Regla Torres
Zhu Ting
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Regla Torres leads 3 of 4 categories. Our all-time ranking places Regla Torres at #2 and Zhu Ting at #5.
The case for Regla Torres
The finest women's player of the 20th century, as formally recognised by FIVB, and the engine of Cuba's 'Morenas del Caribe'. A middle blocker of extraordinary reach and mobility, Torres won three consecutive Olympic gold medals - Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 - a feat unmatched in indoor volleyball. She reached the biggest stage as a teenager, becoming one of the youngest Olympic volleyball champions at just 16 in 1992. Cuba also captured the World Championship in 1994 and 1998 and multiple World Cups during her reign, built on athleticism and blocking that overwhelmed taller, more methodical European sides. Torres combined a devastating quick attack with the range to close blocks on both pins, redefining what a middle could do. For most of the 1990s Cuba lost almost nothing that mattered, and Torres was its defining figure - the standard against which every middle blocker since has been measured.
The case for Zhu Ting
The defining women's player of the late 2010s and one of the most complete attackers the game has seen. Zhu Ting exploded onto the world stage by carrying China to Olympic gold in Rio 2016, winning the tournament MVP, and added World Cup titles and MVP awards in 2015 and 2019. Dominating abroad with Turkey's Vakifbank, she won consecutive CEV Champions League titles and MVPs in 2017 and 2018, plus the Club World Championship, proving herself against the strongest club fields on earth. At over 1.95 metres with a long, whip-fast arm, she combines terminal power with the passing and defence of an outside hitter, giving China a genuine six-rotation superstar. Injuries and China's dip cost her a second Olympic title, but at her peak from roughly 2015 to 2019 she was, by wide agreement, the best player in the world - a modern benchmark for the outside hitter position. As of the 2024-25 season she continued at the elite level.