Ningbo, China, June 7, 2019 – France are aiming for 4-0 start, while hosts China are still seeking for their first win in the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League.
France – Poland (June 7, 2019)
Head-to-Head
• France and Poland will meet for the 22nd time at world level major tournaments. Poland have won 11 of the previous 21 matches, France 10.
• World level major tournaments are: FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
• Last year, these teams met in the Volleyball Nations League with Poland winning in straight sets.
• Their most recent encounter at a world level major tournament was at the 2018 World Championship. Poland lost 3-1, but they still went on to lift the trophy.
France
• France started their 2019 Volleyball Nations League with three consecutive victories. Only Iran and Brazil have also won their first three matches.
• In the 2018 VNL, France also won their first three matches, before losing their fourth fixtures 3-0 to Poland.
• The last time France started a world level major tournament with at least four consecutive victories was the 2017 World League (6).
• Jean Patry is France's top scorer in the 2019 VNL on 42 points. He was the team's fifth highest scorer in the 2018 preliminary round on 98 points.
• Nicolas Le Goff (0.67 avg) is sixth on the list of Best Blockers in the 2019 VNL.
• Antoine Brizard (3.83 avg) is in the top-10 of highest averages in the Best Setter category.
Poland
• Poland started their 2019 Volleyball Nations League with back-to-back wins, before losing 3-1 against Brazil in their last match of week 1.
• The last time they lost consecutive matches at a world level major tournament was at the 2018 World Championship. The second of these matches was a 3-1 loss against France.
• Poland won their first five matches in the 2018 VNL, including a 3-0 victory versus France.
• Dawid Konarski was the best attacker in the opening weekend of the 2019 VNL with a success ratio of 58.49%.
• Konarski leads Poland on 37 points in the 2019 VNL. He had 51 points in the preliminary round in 2018.
China – Bulgaria (June 7, 2019)
Head-to-Head
• Bulgaria have lost only one of their 14 matches against China in world level major tournaments (FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup).
• China's lone victory over Bulgaria was a 3-2 win at the 1962 World Championship. Since then, Bulgaria have won 12 matches in a row versus China.
• Bulgaria won 3-2 against China in their opening match in the 2018 Volleyball Nations League. Boyan Yordanov (15) and Rozalin Penchev (15) were Bulgaria's top scorers in that match. Chuan Jiang scored 18 points for China.
China
• China have yet to win their first match in the 2019 VNL after three defeats in the first week.
• Last year, China claimed a win in each of the first two weeks for a W2-L4 record after two weeks.
• China could suffer three defeats in a row in straight sets in the VNL for the second time, after a run of three in June 2018.
• Chuan Jiang is China's top scorer in the 2019 VNL on 40 points. He was the VNL topscorer in 2018 on 274 points in total, and he was China's top scorer (18) in their 3-2 loss versus Bulgaria.
• Yaochen Yu (7.0) has the third-highest average in the Best Setter category in the 2019 VNL.
Bulgaria
• Bulgaria have a W1-L2 record after Week 1 in the 2019 VNL. Last year, Bulgaria started with two wins and one defeat in the first week, which was played in China.
• In 2018, Bulgaria lost all three matches in Week 2.
• Nikolay Uchikov was Bulgaria's (joint) top scorer in their first three matches in the 2019 VNL on 27, 13 and 15 points respectively. His 55 points are the third-most in this year's VNL after Week 1, behind Egor Kliuka (RUS, 64) and Gabriele Nelli (ITA, 57).
• Todor Skrimov (24 excellents) has a 28.36 efficiency in the Best Receiver category in the 2019 VNL. In the 2018 preliminary round, Valentin Bratoev was the team's leader in the Best Receiver category on an average of 15.45.
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FIVB.com - Volleyball Nations League
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