Bruno voted World Tour's most outstanding player

Lausanne, Switzerland, October 21, 2016 - Bruno Schmidt became only the fourth player to win back-to-back awards as the Most Outstanding Player on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour as the Brazilian was honoured for the second-straight season as the top male performer for the 2015-2016 international beach volleyball season.



The 30-year-old old Bruno joined Americans Phil Dalhausser (2013 and 2014) and Kerri Walsh Jennings (2012, 2013 and 2014), and compatriot Juliana Felisberta (2009, 2010 and 2011) as the only players to win consecutive Most Outstanding Player honours since the award was initiated in 2005.
 
In addition to be named the top male performer for the recently-completed FIVB World Tour that started in October 2015 in Mexico and ended this month in Canada at the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals in Toronto, Bruno was also named the Best Defensive Player and Sportsman of the Year in the voting by players, coaches, referees and FIVB officials.



Bruno Schmidt and partner Alison Cerutti won gold at the SWATCH FIVB World Tour Finals in Toronto

Bruno now joins American Todd Rogers in winning the best defensive award four times as the Brazilian has been voted the best defender for the past four seasons. Rogers, who announced his retirement earlier this season after playing 19 seasons on the international circuit, was the top FIVB defender for the 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010 seasons.



The Sportsman of the Year honour was the second-straight for Bruno, who was also the FIVB’s Most Improved Player in 2010 and the Top Offensive Player for the 2015 season.  Overall, Bruno has now collected 10 awards to become the sixth player to reach double-digits in total post-season honours.  The others are Americans Phil Dalhausser (26), Kerri Walsh Jennings (25) and Misty May-Treanor (13), and Brazilians Larissa Franca (16), Emanuel Rego (11) and Juliana Felisberta (10).


Phil Dalhausser sets up an attack for partner Nick Lucena at the Smart Major Hamburg

Dalhausser’s 26th honour was as the FIVB’s Top Setter for the 2015-2016 season.  It marked the third-straight season and seventh-time overall (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2015-2016) that the American has been recognized as the top setter.  Dalhausser has also been named the FIVB Most Outstanding Player (2010, 2013 and 2014), Best Blocker (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2004), Best Offensive Player (2008, 2009 and 2010), Best Hitter (2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010), Best Server (2014), Most Improved (2006) and Sportsman (2008).


Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt won gold at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Alison Cerutti, who teamed with Bruno to win the gold medals at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and 2016 Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals, was named the men’s circuit’s Best Hitter for the second time after winning the award in 2011 and 2012.  It was Alison’s seventh post-season award overall as he has been named the tour’s Best Blocker (2011 and 2015), Best Offensive Player (2011) and Most Improved (2009).
 
After winning their second-straight Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals gold medal on September 18, Bruno and Alison ended the 2015-2016 international season with four titles in nine event with six appearances in finals, seven “final four” appearances, a 48-8 match mark and $306,000 in earnings.  In addition to their Olympic and Swatch Finals titles, Bruno and Alison also topped FIVB World Tour podiums in Vitoria (Brazil) and Poreč (Croatia) this season.
 
In only three seasons together on the FIVB World Tour, Bruno and Alison have captured 11 gold medals in 31 international starts with 15 appearances in finals, 16 podium placements, 20 “final four” finishes, a 156-38 match mark (80.4 winning percentage) with $992,500 in earnings to rank 12th among men’s and women’s teams all-time in winnings.


Evandro Goncalves serves at the Gstaad Major

Other Brazilians winning post-season awards for the 2015-2016 season were Evandro Goncalves for Best Server and Gustavo “Guto” Carvalhaes as Best Rookie of the year.  Evandro won the serving award for the second-straight season, topping the ace statistics at both Grand Slam and Swatch Major Series events. Guto meanwhile becomes the second Brazilian to win the rookie honour joining compatriot Alvaro Filho in winning the award.


Gustavo “Guto” Carvalhaes and teammate Saymon Barbosa celebrate winning silver at the A1 Major Klagenfurt

Other award winners were Paolo Nicolai of Italy as the Best Blocker, Janis Smedins of Latvia as the Best Offensive Player, Piotr Kantor of Poland (fourth best scorer and joint best blocker at the Grand Slams) as the Most Improved and Reinder Nummerdor of the Netherlands as the Most Inspirational.


Paolo Nicolai makes his presence felt at the net

While Kantor is a first-time award winner, Smedins was honoured for the sixth-time with a post-season accolade, and Nicolai and Nummerdor for the third-time each.


Janis Smedins spikes at the Long Beach Grand Slam

Smedins was also the FIVB World Tour’s Best Offensive Player in 2013 while being the Best Setter (2013), Best Hitter (2013 and 2014) and Sportsman (2013). Nicolai was the Most Improved Player in 2012 and Best Offensive Player in 2014.  Nummerdor was named the Best Defensive Player in 2009 and 2011.


Piotr Kantor battles at the net at the Olsztyn Grand Slam

Smedins and partner Aleksandrs Samoilovs also finished the season as the top team on the FIVB World Tour ranking list.


Reinder Nummerdor keeps the ball in play at the Smart Major Hamburg

Award winners:
Bruno Schmidt (Brazil) - Most Outstanding Player
Phil Dalhausser (USA) - Best Setter
Alison Cerutti (Brazil) - Best Hitter
Evandro Gonçalves (Brazil) - Best Server
Gustavo Carvalhaes (Brazil) - Best Rookie
Paolo Nicolai (Italy) - Best Blocker
Janis Smedins (Latvia) - Best Offensive Player
Bruno Schmidt - Best Defensive Player
Piotr Kantor (Poland) - Most Improved Player
Reinder Nummerdor (Netherlands) - Most Inspirational Player
Bruno Schmidt - Best Sportsman

Quick link:
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour