Urmia, Iran, June 14, 2019 – Russia defeated reigning world champions Poland in the 2019 men's FIVB Volleyball Nations League on Friday. Find out more on the dedicated Match Centre pages.
Russia-Poland
Iran-Canada
Pre-match stats:Russia – Poland (June 14, 2019)
Head-to-head• Russia (incl. predecessors) lead the head-to-head against Poland 33-18 at major world level competitions (FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup).• Russia won five of their last six world level encounters with Poland, directly following a run of six consecutive world level defeats against them.• Russia and Poland met twice in last year's VNL. Poland won in straight sets in the preliminary round, while Russia triumphed 3-1 in the final round.• This is a repeat of the third-place decider at the inaugural European Games on 28 June 2015. Russia won 3-1 to claim the bronze medal.Russia• Russia have won five consecutive Volleyball Nations League matches, after they began the 2019 tournament with a 3-1 defeat against France.• Russia could win six consecutive VNL matches for the second time, after a run of seven in a row in last year's preliminary round.• Russia lost only two of their last 18 VNL matches, with both of those defeats against France.• After two weeks of play, Egor Kliuka (95) is the fourth-best scorer in this year's VNL, behind Sharone Vernon-Evans (107 for CAN), Gabriele Nelli (106 for ITA) and Dusan Petkovic (103 for SRB).• Kliuka has 14 aces in this year's VNL, at least three more than any other player after two weeks of play.• Victor Poletaev was Russia's leading points scorer in both of their last two VNL matches. He amassed 19 points against United States and 17 versus Italy.Poland
• Poland have won four of their six matches in the 2019 Volleyball Nations League, including both of their last two.• Poland could win consecutive VNL matches in straight sets for the third time, after achieving this twice in last year's tournament: versus Republic of Korea and Russia in May 2018, and against France and China in June 2018.• Mateusz Bieniek (57) and Dawid Konarski (55) are Poland's leading points scorers this VNL campaign.• Konarski is the only player to have led Poland twice in scoring this VNL campaign: 22 against Australia and 11 versus China (joint-most with Bieniek).• Aleksander Sliwka (20 vs USA), Norbert Huber (15 vs FRA), Artur Szalpuk (15 vs BRA), Bartosz Kwolek (15 vs BRA), Bartosz Bednorz (18 vs BUL) and Bieniek (11 vs CHN, joint-most with Konarski) scored the most points for Poland in the other matches.Iran – Canada (June 14, 2019)
Head-to-head• Iran lost all three major world level matches against Canada (FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup).• Canada won 3-0 at the 2015 World Cup, 3-1 in the 2018 VNL and 3-2 at the 2018 World Championships.• Canada (3) are the only opponents Iran have played multiple world level matches against without ever winning.• Canada have only played more world level matches against Venezuela (4) without ever losing than against Iran (3).• Iran's Amir Ghafour scored a match-high 19 points in the 3-1 defeat against Canada in last year's VNL. Ryan Joseph Sclater (18) scored the most points for Canada.Iran• Iran won eight of their last nine Volleyball Nations League matches, with the only exception in that run a 3-2 defeat against Brazil on 7 June 2019.• Iran had won only four of their first 12 matches in the VNL.• Amir Ghafour scored 91 points in the first two weeks in this year's VNL, fifth-most among all players. Ghafour did not play in Iran's most recent VNL match.• Mir Saeid Marouflakrani (9.27) is the best setter after the first two weeks of this VNL campaign, while Seyed Mohammad Mousavi Eraghi (0.68) is second on the best blocker list.• Iran have two players in the top-five of the best diggers this VNL campaign: Mohammadreza Hazratpourtalatappeh (4th, 2.18) and Milad Ebadipour Ghara H. (5th, 1.86).Canada• Canada have won four of their six matches in this year's Volleyball Nations League, the same record as they had after six matches of last year's tournament.• Sharone Vernon-Evans (107) has scored the most points in this year's VNL.• Vernon-Evans has 11 aces this VNL campaign, second-most behind Russia's Egor Kliuka (14) after the first two weeks.• Vernon-Evans was Canada's leading points scorer in five of their six VNL matches this year, with the exception the match against Argentina (3-1) where he was used as a substitute during the entire match. Ryan Joseph Sclater scored a match-high 21 points that day.• Only China's Zhejia Zhang (19) scored more points from blocks in the first two weeks this VNL campaign than Graham Vigrass (15).Quick links - Volleyball:FIVB.com - Volleyball Nations LeagueFIVB.com - VolleyballFacebookTwitterInstagram