The top performers of the Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Ningbo, Tokyo and Lodz
Published 07:31, 20 Sept 2023
The top 24 teams in the world have started their quest for the six available spots at Volleyball Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Ningbo, Tokyo and Lodz, and as always, there are always players who are stepping up on their game.
Let’s take a look at the top performers in the women’s qualifier.
Alexa Gray leads all scorers with 86 points, including 81 attacks, four blocks and an ace. The Canadian outside hitter is playing in Pool A and has surpassed Serbian superstar Tijana Boskovic in scoring. However, Canada are currently in fifth place with two wins and two losses.
The Serbians, however, are on top of the Pool A standings with an undefeated record. China are in second place with three wins and a loss.
Hosts China conceded in the tiebreaker against Canada, with Gray, Kiera Van Ryk and Emily Maglio all reaching the 20-point scoring mark to stop the current VNL silver medalists. Van Ryk finished with 26, while captain Gray and Maglio added 24 and 20 points, respectively.
In Pool B, Brazilian stars Gabi Guimaraes and Thaisa Menezes lead the squad in the tough Tokyo field. The 2020 Olympic silver medallists are tied with hosts Japan and Türkiye with an unbeaten record. However, they are in third place with one of their matches going into five sets against Bulgaria.
Gabi is currently the best Brazilian player with 50 attacks, six blocks and five service winners. Thaisa is second with a total of 52 markers, 15 of which come from blocks.
The scoring tandem of Melissa Vargas and Ebrar Karakurt is giving Türkiye the offence they need. The two stars almost have the same output from the flanks – Vargas with a total of 56 points, while Karakurt with a tally of 55.
Pool B hosts Japan are on top and so far Arisa Inoue is carrying the offensive load for the Asian side with 55 solid points from the attack line. Hayashi Kotona also provides scoring support to Inoue with 38 kills, four blocks and two aces.
In Pool C, Jordan Thompson is slowly inching her way to the top with a contribution of 58 points for the United States in their four match wins, tying with Italy.
“Its been a good start to the tournament. We are just continuing to find our rhythm as a team and we have been building up to this tournament the entire summer, by training really hard,” the USA opposite said.
“There are a lot of challenges during a tournament like this. Everybody is fighting for that bid to the Olympics and everyone’s going to be throwing everything that they have. In these tough moments, I lean on training and experience.”
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