Novi Sad, Serbia, June 2, 2019 – France are aiming of a sweep of their matches in Pool 4 against Japan, while Russia are hoping to improve their record to 2-1 at the FIVB Volleyball Nations League.
Japan – France (June 2, 2019)
Head-to-Head
• Japan have won only five of their 34 world level major tournament matches against France.
• World level major tournaments are: FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
• Japan have lost their last 11 world level matches against France, since a 3-1 victory in the World League on 1 July 2007.
• These teams also met at last year's edition of the Nations League. France beat Japan 3-1 on 26 May 2018 in the preliminary round.
Japan
• Japan have the same W1-L1 record after two matches in this year's Volleyball Nations League as they had last year. In 2018, Japan won their third match, 3-1 versus Iran.
• Issei Otake is Japan's top scorer in the 2019 VNL on 20 points, despite not being their top scoring player in either of their opening two matches.
• In the 2018 VNL, Otake was Japan's fifth-highest scorer with 99 points.
• Masahiro Yanagida was Japan's best scorer in the 3-1 loss against Russia on 16 points. Yuki Ishikawa (19) was their top scorer in the 3-1 win versus Serbia.
France
• France won both of their opening two matches in the 2019 Volleyball Nations League. In last year's VNL they won all three matches in the opening week.
• No team has won more matches in the VNL than France (17).
• Jean Patry is France's top scorer in the 2019 VNL on 23 points. Last year he scored 98 points in the preliminary round, fifth most for France.
• Jenia Grebennikov (23 digs) has an average of 2.88 per set in the Best Digger category.
Russia – Serbia (June 2, 2019)
Head-to-Head
• Russia (including Soviet Union and CIS) have won 27 of their previous 42 encounters with Serbia (including predecessors) in world level major competitions.
• World level major competitions are: FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
• Serbia have won their last three matches against Russia, including 3-2 wins in the 2018 Nations League preliminary round and the 2018 World Championship first round. It is already Serbia's longest winning run against Russia in world level major competitions.
• Russia's last victory over Serbia in a world level major tournament was a straight set win in the 2014 World League.
• In 2000, Serbia (as Yugoslavia) won their only Olympic title in men's volleyball by defeating Russia 3-0 in the final.
Russia
• Russia have a W1-L1 record after two matches in the 2019 Volleyball Nations League, the same as last year.
• In 2018, Russia won two of their three matches in the opening week.
• Russia scored 21 points from stuff blocks in their 3-1 victory against Japan and conceded only one point from a block.
• Egor Kliuka was Russia's top scorer against Japan on 22 points. He has scored 39 points in the 2019 VNL. Last year he was their second-highest scorer in the preliminary round on 179 points.
• Dmitry Volkov has scored seven points from stuff blocks in the 2019 VNL, already two more than he had in the preliminary round in 2018.
Serbia
• Serbia lost both of their opening two matches in the 2019 VNL. Last year they had a W1-L2 record after their opening three fixtures.
• Serbia have lost four consecutive VNL matches, after they were beaten in four of their first 15 fixtures in the competition.
• Dusan Petkovic (27) leads Serbia in scoring, already more than he had in last year's preliminary round (19).
• Vuk Todorovic has an average of 2.0 per set in the Best Setter category in this year's VNL.
Quick links - Volleyball:
FIVB.com - Volleyball Nations League
FIVB.com - Volleyball
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram