Poland’s Malwina Smarzek Cracks 30 Points Twice in Week 2 of #VNL

  0 Braden Keith | May 28th, 2018 | News

Five 30-point games highlighted week 2 of the 2018 FIVB Women’s Volleyball Nations League, including two each by Serbia’s Tijana Boskovic and Poland’s Malwina Smarzek.

Week 2 30-Point Matches

  • Serbia’s Tijana Boskovic – 30 points vs. Thailand (W 3-1)
  • Serbia’s Tijana Boskovic – 32 points vs. China (W 3-1)
  • South Korea’s Yeon Koung Kim – 31 points vs. Germany (W 3-1)
  • Poland’s Malwina Smarzek – 36 points vs. China (W 3-2)
  • Poland’s Malwina Smarzek – 38 points vs. Thailand (L 3-2)

In spite of Poland’s seat near the bottom of the table (they have a 2-4 record and 5 points), Smarzek has been a one-woman offensive machine at this year’s Nations League. She has 159 points so far in this tournament – 29 more than the next-best scorer Kim Yeon-koung – and 25 more kills than anyone else.

It’s taken a massive number of swings for her to get there. She has 333 offensive attempts so far in this tournament, which is also the most (by 69 swings – again more than Yeon-koung, who has 264 attempts). Her hitting percentage is 40.24% – just 15th in the tournament

No team has been more dependent on a single player in this tournament than has Poland, with Smarzek responsible for more than 40% of her team’s attempts and over 42% of their spikes/kills.

The 21-year old

First Two Weeks, Teams Ranked by % of team’s attempts for one player.

W-L Team Atts Team Leader Atts Leader Atts % of team’s Atts Team Leader Kills Leader Atts % of Team’s Kills
POL 43135 823 Malwina Smarzek 333 40.46% Malwina Smarzek 134 42.27%
KOR 43192 753 Kim Yeon Koung 264 35.06% Kim Yeon Koung 109 39.07%
GER 43105 797 Louisa Lippmann 262 32.87% Louisa Lippmann 103 37.73%
DOM 43105 755 Brayelin Martinez 234 30.99% Brayelin Martinez 91 32.04%
BEL 43135 720 Britt Herbots 210 29.17% Britt Herbots 82 32.16%
RUS 43192 674 Kseniia Parubets 191 28.34% Kseniia Parubets 83 28.33%
BRA 43221 703 Tandara Caixeta 194 27.60% Tandara Caixeta 81 27.09%
ITA 43135 685 Serena Ortolani 188 27.45% Serena Ortolani 62 25.00%
ARG 0-6 662 Elina Rodriguez 177 26.74% Anahi Tosi 58 25.22%
TUR 43221 706 Meryem Boz 171 24.22% Meryem Boz 65 22.73%
SRB 43221 717 Tijana Boskovic 170 23.71% Tijana Boskovic 86 26.96%
NED 43221 684 Anne Buijs 162 23.68% Anne Buijs 67 22.56%
JPN 43135 793 Yuki Ishii 164 20.68% Sarina Koga 65 22.57%
CHN 43162 727 Yingying Li 149 20.50% Yingying Li 53 20.00%
THA 43135 853 Pimpichaya Kokram 169 19.81% Ajcharaporn Kongyot 62 19.68%
USA 43221 746 Jordan Larson 143 19.17% Michelle Bartsch-Hackley 61 20.27%

Other Statistical Observations:

  • Another Polish player, Marlena Plesnierowicz, leads all players in aces with 11 (the only woman in the tournament with double-figures in that category). Once again, though, it’s a huge number of attempts. Plesnierowicz (109 serves) and her teammate Natalia Medrzyk (102 attempts) are the only two with over 100 attempts.
  • Team USA’s outside-hitter-turned-libero Kelsey Robinson has a 27.45% excellent reception after 2 weeks, and the U.S. has 3 of the top 5 receivers in the tournament among eligible players (Kim Hill at 35.42%, Michelle Bartsch-Hackley at 28.40%). Robinson so far has the same number of reception errors (9) as the woman she replaced Justine Wong-Orantes in 16 more attempts (91 vs. 75). Wong-Orantes has a higher excellent percentage, but Robinson’s play has been more consistent.
  • Brazil’s dominant duo at middle blocker Adenizia da Silva and Ana Beatriz Correa each have 19 blocks in 22 sets played, tying them for 3rd in the tournament in total blocks and 2nd in blocks-per-set. They rank 3rd as a team behind Poland (80) and Turkey (77) with 72 total blocks as a team.

Statistical Leaders after Week 2 of the 2018 FIVB Women’s Volleyball Nations League

Top Scorers

  1. Malwina Smarzek, Poland – 159 points
  2. Kim Yeon Koung, Korea – 130 points
  3. Louisa Lippmann, Germany – 114 points
  4. Brayelin Martinez, Dominican Republic – 106 points
  5. Kseniia Parubets, Russia, 98 points

Top Hitting Percentages

  1. Tijana Boskovic, Serbia – 50.59%
  2. Irina Voronkova, Russia – 48.78%
  3. Brankica Mihajlovic, Serbia – 46.39%
  4. Michelle Bartsch-Hackley, USA – 46.21%
  5. Natalia Malykh, Russia – 45.90%

Best Blockers (Blocks/set)

  1. Irina Fetisova, Russia – 20 blocks, .95/set
  2. (TIE) Adenizia da Silva, Brazil – 19 blocks, .86/set
  3. (TIE) Ana Beatriz Correa, Brazil – 19 blocks, .86/set
  4. (TIE) Eda Erdem Dundar, Turkey – 19 blocks, .86/set
  5. Su Ji Kim, South Korea – 17 blocks, .81/set

Best Servers (Aces/set)

  1. Marlena Plesnierowicz, Poland – 11 aces, .42/set
  2. (TIE) Celine van Gestel, Belgium – 9 aces, .41/set
  3. (TIE) Brankica Mihaljovic, Serbia – 9 aces, .41/set
  4. (TIE) Jovana Stevanovic, Serbia – 9 aces, .41/set
  5. (TIE) Gamze Alikaya, Turkey, 9 aces, .41/set

Best Setters (Assists/set)

  1. Carli Lloyd, USA – 431 assists, 20.52/set
  2. Ilka van de Vyver, Belgium – 339 assists, 15.41/set
  3. Clarisa Sagardia, Argentina – 269 assists, 13.45/set
  4. Niverka Dharlenis Marte Frica, Dominican Republic – 298 assists, 12.96/set
  5. Roberta Silva Ratzke, Brazil – 267 assists, 12.14/set

Best Diggers (Digs/set)

  1. Maret Balekstein-Grothues, Netherlands – 58 digs, 2.76/set
  2. Yuki Ishii, Japan – 47 digs, 2.35/set
  3. (TIE) Carli Lloyd, USA, – 46 digs, 2.19/set
  4. (TIE) Kelsey Robinson, USA – 46 digs, 2.19/set
  5. Celine van Gestel, Belgium – 48 digs, 2.18/set

Best Receivers (Excellent %, eligible players)

  1. Myrthe Schoot, Netherlands – 35.71%
  2. Kim Hill, USA – 35.42%
  3. Britt Herbots, Belgium – 30.43%
  4. Michelle Bartsch-Hackley, USA – 28.40%
  5. Kelsey Robinson, USA – 27.47%

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About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of VolleyMob.com. Braden's first foray into sports journalism came in 2010, when he launched a swimming website called The Swimmers' Circle. Two years later, he joined SwimSwam.com as a co-founder. Long huge fans of volleyball, when Braden and the SwimSwam partners sought an opportunity to …

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