Montreux, Switzerland, May 23, 2015 – Swiss and international volleyball fans are looking forward to an exciting 30th edition of the Montreux Volley Masters with volleyball stars and aspiring youngsters.
Birthdays are always special – most of all when it’s decadal one. That’s the reason why the organizers of the Montreux Volley Masters, the most prestigious invitational tournament for national teams, invited some of the best volleyball teams in the world to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the tourney with thrilling and breath-taking games – and they all wanted to be part of the big birthday party on the shores of Lac Léman.
No doubt, this year’s competition can be considered as one of the very exciting ones. The titleholders from Team Germany are keen to defend their crown versus some of the best volleyball nations in the world like China, the Dominican Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Russia, and Turkey.
The eight teams come with a mix of aspiring youngsters and experienced stars; so for example Team Japan; the squad from the Land of the Rising Sun are eager to start well into this for their country so important season with the big highlight, the World Cup, on home soil.
That’s the reason why coach Masayoshi Manabe bank on a really experienced team with Japan’s volleyball star Saori Kimura as captain. The 27-years-old wing spiker made her Olympic debut at the age of sixteen at Athens 2004 and scooped Olympic bronze at London 2012.
Other experienced volleyball stars are Germany’s Lenka Dürr and Heike Beier, Turkey’s star libero Gizem Karadayi and captain Güldeniz Önal, as well as Brenda Castillo and Prisilla Rivera from the Dominican Republic.
One of the promising youngsters at the Montreux Volley Masters 2015, on the other hand, plays for the Italian national team. Giulia Pisani from Unendo Yamamay Busto Arsizio made her debut at the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship on home soil last year and is poised to get a regular berth in the Italian national team, also known as “Le Azzurre”. The 22-years-old middle blocker clinched gold with Italy’s junior’s national team at the 2011 Women’s Junior World Championship in Peru and a stunning 4th place in last year’s CEV DenizBank Champions League.
But Pisani is just one of a bunch of youngsters willing to make the team this year; Turkey’s Akman Kubra, aspiring star from VakifBank Istanbul, Germany’s Lisa Izquierdo from German champs Dresdner SC and 18-years-old Brayelin Martinez from the Dominican Republic are poised to have their breakthrough in the jersey of their national team at the Montreux Volley Masters.
The teams and the players are hungry for this year’s Montreux Volley Masters – and the Swiss as well international volleyball fans are able to look forward to volleyball at its finest at the 30th edition of the Montreux Volley Masters.