By Bev Oden

The FloVolleyball Olympics Rankings will count down to the start of the indoor volleyball competition in Rio by highlighting one team per gender each day. Today, one week before the first serve, we profile the No. 7-ranked France men and Italy women.

COUNTRY: Italy

TOP PLAYERS

Valentina Diouf, Opposite
Italy's second-best scorer and server at World Grand Prix

Miriam Fatime Sylla, Outside Hitter
Italy's third-best scorer at World Grand Prix

Anna Danesi, Middle Blocker
Italy's best blocker at World Grand Prix

RISING STAR TO WATCH

Paola Ogechi Egonu | 17 | Outside Hitter
Italy's best scorer at World Grand Prix with 99 kills, nine blocks and six aces

SYNOPSIS

It's all about the number five for Italy. Rio will be the program's fifth Olympics and the team finished in fifth place in each of its last three appearances in the Games. The Italian women would love to better those finishes by getting to the medal round, but the past year showed that they've still got work to do to become a top tier team.

Italy placed third behind Russia and the Netherlands in the European qualifier, but managed to win the World Olympic Qualifier with a 6-1 record to secure its spot in Rio. 

That inspired performance was followed by a disappointing eighth place at World Grand Prix with a 4-5 record. Italy used several different line ups during the tournament, so its goal may have been to get high-level experience for a large number of players at the expense of achieving the highest level of success. That said, Italy lost an opportunity to build the momentum and confidence it will need to compete with the top teams in Rio.

PREDICTION

Italy should beat Puerto Rico with ease but that's where the dominance ends for them in what will be a challenging pool. Although it placed higher than the Netherlands in the World Olympic Qualifier, Italy has struggled with the Dutch of late and ended up on the losing end of several recent meetings. Therefore, the edge in that match up goes to the Netherlands. Italy is unlikely to beat USA, China or Serbia, which means its tournament will most likely end after the preliminary round.

FloVolleyball Women's 2016 Olympics Rankings

12. Cameroon

11. Puerto Rico

10. Argentina

9. Korea

8. The Netherlands

7. Italy

6. Serbia

5. Japan