Lausanne, Switzerland, June 3, 2018 - Pool hosts Argentina still seek their first win of the season when they meet Italy Sunday in San Juan at the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League. Italy hold a commanding lead of 22-7 in the head-to-head between the two sides, with Argentina's last win four years ago at the 2014 FIVB World Championship.
Head-to-Head
• Of the 29 world level major competition encounters between these teams, Italy won 22, Argentina seven.
• World level major competitions are: the VNL, Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
• None of the last 11 world level major competition matches between these teams ended in straight sets. This comes immediately after five consecutive straight-set wins for Italy between 2000 and 2001.
• Argentina's last world level major competition win against Italy came at the 2014 World Championship (3-1). Both encounters since then have been won by Italy, most recently during the 2016 World League (3-1).
Argentina
• Argentina are looking for their first win at the 2018 VNL.
• Argentina won the opening set in three of their five Nations League matches, but failed to convert that to a victory in the match.
• Argentina have lost their last five major world level fixtures that went into a fifth set, since a 3-2 win against Bulgaria at the 2017 World League.
• Argentina lost 3-1 to Canada on Saturday, but scored more points from spikes than the Canadian team (61 versus 50).
• Argentina also had the highest scorer in the match, as Facundo Conte scored 23 points.
Italy
• Italy have won four of their last five matches at the 2018 VNL, with the exception of the 3-1 defeat against Canada on Friday.
• Italy defeated Iran 3-0 on Saturday. They could now win consecutive major world level matches in straight sets for the first time since the 2016 World League, when they won four matches in a row by 3-0.
• Italy have won at least one set in their last 10 major world level fixtures, since a 3-0 loss versus United States at the 2017 World League.
• Ivan Zaytsev was top scorer against Iran on 16 points, to become the first player to reach the 100+ points mark at the 2018 VNL (102 points).
• Simone Giannelli scored three points from aces against Iran.