We discover which teams served, spiked and sided-out the best…

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Ace, ace, ace, serve! Evandro prepares to thump another serve over the net at Polson Pier. Photocredit: Joerg Mitter.

The best of the best battled it out at Polson Pier at the Swatch World Tour Finals in Toronto as the FIVB World Tour reached its incredible climax earlier this month.

In the men’s tournament, gold was won by brilliant Brazilians Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt, just weeks after they scooped the Olympic title on the Copacabana to cap an unforgettable season.

But forget medals for one minute – here in the Swatch Major Series office we love the stats behind the game! Did anyone out-block Phil Dalhausser? And who recorded more aces than any other player? We answer those questions and delve deeper into the digits behind the men’s tournament in Toronto…

Did you know that silver medalists Pedro Solberg/Evandro played more sets than any other team, playing a total of 14 on their way to the final? Well now you know.

Given the fact they played so many sets, you won’t be surprised to learn the Brazilian duo scored more points than any other team in the tournament – 193 to be precise and 31 more than the next best team.

So, did anyone out-block Big Phil at the net? Yes – in fact three players blocked the ball more than the American. The top blocker of the tournament was champion Alison with a mammoth 29 successful blocks – 10 more than any other player. That’s how you win gold!

Alison and partner Bruno were in imperious form all week in Toronto. They didn’t drop a set – and that’s impressive considering in the final they faced Evandro who had battered receiving teams on the sand with an incredible 17 aces during the tournament.

One of our favorite stories of the week was the success of bronze medalists Hyden/Bourne. 43-year-old John rolled back the years with a string of impressive performances, but it was his younger partner, 27-year-old Tri that also did the business – he scored more kill points than any other player with 86. Nice one, Tri!

Sideout is an important part of the game and Polish pair Kantor/Losiak showed their skill at returning serve with the top sideout ratio of the tournament with an excellent 77.61 per cent sideout ratio – 52 sideouts from 67 opponents serves.

And finally we’ll blitz you with a few more numbers…in the 24 matches there was a total of 1,119 attacking points, 109 aces, 254 service errors and 178 blocks.