Brisbane, Australia, June 30, 2019 - Argentina claimed a three-set win against Pool 17 hosts Australia in the second match in the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League in Brisbane on Sunday. Earlier in the day, Russia also claimed a victory against China.
Pre-match stats:
China - Russia (June 30, 2019)
Head-to-Head
- Russia (including predecessors) have lost only one of their previous 35 major world level encounters with China, a 3-2 defeat at the 1995 World League.
- Russia's last three world level victories over China all came in straight sets: 2011 World Cup, 2014 World Championship and 2018 Volleyball Nations League.
- The last time China took a set off Russia at world level was in a 3-2 defeat in the 2006 World League.
- Anton Karpukhov (21) was the only player on more than 14 points in last year's VNL meeting between the teams.
China
- China have won only one of their 14 matches in the 2019 Volleyball Nations League, a 3-0 win over Bulgaria.
- China had a W3-L12 record in the 2018 preliminary round. Only Republic of Korea (W1-L14) had a worse record in 2018.
- China have won only one of their last 21 matches in world level major competitions, dating back to June 2018.
- As one of the VNL's core nations, China cannot be relegated, despite them being ranked bottom of the table with just one match to go this season.
- Jiang Chuan is China's leading points scorer in the 2019 VNL on 175 points. In the 2018 VNL, he won a record 274 points in the preliminary round.
Russia
- Defending champions Russia secured a spot in the Final Round by defeating Argentina in five sets on Saturday.
- Russia raised their victory total in the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League to 11, matching their wins total in the preliminary round last season.
- Russia are the only team yet to lose a five-set match in the 2019 VNL. On Saturday, they showed off their stamina by beating Argentina in five.
- Egor Kliuka is among the best servers in the 2019 VNL on 20 aces and an average of 0.39 per set.
- Victor Poletaev is one of the best attackers in this season's VNL with a success rate of 54.30.
Australia - Argentina (June 30, 2019)
Head-to-head
- Argentina have won all of their six major encounters with Australia at world level.
- World level major competitions are: FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
- Australia did manage to beat Argentina in a 2008 Olympic qualifier. Eventually, neither made it to the final tournament in Beijing.
- Their last major encounter took place in the Volleyball Nations League last season. Visiting Argentina emerged victorious 3-1 in Melbourne, Australia.
Australia
- Australia have won three of their 14 matches in this year's Volleyball Nations League, 3-0 against Germany on 9 June, 3-0 versus Portugal on 23 June and 3-1 against China on Saturday.
- Australia have won only three of their last 16 home matches in world level major competitions.
- Australia are one defeat short of their record most defeats in a single world level tournament as they lost 12 matches in the 1999 World League.
- Lincoln Alexander Williams paced Australia with 18 points against China on Saturday, raising his season total to a team-high 164.
- Arshdeep Dosanjh and Samuel Walker are among the best servers in the 2019 VNL, both 16 aces and averaging 0.30 per set.
Argentina
- Argentina have won seven matches in the 2019 Volleyball Nations League, including five of their last seven. On Saturday, they were beaten by Russia in five sets.
- The last major world level tournament in which Argentina won at least eight matches was the 2015 World League (8 wins).
- All of Argentina's 11 VNL victories came after winning the first set. They suffered defeat in their last 12 VNL matches in which they lost the opening set.
- Bruno Lima (182) is Argentina's leading scorer in the 2019 VNL. In last year's preliminary round, Cristian Poglajen (163) led Argentina in scoring.