(left to right) Milan Final Round coaches Karch Kiraly (USA), Yury Marichev (RUS), Marco Bonitta (ITA), Marcos Kwiek (DOM), Lang Ping (CHN) and Jose Roberto Lages (BRA)
Milan, Italy, October 6, 2014 – The celebration of the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship Italy 2014 reached Milan with the final six teams taking part in the drawing of lots to decide the final two group pairings for the coming week.
Heading into the draw, Italy secured their top spot in Pool G by winning the second round Pool E in Bari. Meanwhile, Brazil won Pool F in Verona to earn the top position in Pool H in Milan.
The draw added United States and Russia into Group G with Italy, while China and Dominican Republic were drawn into Pool H with Brazil.
Brazil were the only team to head into Milan undefeated at 9-0, which included wins over both United States and Russia to conclude the second round. Turkey was the only team to hand Brazil two set losses throughout the tournament.
Italy, which battled back from a first-round loss to Dominican Republic in the first round, won all four of their second round matches in Bari. Italy are 8-1 overall in the tournament.
USA was undefeated with maximum points prior to losing to Brazil 3-0 in the final match of the second round. Like USA, China was undefeated heading into the final second round match before sustaining a loss to host Italy.
Russia, the two-time defending World Champions, had their backs against the wall going into the last second round match against Serbia after losing three of four matches. However, Russia came away with a must-win over Serbia to earn their spot into the next phase.
Dominican Republic are 7-2 in this World Championship. They have played six matches extended to five sets, winning the first four tiebreaks but lost their final two second round matches in five sets.
Wednesday, 8 October:
17:30 - Brazil v China
20:00 - Italy v USA
Thursday, 9 October:
17:30 - China v Dominican Republic
20:00 - USA v Russia
Friday, 10 October:
17:30 - Brazil v Dominican Republic
20:00 - Italy v Russia
Brazil coach Jose Roberto Guimaraes: "I'm very happy to be here with my team. The pool is strong like the whole tournament. I try to do our best, of course. Our dream is to arrive in the final but we have to try hard to the end."
China coach Lang Ping: "Our team is very happy to be here in the final week. We worked very hard and we have some young players. We have three players who have played at a world championship before so we are satisfied. The last week will be a high level of competition. We want to play well and also learn from other teams."
Dominican Republic coach Marcos Kwiek: "I think that more than anyone else, we are the happiest people to be here in the finals. We have a difficult group but at this stage they are all difficult and it's not easy for anyone. We are going to continue preparation with the same mentality we had since the beginning of the World Championship. To play every match like it is the final."
Italy coach Marco Bonitta: "We are very happy because we reached our goal to be here in the final six. After we will see, I don't know. We will try to do our best every game."
Russia coach Yury Marichev: "I think the pools are strong but we will try to do our best and good luck to everyone."
USA coach Karch Kiraly: "This is what we're all here for. These are the teams are playing the best in the world at this time and they've all earned the right to be here so congratulations to all the teams. This is a beautiful time if you're fan for volleyball. This is a great week to follow and it should be wonderful volleyball to watch."