Dutch opposite Nimir Abdel-Aziz and Ukrainian outside hitter Oleh Plotnytskyi stood out during the pool phase of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship 2022 in Poland and Slovenia by topping two of the individual charts each at the end of the first stage of the tournament.

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It comes as no surprise that Nimir was the best scorer. He usually is... The captain of the Netherlands led his team to three victories in Pool F, putting away as many as 85 points, of which 10 were serving aces, seven were stuff blocks and 68 kills in attack. That total put the Dutch scoring machine 20 points clear at the top of the best scorers ranking, above Cuban opposite Jesus Herrera, who produced 60 points (6, 1, 53). Argentinean Bruno Lima came third (3, 4, 52).

The same players also took over the first three places in the best attackers ranking, by total number of successful hits. However, French middle blocker Barthelemy Chinenyeze had the highest success rate in attack among all players with at least 20 attempts in offence. As many as 86.36% of his spikes resulted in point winners.

What might be a bit surprising is that Nimir was not the best server of the pool stage. Plotnytskyi was, but with Nimir just below him in second place. The 25-year-old Ukrainian standout hammered six aces in his team’s match against Puerto Rico, and doubled his count to top the best servers ranking with a total of 12 aces, leaving behind Nimir with 10 and Serbian opposite Aleksandar Atanasijevic with 8.

Plotnytskyi was also outstanding in defence and took the lead in the best diggers ranking. He helped Ukraine work their way through Pool A with as many as 20 digs. American libero Erik Shoji was second in that skill with 18. Two other liberos, Bulgaria’s Vladislav Ivanov and Italy’s Fabio Balaso shared third position with 17 apiece.

Two of the other charts were dominated by Argentinean players. Libero Santiago Danani topped the best receivers ranking with as many as 30 successful receptions, followed by Iranian outside and captain Milad Ebadipour with 29 and Dutch libero Robbert Andringa with 27. Considering success rate alone, however, France’s star outside hitter Earvin Ngapeth was the most efficient receiver among all players with at least 20 attempts. He managed to process the ball perfectly in 49.06% of those cases.

Argentina’s experienced captain and playmaker Luciano De Cecco occupied the number one spot in the best setters ranking with 86 successful sets, 21 clear of number two Lukas Kampa of Germany. Iran’s Mohammad Vadi was in number three, one short of Kampa.

Japan’s middle blocker Taishi Onodera scored the highest number of kill blocks during the pool stage. In the deciding match for the second place in Pool B, he put away six stuffs against Cuba to bring his total up to 10 across the three games. As many as seven other players shared second place in the best blockers ranking with nine stuffs each.

FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship Poland Slovenia 2022: Schedule and results

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