB, hosts No. 11 Germany on June 17 at 7:10 p.m., followed by No. 5 Japan on June 18 at 7:10 p.m. and No. 10 Turkey on June 19 at 5:10 p.m. All times are Pacific Time. Match tickets are still available - click here. The USA-Japan match concludes a day-long volleyball tailgating experience called the VOL-B-QUE on the lawns outside the Walter Pyramid. The World Grand Prix is the premier annual international women’s volleyball tournament. This year it serves as the last major event for teams qualified to the 2016 Olympic Games to fine tune their systems. Both USA and Japan are among the 12 teams which will participate at the Rio Games in August. The U.S. enters the second World Grand Prix preliminary round weekend with a 2-1 record and six standings points. The Americans swept Germany and Thailand last weekend in Ningbo, China, before falling to host and No. 2 China in four sets. In the process, China snapped Team USA’s 12-match win streak dating back to the 2015 FIVB World Cup. The Americans, who will announce their roster for the Long Beach matches later this week, rank fourth in...

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