Marko Ivovic receives the award from FIVB President
Kraków, Poland, July 17, 2016 – Two players from Serbia side that claimed a maiden FIVB Volleyball World League crown were named in the Dream Team at the Final Six tournament in Krakow.
There were joined by two players from France, two from Brazil and one from Italy.
The Most Valuable Player award went to Serbia's Marko Ivovic who scored a team-high 64 points at the Finals and helped his team scoop gold.
MVP - Marko Ivovic (Serbia)
Best Outside Spiker - Marko Ivovic (Serbia)
The 25 year-old Marko Ivovic took two individual honours along with the team's gold medal from the Final Six. Those were his first awards at any major international tournament. With his outstanding performance he significantly contributed to Serbia's success.
"My individual awards are a success, but not only mine. I wouldn’t have achieved them without my teammates," Ivovic said on the accolade. "But they wouldn't mean so much without a gold medal. It’s a wonderful evening. We have written a new history of Serbian volleyball today. Frankly saying I didn’t expect such a final match as today, I didn’t think we could win in three straight sets with one of the strongest team in the world."
Best Outside Spiker - Antonin Rouzier (France)
Rouzier added to his ever-increasing list of international awards in the past - including the Most Valuable Player title at last year's CEV Championship as well as the Best Scorer award at the 2009 edition of the tournament and Best Spiker prize at the 2013 CEV Champions League.
Best Middle Blocker - Mauricio (Brazil)
The Middle Blocker award was Mauricio's first at the world's premier annual men's international volleyball tournament. He took part in the 2010 campaign where Brazil added a ninth title to their name. In 2013 and 2014 he added a silver medal, the latter being a tournament to forget for the star as he suffered an injury to his ankle which ruled him out of the Finals after the first match.
Best Middle Blocker - Srecko Lisinac (Serbia)
It was a second straight Best Middle Blocker award for Lisinac having originally made his debut in the senior men’s team in 2012. He won the bronze medal at the 2013 European Championship, where he was named the best blocker of the competition. He also won silver at the 2013 U-23 World Championship in Brazil.
"It was a match of dreams and we played fantastic game. From the beginning until the end we controlled game and we were able to beat Brazil in final," he said. "Brazil is known for playing the best matches in finals, so we are extremely happy that we dominated in this match and won in three sets. We are happy that we won this historical gold medal. A key to victory was everything – our motivation, energy and will to win."
Best Libero - Jenia Grebennikov (France)
Grebennikov was named the Best Libero in four major tournaments in three consecutive years: The FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship Poland 2014, the 2015 CEV European Championship, the 2016 CEV Champions League and the 2016 FIVB World League.
Best Setter - Simone Giannelli (Italy)
Gianelli is a rising volleyball star which he confirmed with his award at the Final Six tournament. He plays for Trentino Volley but for the national team he has already won the bronze medal at the European Championships in 2015 and a silver medal at the 2015 World Cup where he finished fifth in the overall Best Setter statistics.
Best Opposite - Wallace (Brazil)
He already knows the taste of individual honours as he was previously elected the best opposite spiker in the FIVB Volleyball World League 2014 with Brazil winning the silver medal. He also repeated the good performance in Brazil's silver medal campaign at the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship in Poland. In 2013, Wallace led Brazil to the FIVB World Grand Champions Cup title and was elected the best opposite spiker of the competition.