Puerto Ricans Valentin and Venegas top setters and liberos

NAGOYA, Japan, October 11, 2018 – Puerto Ricans Natalia Valentin and Shara Venegas topped the categories of setters and diggers at the conclusion of the two first rounds of the FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Championship on Thursday.

The statistics correspond to the nine matches of the first and second rounds of the competition. Starting with the phase of the Final Six only players of those teams are included in the stats.

Valentin, who is the Captain of the Puerto Rican team, compiled 199 running sets with 5 faults and a total of 717 attempts.

She finished with 6.86 average per set to outscore Dominican Republic’s Niverka Marte who had an average of 6.48 with 188 running sets and 6 faults in 659 attempts.

The libero Venegas had 135 digs and 8 faults in 152 attempts for an average of 4.30 per set to out distance Dominican Republic’s Brenda Castillo who finished in second place with an average of 3.55 with 10 faults in 128 attempts.

Dominican Republic finished in the ninth position while Puerto Rico was in fourteenth place. Among the teams of NORCECA Confederation the next teams in the final positions were: Mexico (16), Canada (18), Cuba (22) and Trinidad & Tobago (23).

Defending champions United States are in the Final Six where they will compete in Pool H with Olympic champions China and The Netherlands.