Olympic caliber volleyball is coming to the “Biggest Little City” as the United States men’s team will take on the Bulgarian national men’s team in a pair of official World League matches June 29and 30. Both matches start at 7:30 p.m. at the Reno Events Center.
The FIVB Volleyball World League is an international men’s competition. Created in 1990, it is the longest and richest of all the international events organized by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB). The tournament is annual. In 2006, $20 million dollars in prize money were distributed amongst sixteen participating teams from five continents.
The yearlong tournament has been expanded from 16 to 18 teams this year with the top 12 ranked nations comprising Groups A and B. The next best teams comprise Group C, with the host country receiving an automatic invitation to the final, which will be played later this year in Argentina.
The U.S. men, who finished second last year are off to a 3 and 1 start after splitting pair of matches with Argentina and sweeping a pair from France earlier this month. After playing the pair of matches with Bulgaria in Reno, the Americans will travel to Poland and Brazil to finish group play.