Italy's Paola Egonu on the attack against Serbia in the final of the 2018 FIVB World Championship in Japan, as she smashes all scoring records in the history of the competition.
Lausanne, Switzerland, October 22, 2018 - From Mexico setter's Sashiko Sanay's first serve against Cameroon at 13:10 on 29 September to Italy's Myriam Sylla's unfortunate net touch attacking error on 20 October at 21:48 to bring the grand final to an end, the phenomenal 2018 FIVB Women's World Championship has gone down in history for a number of records.
In between those landmark actions, fans on site in Japan and on TV and online across the world enjoyed 103 matches, comprising a total of 354 sets and 48,021 rallies for 159 hours and 54 minutes of pure volleyball, offered by the top 24 teams in the world.
Serbia hold aloft the 2018 FIVB World Championship trophy after outlasting Italy in the nail-biting final.Serbia may have edged Italy 3-2 in the final for a historic first ever title for the Balkan side, but it was Italy opposite Paola Egonu who starred throughout the three-week volleyball extravangza, shattering scoring record after scoring record.
In an incredible semifinal against China, the 19-year-old smashed the all-time top scoring record at the World Championship, with 45 points as she led Italy to a stunning win over the Rio 2016 Olympic champions.
That's five points clear of the previous record, held by Kazakstan's Yelena Pavlova who scored 40 points in her team's five-set defeat to USA in 2006.
World Championship top scorers:• 2002 - Yumilka Ruiz (CUB) 217 points
• 2006 - Neslihan Demir (TUR) 225 points
• 2010 - Nesilhan Demir (TUR) 251 points
• 2014 - Bethania de la Cruz (DOM) 241 points
• 2018 - Paola Egonu (ITA) - 324 points
In addition, Egonu emerged the all-time top scorer at a World Championship, amassing 324 points in 13 matches (or an average of just shy of 25 points per match). The previous record was held by Turkey's Neslihan Demir with 251 points from 11 matches (22.8 points per match).
In total, Egonu made four new entries in the list of players who have scored 30 points or more in a single World Championship match.
Serbia's opposite Tijana Boskovic, who was named MVP of the 2018 World Championship to lead
the tournament's Dream Team, was the most efficient scorer of the event.
The 21-year-old registered 176 kills from 328 swings for 53.66% - though still short of the all-time record of 65.03% (106/163) by Russia's Elizaveta Tishchenko from 2002.
Tijana Boskovic takes off to strike against Italy in the final, as she emerges most efficient attacker of the 2018 FIVB World Championship.With four stuffs again in the bronze medal match against the Netherlands, China's Ni Yan overtook Italy's Anna Danesi on the very last day of competition as best blocker of the World Championship, finishing with an average of .89 per set with a total of 42 successful blocks. The 31-year-old Ni edged Danesi by .05 on average (and one stuff in absolute numbers) after the 22-year-old Italian managed just two blocks in the five-set final against Serbia.
The all-time overall blocking record remains with Brazil's Thaisa Menezes, who averaged 1.09 stuffs per set (50 in total) from 2014. She is the only player in the history of the competition to have averaged more than one block per set.
China's Ni Yan, best blocker of the 2018 FIVB World Championship in action against Italy.And in serving, it was Dutch opposite Lonneke Sloetjes who topped the list in 2018. The 27-year-old served 27 aces throughout the World Championship, averaging .56 per set. The all-time record remains unbroken at .70 per set by Russia's Elena Godina in 2006.
The Netherlands' Lonneke Sloetjes (here celebrating against USA in Round 3) was top server of the 2018 FIVB World Championship.In a single match, the Dominican Republic served 16 aces in their 3-0 win over Cuba to break the previous record of 15 held by Russia against Kenya (3-0) in 2002 and the Netherlands against Cuba (3-1) in 2010.
In that same match against Cuba, the Dominican Republic's Yonkaira Pena registered nine aces, to smash the previous record held by Brazil's Sheila Castro with seven against Thailand in 2002.
Elsewhere in the 2018 World Championship, the Netherlands and Japan now hold the all-time record for longest match in the history of the competition, after the Dutch five-set win in 2 hours 38 minutes. The previous record of 2:27 was from the Dominican Republic v Germany (3-2) game of 2014.
The Dominican Republic, however, now hold a new record of widest score in a single set, 25-5 against Kenya. The previous record of 25-6 was jointly held by Peru in their 3-0 win over Egypt in 2006 and Croatia in their 3-1 win over Tunisia in 2014.
USA also registered the quickest set in history, a 14-minute affair in the 25-11 third set of their 3-0 sweep of Trinidad & Tobago. The previous record of 15 minutes was jointly held by Italy (25-11 against Japan), Bulgaria (25-9 against the Czech Republic) and Russia (25-8 against Puerto Rico) all from 2002.
All-time records are calculated since the introduction of the Rally Scoring System, as of the 2002 World Championship.Quick links - Volleyball:FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship Japan 2018NewsScheduleCompetitionTeamsResults and rankingTicketsVolleyball TV