Italy’s young prodigy player, Paola Egonu leads Group 1 as best scorer and has the best-attacking ranking earning her the Group 1 week two player of the week honor. So far, Egonu has 117 points with an attack success rate of 54.44%.
Egonu has been the go to for Italy. After week one of the World Grand Prix, Italy was 1-2, but in the second week they turned things around going undefeated in week two.
Egonu’s point breakdown:
Week one
- 2 points vs. China (1-3 loss)
- 12 points vs. USA (0-3 loss)
- 39 points vs. Russia (3-2 win)
Week two
- 21 points vs. China (3-0 win)
- 31 points vs. USA (3-2 win)
- 12 points vs. Turkey (3-0 win)
It seems that a pattern is forming for the Italian team – if Egonu is on, they will succeed. Of her 117 points scored in the World Grand Prix, Egonu has put down 98 kills, eight blocks and 11 aces. Her 11 aces give her a statistical edge in the category, ranking second behind Team USA’s Michelle Bartsch-Hackley in serving efficiency with 0.48 aces per set.
This is not the first time that Egonu has gone big in the scoring department as she managed to tie the Italian record of 46 points scored in a match with her club team, II Bisonte Firenze in the third round of the women’s Italian Seria A1. The record was previously set back in 1999/2000 by Mariana Isabel Conte in Serie A2. With Conte scoring her record in Serie A2, Egonu’s 46 points put her way above any other scorer in Serie A1.
Up next for the Italian crew is Pool H1 where they will meet the Dominican Republic, Thailand and Turkey. The week could be another 3-0 weekend for Italy, as all three teams in their pool have struggled throughout the competition. The Dominican Republic is the highest ranking team at #8 with a 3-3 record, while Thailand comes in at #10 with a 1-5 record followed by Turkey at #11 and a 1-5 record.
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