Lausanne, Switzerland, May 30, 2018 - Poland and Korea meet Thursday in Apeldoorn and seek to bounce back after both lost their first two matches of Week 3 to The Netherlands and Brazil in the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League. The Europeans lead the head-to-head series 10-6.
Head-to-Head
• Poland and Korea faced each other three times at the 2017 World Grand Prix, with Poland winning the last match 3-0.
• Korea had won the first two encounters at last year's World Grand Prix.
• In total Poland have won 10 of the 16 matches versus Korea at world level major competitions.
• The women's world level major competitions are: the VNL, Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, World Grand Prix and Grand Champions Cup.
• Four of the last five matches between these two teams resulted in a straight-sets victory, two for both sides.
Poland
• Poland lost 3-0 to Brazil on Wednesday. They have now two wins and six defeats in the 2018 VNL.
• Poland have now lost four world level major competition matches in a row. Their last longer losing streak in world level major competition matches was five straight in the 2014 World Grand Prix.
• Poland have lost all five world level major competition matches they played in The Netherlands. The only other nation where they played at least one world level major competition match and never won is Italy (3 defeats).
• Poland have lost back-to-back world level major competition matches in straight sets. The last time this occurred to them was during the 2014 World Grand Prix (3 straight), against The Netherlands, Belgium and Puerto Rico.
• Tournament top scorer after eight matches Malwina Smarzek (192 total points) again paced her team against Brazil, scoring a team-high 18 points in the defeat.
Korea
• After losing 3-0 to The Netherlands on Wednesday, Korea have four wins and four defeats thus far in the 2018 VNL.
• Korea could lose five matches in successive world level major competitions, as they lost all five matches in the 2017 Grand Champions Cup (all in straight sets).
• This week, Korea play their first ever world level major competition encounters in The Netherlands (2 defeats thus far). In all other nations they played at least one match in, they have only lost all their matches in India (3 defeats).
• Korea scored only 40 points against The Netherlands on Wednesday. Park Jeongah (7) was Korea's only player in that match with more than four points scored.