Lausanne, Switzerland, May 23, 2018 - China host Serbia Thursday in Macau for the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League in what is their third head-to-head since the final of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Serbia won both their 2017 FIVB World Grand Prix matches, levelling the overall series at 7-7.
Head-to-Head
• China and Serbia have recorded seven wins each in their previous 14 meetings at major world level tournaments.
• The women's world level major competitions are: the VNL, Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, World Grand Prix and Grand Champions Cup.
• This is a repeat of the gold medal match at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. China won the Olympic title after a 3-1 win, despite losing the first set.
• Zhu Ting (25 points) and Tijana Boskovic (23 points) led their teams in terms of scoring in that Olympic final.
• Since the 2016 Olympic final, Serbia and China met twice at major world level, both at the 2017 World Grand Prix. Serbia won 3-1 in the preliminary stage and again 3-1 in the final for third place.
China
• China have won three of their five VNL matches, with the two defeats against Korea and Poland.
• Each of China's last eight defeats in world level major tournament matches were in front of a home crowd in China.
• China have won the opening set in eight of their last nine world level major tournament matches.
• Both Li Yingying (55) and Liu Xiaotong (51) have scored more than 50 VNL points for China.
Serbia
• Serbia have won four of their five VNL matches, with the only exception a 3-1 defeat against Brazil.
• Of Serbia's last five defeats at world level major tournaments, four came after they had won the opening set.
• Serbia have won nine of their last 11 world level major tournament matches against Asian opposition, with one of the two defeats in that run versus China (3-1 in the 2016 Olympic Games final).
• In the VNL Best Receivers list, Bojana Milenkovic has a 51.11% efficiency.