Netherlands women's national volleyball team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Netherlands

Federation		Nederlandse Volleybal Bond
Website		www.volleybal.nl (Dutch)
Confederation		CEV
FIVB ranking		10 (as of 2008-01-05)

Medal record
European Championships
Gold	1995 Netherlands	Team Competition
Silver	1991 Italy	Team Competition
Bronze	1985 Netherlands	Team Competition

The Netherlands women's national volleyball team is the national team of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is governed by the Nederlandse Volleyball Bond (NeVoBo).

In September 1995 the Dutch women’s team gained the biggest success in their history. Led by national coach Bert Goedkoop the Orange team became European Champion in the Dutch city of Arnhem. This performance was followed by the fifth place, a year later at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.

During the following years, the team failed completely during the 1997 European Championships and Goedkoop took his leave in the spring of 1998. His successor Pierre Mathieu performed reasonably during the World Championships (7th position) and sober during the European Championships (5th position). In 2000 The Netherlands failed to qualify for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia during the qualification tournament in Japan.

Angelo Frigoni, the former coach of the Italian women's team, was selected as national coach in 2001. During the qualification tournament in Den Bosch, the team gained a ticket to the 2002 World Championships in Germany. There the national side reached the fifth place.

In August the 2003 European Championships started in Turkey, where the team ended fourth. The Netherlands managed to defeat Italy, Czech Republic, Bulgaria an Ukraine, but lost their matches against Poland, Turkey and Germany.

In preparation for the next tournament, the FIVB World Grand Prix, the Dutch team played four friendly matches against Italy. The women first met Japan in the pool round during the Grand Prix, which resulted in a 3-0 victory. They also won the three following pool matches against Italy (3-2), Cuba (3-2) and Germany (3-2). They ended second in their pool, behind the USA. In the final round Italy was the first opponent. Although the South European team won the first two sets, the Dutch managed to pull themselves together and won with 3-2. Russia was to strong (0-3) in the second match of the final round, but South Korea also lost their match against the Netherlands after winning the first two sets. The women of Orange ended the competition by winning their final match against Germany with 3-2, claiming the fourth place – the highest Dutch ranking in the Grand Prix ever. With personal success for Francien Huurman: she ended third in the ranking of best Grand Prix players. Elles Leferink (sixth) also appeared in the top 10 of best players.

From August 26 to 31, 2003 the team played a Grand Prix 2004 qualification tournament in Poland. Germany, Greece and Bulgaria were defeated, but Russia and Poland were too strong. In September 2003 the team participated in a four-countries tournament with host Italy, Ukraine and Poland. This was the last official preparation for the 2003 European Championship, which was held from 20 to 28 September in Turkey. The Dutch team lost the semi-final to Turkey (0-3), followed by a defeat in the bronze medal match against Germany (2-3).

The year 2004 began with an important tournament for the Dutch volleyball women. In Azerbaijan they entered the European Olympic Qualification Tournament, the last chance to qualify for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The Dutch played against Bulgaria, Italy and Turkey and lost all three matches. After a lot of rumours, the Dutch Volleyball Federation confirmed in the beginning of May that Avital Selinger, former international and since than successfully operating as trainer-coach, was hired to be the new head coach. He started his route to Beijing with two friendly matches against Turkey. In June the team practised it’s skills against Russia, followed by Spain in September.

From September 6 to 10, the Netherlands participated in an international tournament in Poland, together with the hosting country, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In this preparation for the Grand Prix Qualification Tournament later that month the team defeated the whole top-three of the last European Championships, losing only two sets in the five matches they played against Poland, Turkey, Romania, Germany and Bulgaria.

In May 2005 the team flew to China, to practise against the hosting country, Poland and Bulgaria. Some of the players (Ingrid Visser, Francien Huurman, Alice Blom and Janneke van Tienen) didn’t travel to Asia, as Selinger wanted them to have a period of rest after their long competition program.

The World Grand Prix 2005 began well for the Dutch team on June 24. The Netherlands defeated the USA (3-0). One day later, they lost to PR China, but Selinger’s team was again too strong for Thailand (3-0). In the second WGP playing round the Netherlands started by defeating Italy with a clear 3-0. A victory on Cuba was just missed (2-3), but Thailand was defeated once again.

The third round began with a loss against the Olympic and World Champion Brazil (1-3). The Dutch team lost also against Cuba, but South Korea was an easy prey for the Netherlands (3-0), which secured the Dutch a place in the final round in Japan. There the team ended up in sixth place. The Dutch had to play a qualification tournament for the 2006 edition. The team had lost only one set too many to qualify for the semi-finals. They defeated Romania and Poland, but lost to Russia.

In the beginning of August 2005 the team played in the Turkish town Ankara to qualify for the World Championship 2006 in Japan. By winning all three matches, against Ukraine, Belgium and Turkey, they qualified. After a few friendly matches against Russia, Poland, Bulgaria and Germany, the European Championships in Croatia started on September 17. Despite of the fact that there were more matches lost than won, the Dutch team managed to reach the final round in Zagreb. In the finals Serbia-Montenegro was defeated without giving one set away, Turkey was defeated with 3-1. The Dutch ended up in fifth place.

In May the international season for 2006 unofficially began with two friendly matches in and against Germany. After that, they travelled to PR China for an international tournament in which China, Cuba and Russia also participated. A few weeks later, at the end of June, the team travelled to Belgium for several friendly matches against the hosting country. In the beginning of July, at the Boris Yeltsin Cup in Russia, they defeated Azerbaijan and Turkey, but both Russia and China were too strong for Selinger’s team. The Netherlands ended in third place.

The qualification tournament for the World Grand Prix 2007, from September 27 until October 1 in Bulgaria, but the main tournament of the team was of course the World Championships in Japan at the end of October. The Netherlands played in pool C against Cameroon, the United States, Brazil, Puerto Rico and Kazakhstan. The USA and Brazil proved to be too strong, but the Netherlands defeated Cameroon (3-0), Puerto Rico (3-0) and Kazakhstan (3-2). They ended third in their group, and qualified for the second pool round. The team finished in 8th place in the overall-rankings.