On Monday, Dutch opposite Lonneke Sloetjes put up the 3rd-best single match scoring performance in at least the 25-point, rally-scoring era of the World Championships*, as the Dutch rallied from an 0-2 hole to beat the Americans 3-2. That result assured the Netherlands of their spot in the semi-finals, and eliminated the Americans from contention for a repeat World Championship after winning in 2014.
* – Since 2002
Sloetjes’ 38-point effort (32 kills, 3 blocks, 3 aces, 46% hitting) was the most ever scored by a player on a winning team at the World Championships. It was also Sloetjes’ 2nd match with at least 36 points at this year’s World Championships.
Paola Egonu of Italy and Nataliya Goncharova of Russia both also had multiple 30+ point efforts at this tournament. Most impressively, Goncharova’s all came in the 1st round: an injury kept her out of the 2nd round of the tournament, where Russia was eventually eliminated.
Her effort was the 7th 30-point production of the 2018 championships. With 7 matches to go still at the World Championships, that’s still 3 fewer 30-point efforts than in 2010, though 2010 saw a massive leap from prior editions as women’s volleyball has grown into a more powerful version of the game over the last decade.
Of the 30, 30-point efforts in the rally-scoring era, 20 of them have come in winning efforts. The United States, the team that Sloetjes went wild against on Monday,
All 30 Point Games in 25-Point, Rally Scoring Era, Women’s Volleyball World Championships (2002-Present)
Editor’s note: This list was compiled by going through 16 years’ worth of results manually. If you catch an error, please email it to [email protected].
- Yelena Pavlova, Kazakhstan, 10-31-2006 (3-2 L vs. USA) – 40 (35k, 4b, 1a)
- Bethania De La Cruz De Pena, Dominican Republic, 10-9-2014 (3-2 L vs. China) – 39 (37k, 2a)
- Lonneke Sloetjes, Netherlands, 10-15-2018 (3-2 W vs. USA) – 38 (32k, 3b, 3a)
- Bethania De La Cruz De Pena, Dominican Republic, 10-4-2014 (3-2 L vs. China) – 37 (32k, 2b, 3a)
- Lonneke Sloetjes, Netherlands, 9-29-2018 (3-1 W vs. Germany) – 36 (33k, 2b, 1a)
- Louisa Lippmann, Germany, 10-7-2018 (3-2 W vs. Brazil) – 36 (31k, 1b, 4a)
- Nataliya Goncharova, Russia, 10-4-2018 (3-2 L vs. USA) – 36 (35k, 1b)
- Paola Egonu, Italy, 10-15-2018 (3-2 W vs. Japan) – 36 (34k, 2b)
- Bibiana Candelas, Mexico, 9-2-2002 (3-2 L vs. Czech Republic) – 36 (27k, 8b, 1a)
- Polina Rahimova, Azerbaijan, 10-4-2014 (3-1 W vs. Croatia) – 36 (29k, 3b, 4a)
- Manon Flier, Netherlands, 10-30-2010 (3-2 L vs. Italy) – 35 (27k, 4b, 4a)
- Ekaterina Gamoa, Russia, 11-14-2010 (3-2 W vs. Brazil) – 35 (29k, 4b, 2a)
- Aneta Havlickova, Czech Republic, 11-02-2010 (3-2 W vs. Italy) – 34 (33k, 1b)
- Caraces Opon Kenia, Cuba, 11-10-2010 (3-2 W vs. Italy) – 34 (31k, 3b)
- Nalaya Mammadova, Azerbaijan, 11-9-2006 (3-2 W vs. USA) – 34 points (30k, 2b, 2a)
- Paola Egonu, Italy, 10-11-2018 (3-1 W vs. USA) – 33 (25k, 5b, 3a)
- Carolina Costagrande, Argentina, 9-1-2002 (3-2 L vs. Puerto Rico) – 33 (29k, 2b, 2a)
- Yumilka Ruiz Luaces, Cuba, 9-15-2002 (3-2 W vs. South Korea) – 33 (31k, 1b, 1a)
- Polina Rahimova, Azerbaijan, 9-23-2014 (3-2 W vs. Japan) – 33 (25k, 5b, 3a)
- Elisa Togut, Italy, 9-15-2002 (3-2 W vs. USA) – 32 (30k, 2b)
- Tatiana Kosheleva, Russia, 10-2-2014 (3-2 L vs. Turkey) – 32 (30k, 1b, 1a)
- Zhu Ting, China, 10-11-2014 (3-1 W vs. Italy) – 32 (31k, 1b)
- Polina Rahimova, Azerbaijan, 9-25-2014 (3-2 W vs. Puerto Rico) – 32 (29k, 2b, 1a)
- Yumilka Ruiz Luaces, Cuba, 9-12-2002 (3-2 W vs. Bulgaria) – 31 (26k, 5b)
- Brankica Mihajlovic, Serbia, 9-24-2014 (3-2 W vs. Bulgaria) – 31 (26k, 4b, 1a)
- Tatiana Kosheleva, Russia, 9-28-2014 (3-1 L vs. USA) – 31 (25k, 4b, 2a)
- Chaine Staelens, Netherlands, 11-8-2006 (3-1 W vs. German) – 31 (26k, 5b)
- Valentina Diouf, Italy, 10-12-2014 (3-2 L vs. Brazil) – 31 (29k, 2a)
- Verania Willis, Costa Rica, 11-4-2006 (3-2 W vs. Kenya) – 30 (27k, 2b, 1a)
- Nataliya Goncharova, Russia, 9-30-2018 (3-2 W vs. Thailand) – 30 (27k, 1b, 2a)
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