Which women ruled the roost at Polson Pier

• Facebook
• Twitter

It was one of the games of the tournament: Ludwig/Walkenhorst take on Larissa/Talita in Toronto. Photocredit: Joerg Mitter.

We’ve already given you the lowdown on the numbers from the men who took to the sand at the Swatch World Tour Finals in Toronto – and now it’s time for the women to take center stage.

But first some did you knows to whet your appetite…For example, did you know that women made less errors than men during the tournament, and also thundered down more aces and swatted away more kill points? Well there’s three nuggets of information to impress your friends.

Right, enough of that, let’s get down to which players stood out at Polson Pier, shall we?

We’ll start with the champions. Olympic gold medalists Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst began the tournament slowly but finished like an express train. They recovered from two successive defeats and went on to win their next four matches and ran away with the title. They played a staggering 548 points – more than any other team – remember, they were pushed to the max in the early stages of the tournament.

Kira continued her commanding form at the net with more blocks than any other player with 29 – but it was 24-year-old Swiss star Joana Heidrich that enjoyed the highest block ratio during the tournament, averaging exactly two per set. She and retiring partner Nadine Zumkehr settled for silver in the end – despite being one of the teams to beat Ludwig/Walkenhorst earlier in the week.

Want more Walkenhorst stats? Of course you do! Kira also came up trumps with the ball in her hand at service – and no player converted more aces than the German’s 15.

Last year’s Swatch World Tour Finals champions Larissa/Talita were on the receiving end of a Ludwig/Walkenhorst defeat in the semifinals, but by far and away the best attacker on show in Toronto was Talita, who averaged a stonking eight kills per set. As a team the Brazilians also enjoyed the best sideout ratio of the tournament, successfully returning 132 of the 179 serves they faced. Very impressive stuff.

So there we have it. Just like they did on the FIVB World Tour, the figures are dominated by the all-conquering German Olympic champs Laura and Kira.

We know for sure they will be together next year and beyond…but can they sweep all before them again in 2017? Only time will tell!