Ardabil, Iran, June 23, 2019 - The final day of action in Ardabil in Pool 15 of the 2019 men's FIVB Volleyball Nations League featured victories for Australia against Portugal in a match between two of this year's challenger teams, and between France against Iran, two of the top three teams in the current ranking. Lincoln Williams led scoring for Australia, while Trevor Clevenot was France's top scorer.
Portugal-Australia
Iran-France
Pre-match stats:
Portugal - Australia (June 23, 2019)
Head-to-Head
- Portugal and Australia have met twice before at a world level major competition. Portugal beat Australia 3-1 at the 2002 World Championship and Australia beat Portugal 3-2 at the 2017 World League.
- World level major competitions are: FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
Portugal
- Portugal have lost four matches in a row in the 2019 VNL for the first time. They now have a W2-L9 record after 11 matches.
- In 2018, the only debutants in the VNL to have fewer than two wins were Republic of Korea (W1-14). China won three matches in 2018.
- Portugal scored 15 points from blocks in their 3-0 defeat against France on Saturday, 10 more than they had in the 3-1 loss to Iran on Friday.
- Filip Cveticanin leads Portugal in this year's VNL on 17 stuff blocks and an average of 0.45 per set.
- Brothers Alexandre Ferreira (122) and Marco Ferreira (116) are Portugal's two leading points scorers in the 2019 VNL.
Australia
- Australia lost 13 of their last 14 matches in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League, with the only exception in this run a 3-0 victory against Germany on 9 June 2019.
- Australia have lost 10 matches in the 2019 VNL. They also lost 10 times in the 2018 VNL.
- Australia won five matches in the 2018 VNL. They have four matches to play in the 2019 VNL and could still equal their five wins from last year.
- Luke Smith (99) needs one more point to join Lincoln Alexander Williams (120) on 100+ points in this year's VNL.
- In 2018, Smith and Williams were not among the three players to score more than 100 points for Australia in the VNL.
Iran - France (23 Jun 2019)
Head-to-Head
- Iran have won only one of their five world level major competition matches against France, a 3-2 victory at the 2017 Grand Champions Cup.
- World level major competitions are: FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
- Last year these teams also met in the VNL, with France beating Iran 3-1 in the preliminary round.
- Their three other world level meetings all came at the World Championship (one in 1970, two in 2014) with France winning on each occasion.
Iran
- Iran have won 13 of their last 14 FIVB Volleyball Nations League matches, with the only exception in this run a 3-2 defeat against Brazil on 7 June 2019.
- Iran have set a team record by winning seven VNL matches in a row.
- Iran's 10 wins in the 2019 VNL is already a team record for most victories in a single world level major tournament.
- Iran's six wins in straight sets in the 2019 VNL are the most of all teams.
- Amir Ghafour (183) is 10 points shy of equalling Milad Ebadipour Ghara H's total of 193 points as Iran's top scorer in 2018 in the VNL.
- Seyed Mohammad Mousavi Eraghi is among the best blockers in the 2019 VNL with 22 stuff blocks and a 0.55 average per set.
- Mir Saeid Marouflakrani (average 8.25) has one of the highest averages as setter in the 2019 VNL.
France
- France can win three VNL matches in a row for the second time in 2019. They started their campaign with five successive wins.
- France could claim three successive wins in straight sets for the second time in the Volleyball Nations League after 3-0 victories in a row versus Serbia, Bulgaria and Brazil in June 2018.
- Jean Patry (99) needs one more point to become the first French player to score 100 points in the 2019 VNL. He had 98 points in the 2018 VNL.
- Antoine Brizard's 4.71 average as setter is one of the highest in this year's VNL.
- Jenia Grebennikov (2.12) is one of the few players with an average above 2.00 in the Best Digger category.