Lausanne, Switzerland, June 20, 2019 - The Dominican Republic's Bethania de la Cruz scored 35 points and Japan's Ai Kurogo 30 Thursday for the first ever double 30+ in an FIVB Volleyball Nations League match when the two teams clashed on the closing day of this year's pool play at Boryeong.
The 'Queens of the Caribbean' eventually prevailed 3-2 (25-17, 25-23, 24-26, 26-28, 15-10) after Japan had come back from two sets down to force a tie-break, though after yesterday's results both teams were already out of contention in the race for the Final Six of the competition.
The 32-year-old De La Cruz scored off just 20 attacks (20/55 for a 36% efficiency), but added as many as 8 blocks and 7 aces to her tally.
The outside hitter is the second Dominican player to make the list of players who have scored 30 points or more in a single VNL match. Brayelin Martinez has entries from both earlier this year (36 points against Thailand) and last year (31 against Korea).
Outside hitter Kurogo came on off the bench in the second set to substitute Yurie Nabeya and scored all her points in the four remaining sets from attacks with an exceptional 58% (30/52) efficiency.
Kurogo, who celebrated her 21st birthday this week, became the first Japanese player to make the all-time 30+ VNL list.
Quick links - Volleyball:
FIVB.com - Volleyball Nations League
FIVB.com - Volleyball
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