Lausanne, Switzerland, May 26, 2018 - Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallists Italy seek their third win in as many games at the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League when they are hosted by Serbia Sunday in Kralejvo to wrap up Week 1 of the competition. But Serbia lead the series 25-18 and Italy have not beaten the Balkan side since 2015, losing seven of their last nine head-to-head encounters.
Head-to-Head
• In 43 world level major encounters, Serbia (including Yugoslavia and Serbia & Montenegro) beat Italy 25 times, while Italy won 18 encounters.
• World level major competitions are: the VNL Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
• Serbia won seven of the last nine world level major encounters, with two five set wins by Italy in the 2015 World League as the only exceptions (Serbia won the other three meetings at the 2015 World League).
• The last world level major encounter between these countries came at the 2016 World League semifinals. Serbia won in five sets and went on to beat Brazil 3-0 in the final.
• Each of their last four world level major encounters were five setters. The last straight victory at a world level major came at the 2014 World Championship, when Serbia won 25-19, 29-27, 25-22.
• Italy beat Serbia (as Serbia & Montenegro) 3-0 in the 1998 World Championship final on 29 November, making Italy the first country to win three successive world championship titles.
• In 2011, Serbia beat Italy 3-1 in the final of the European Championship, repeating the 2001 final which they won (as Serbia and Montenegro) in straight sets.
Italy
• Italy beat Brazil 3-2 on Saturday, after having beaten Germany 3-1 a day prior.
• Italy are now unbeaten in six successive matches at world level major competition (2017 Grand Champions Cup, 2018 VNL), since their 3-2 defeat to Iran at last year's Grand Champions Cup.
• Italy can remain unbeaten in seven consecutive matches for the first time since September 2015, when they recorded a seven-match unbeaten run in the World Cup.
• Italy last started a world level major tournament with three successive victories in 2016, when they won their first four matches at the Olympic Games.
• Ivan Zaytsev scored a tournament-high 32 points against Brazil on Saturday: 26 spikes, four blocks, two service points. No other player on the court scored more than 17 points.
Serbia
• Serbia beat Germany 3-1 on Saturday, bouncing back from their 3-0 defeat to Brazil on Friday.
• This win over Germany ended a five-match losing streak for Serbia at world level major competitions, since their 3-2 victory over Argentina at the 2017 World League.
• Drazen Luburic (21 points), Uros Kovacevic (17) and Marko Ivovic (12) all reached double figures in scoring against Germany on Saturday.
• Of these three players, only Ivovic (11) also scored 10+ points against Brazil on Friday. Kovacevic scored three points in that match, Luburic zero.