Women's World Championship 2022

Herbots leads best scorers and best spikers

Janssens, Drews, Diao, De Gennaro and Nizetich top the remaining individual charts at the World Championship

Published 07:58, 03 Oct 2022

Britt Herbots and her Belgian teammates celebrate their victory over Cameroon

Belgian players occupy the top of three individual statistical rankings after the end of the first pool phase at the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship 2022 in the Netherlands and Poland. Point machine Britt Herbots leads the charts for best scorers and best attackers, while Marlies Janssens was the best blocker of Phase 1. USA’s Andrea Drews, China’s Diao Linyu, Italy’s Monica De Gennaro and Argentina’s Yamila Nizetich were the other players who stood out for their excellent performances.

· Watch all FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship 2022 matches live on Volleyball TV.

23-year-old outside hitter Herbots included six blocking stuffs and four serving aces in her total tally of 123 points, which put her in the leading position of the best scorers’ ranking, 13 points clear of next best Magdalena Stysiak of Poland. The number three spot in that chart was shared by Türkiye’s Ebrar Karakurt and China’s Li Yingying, on 103 points each.

In Belgium’s four-set win over the Netherlands, Herbots contributed 41 points, which was the second best tally by a single player in a single match in the history of the competition. A record-high 45 points were hammered out by Italy’s Paola Egonu in a five-set semifinal four years ago.

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Volleyball World (@volleyballworld)

Herbots was the only player to score 100+ points in offence alone. The 113 winning spikes, which she produced at a success rate of 41.39%, placed her on top of the best attackers’ ranking. Li Yingying with 94 kills and Stysiak with 91 completed the top three of the table.

In blocking, 25-year-old middle blocker Janssens piled up 23 stuffs across five matches played. In three of Belgium’s games, she registered six kill blocks each time. Argentina’s Candelaria Herrera was the second best blocker of the first pool phase with 21 stuffs, two clear of third-placed Puerto Rican Neira Ortiz.

Andrea Drews fired four aces against Bulgaria, another four against Germany and five in the other three of USA’s matches to top the best servers’ ranking on a total of 13 direct points from the end line. The 28-year-old opposite was followed by Korea’s Lee Seonwoo with 10 aces and Japan’s Mayu Ishikawa with nine.

Andrea Drews about to serve another ace against Germany

33-year-old outside Yamila Nizetich, on the other hand, excelled on the opposite end of service, in reception. She had 60 perfect receptions, 21 of which she mastered in Argentina’s opening game against China. Next down the best receivers’ ranking was Colombia’s Amanda Coneo with 57 perfect receptions, followed by Li Yingying with 56.

Experienced libero Monica De Gennaro was by far the top defender of the pool stage. The 35-year-old Italian topped the best diggers’ chart with a total of 74 saves, 21 of which she tallied in the match against Belgium. Her Dutch counterpart Myrthe Schoot came second in that ranking with 46 digs, while Dominican Republic’s Brenda Castillo had 45.

Diao Linyu led the best setters’ ranking. The 28-year-old Chinese playmaker registered 83 successful sets, 36 of them in the match against the Czech Republic. Polish star Joanna Wolosz with 77 perfect sets and Croatian setter Lea Deak with 69 completed the top three.