Lausanne, Switzerland, June 22, 2018 - China host Canada Saturday in Jiangmen as the two go head-to-head for the 11th time in history, with Canada leading the series 6-4, but China looking to go for back-to-back wins for the first time in the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League after beating Japan on Friday.
Head-to-Head
• China and Canada have met 10 times at world level major tournaments, with Canada winning six to China four.
• World level major competitions are: the VNL, Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
• Canada have won their last five world level major tournament matches against China (1999-2016) since a 3-1 China win at the 1995 World Cup.
• Seven of the 10 world level major tournament encounters between these teams ended in three sets. The last three ended in straight-sets wins for Canada - at the 2014 World Championship and twice at the 2016 World League.
China
• China won 3-1 against Japan of Friday, ending a six-match losing streak.
• China have now won three matches in the VNL: 3-0, 3-1 and 3-2.
• The last time China won consecutive matches at major world level came in the 2017 World League, when they won their last three matches.
• The VNL top scorer so far, Chuan Jiang added another 26 points (15 more than any of his teammates in that match) to his total tally in the competition.
• Chuan Jiang has now scored 243 points in the VNL, almost 19 points on average per match.
Canada
• Canada have lost their last three VNL matches.
• They have not lost four in a row in a single major world level competition since losing nine in a row at the 2012 World League.
• Canada could record three straight-sets defeats in a single major world level tournament for the first time since the 2015 World Cup (3).
• Canada failed to score a single point from stuff blocks in their 3-0 defeat against Serbia on Friday.
• Gavin Schmitt scored a match-high 17 points against Serbia. He also scored at least 10 points more in the match than any of his teammates.