The biggest change Phase 2 of the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship 2022 in the Netherlands and Poland brought to the individual statistical rankings was the rise of Brazilian middle Ana Carolina Da Silva to the top of the best blockers’ chart. While Belgium’s Britt Herbots, USA’s Andrea Drews, Italy’s Monica De Gennaro and Argentina’s Yamila Nizetich kept their leading positions in other rankings, Poland’s Joanna Wolosz caught up with China’s Diao Linyu among the best setters of the tournament so far.
Women's World Championship 2022
Carol flies to top of best blockers ranking
Wolosz and Diao lead World Championship setters
Published 08:10, 10 Oct 2022
Carol Da Silva
· Watch all FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship 2022 matches live on Volleyball TV.
Carol delivered a truly amazing blocking performance in all four of Brazil’s Phase 2 matches. She was not even among the top three in the ranking after the first phase, but her great effort in the second propelled her to the top of the best blockers’ chart. Her best tally of nine kill blocks came in her team’s three-set game against the Netherlands. The 31-year-old middle also registered seven stuffs against both Italy and Puerto Rico and six against Belgium to improve her total count to 44 since the start of the World Championship.
Her Puerto Rican counterpart Neira Ortiz impressed with as many as 11 kill blocks in Sunday’s four-set victory over Argentina, which raised her to the second position on a total of 39 stuffs, seven clear of third-placed Anna Danesi of Italy.
Joanna Wolosz and Diao Linyu topped the best setters’ ranking on 129 successful sets each. The 32-year-old Polish star’s best achievement of the second phase were the 18 perfect sets she registered against Germany, while her 28-year-old Chinese counterpart reached 16 in the game against Italy, not even close to her high of 36 from the first-phase match against the Czech Republic. Third in that chart, on a total of 126 successful sets, was Argentina’s Victoria Mayer.
2022 World Champs Quarterfinals: Serbia 🇷🇸🆚🇵🇱 Poland
— Volleyball World (@volleyballworld) October 10, 2022
Poland will face the reigning World Champions 🇷🇸. But with the home crowd behind them, anything is possible for Wolosz, Stysiak & Team 🇵🇱.
⏰ Oct 11 at 630pm gmt 📺 LIVE ON VBTV.
⚡️ #Electrifying2022 #Volleyball #WWCH2022 pic.twitter.com/ULATLdMbpf
Delivering 20+ points in each of Belgium’s four second-phase matches, 23-year-old outside hitter Herbots stayed in the lead of the best scorers’ ranking on a total of 222 points (203 spikes, 11 blocks, 8 aces). Her best single-match tally in Pool E of 30 points came in the game against Japan. Unfortunately for her and her teammates, Belgium failed to advance in the tournament, so Herbots will not be able to improve her count any further, which opens up a good chance for her closest rivals, Magdalena Stysiak of Poland on 200 points and Paola Egonu of Italy on 191, to overtake in the upcoming matches.
The same two players are chasing Herbots in the best attackers’ ranking too, but the gap between them and her in that chart is wider and more difficult to close. With 203 successful spikes, Herbots is the only player to have scored 200+ points in offence alone. Egonu comes next on 169, followed by Stysiak on 163.
The race among the best servers of the World Championship is very tight. 28-year-old American opposite Drews held on to her lead from the first phase with a new total of 15 aces, but it is now down to one point only. In the second phase, Italian outside Caterina Bosetti added six aces to her tally to climb to the second position with a total of 14, just one clear of third-placed Gaila Gonzalez of the Dominican Republic and two clear of fourth-placed Mayu Ishikawa of Japan.
Monica De Gennaro in action
35-year-old star libero De Gennaro is by far the best defender of the World Championship so far. Her 123 digs place her way above her closest contenders Myrthe Schoot of the Netherlands on 90 digs and Brenda Castillo of the Dominican Republic on 87. In fact, among the players still in contention at the championship, the biggest threat to De Gennaro’s leadership comes from her teammate Bosetti, currently seventh in the chart on 78 digs.
In the best receivers’ ranking, 33-year-old Argentinean outside Nizetich is still in the lead on a total of 84 perfect receptions. However, it is quite unlikely that she will stay top of that chart since her team is no longer in contention, while current first and second runners-up, Brazil’s Priscila Daroit and China’s Li Yingying are only four and five perfect receptions behind, respectively.
