Mendoza, Argentina, June 1, 2019 - Pool hosts Argentina take on Bulgaria and Canada play Portugal when 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League resumes in Mendoza on Saturday.
Canada - Portugal (1 Jun 2019)
Head-to-Head
- Canada and Portugal will meet for the sixth time at a world level major tournament.
- World level major tournaments are: FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
- The previous five meetings all came in the World League. Canada won on four occasions and were beaten once, in a 3-1 Portugal victory on 8 June 2013.
- Most recently these teams met on 10 July 2016, when Canada beat Portugal in straight sets.
- There has never been a five-setter between these teams at a world level major tournament.
Canada
- Canada lost their 2019 Volleyball Nations League opener 3-1 against Bulgaria.
- At last year's VNL, Canada also lost their first match, 3-0 versus Russia, before beating Republic of Korea by the same scoreline in their second match.
- Sharone Vernon-Evans was Canada's top scorer in the match against Bulgaria with 22 points. Canada's 2018 VNL top scorer Stephen Timothy Maar (165) added six points this time.
- Graham Vigrass had five stuff blocks against Bulgaria, most of all VNL players after round 1. In the preliminary round of the 2018 VNL, Vigrass also was Canada's top blocker (22 total).
Portugal
- Portugal suffered a 3-0 defeat against Argentina in their first match of the 2019 Volleyball Nations League.
- Portugal's last world level major tournament was the 2017 World League, where they won three and lost six matches.
- Filip Cveticanin and Alexandre Ferreira both scored a team-high nine points versus Argentina.
Filip Cveticanin (14) had the most block attempts of all players in the first round of the 2019 VNL.
- Alexandre Ferreira was Portugal's only player with at least one point from attacks (6), blocks (1) and serves (2) on Friday.
Argentina - Bulgaria (1 Jun 2019)
Head-to-Head
- Argentina and Bulgaria have met 30 times before in world level major competitions. Argentina won 10 times, Bulgaria 20.
- World level major competitions are: FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League, and Grand Champions Cup.
- In last year's Nations League, Bulgaria defeated Argentina 3-1 in the preliminary round, ending a three-match losing run against the Argentineans.
Argentina
- Argentina beat Portugal 3-0 in their inaugural match at the 2019 Volleyball Nations League. In last year's VNL, Argentina did not record their first win until their sixth match, 3-0 against Italy.
- Argentina now have three successive VNL wins. They had previously won only two of their other 13 matches in the competition.
- In the first round of play at the 2019 VNL, only Canada's Graham Vigrass (1.25) had a higher stuff block average per set than Sebastian Solé (1.00).
- Facundo Conte and Ezequiel Palacios (14 each) reached double figures in scoring against Portugal. Argentina's top scorers from the 2018 VNL, Cristian Poglajen (163 points) and Agustin Loser (150), remained on the bench.
Bulgaria
- Bulgaria won their 2019 Volleyball Nations League opener 3-1 against Canada.
- In last year's VNL, Bulgaria also started with a win, before losing 3-1 against United States in round two and beating Argentina 3-1 in round three.
- Nikolay Uchikov scored 27 points against Canada, 17 more than their second-most prolific scorer in that match, Todor Skrimov (10). Uchikov also was Bulgaria's top scorer at the 2018 VNL on 169 points.
- With 27 total points, Nikolay Uchikov was the top scorer in the first round of matches in this year's VNL, with at least five points more than the next players, Canada's Sharone Vernon-Evans (22) and Poland's Dawid Konarski (22).