Urmia, Iran, June 16, 2019 – World champions Poland defeated Canada in Urmia on Sunday.
Pre-match stats:
Poland – Canada (June 16, 2019)
Head-to-head
• Poland (W12-L0) are unbeaten in their matches against Canada at major world level (FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup).
• Poland have lost only five sets in their 12 world level encounters with Canada, all in 3-1 wins.
• Poland (12) are the only opponents Canada have played multiple times against at world level without ever winning.
• Poland beat Canada 3-1 at last year's VNL, their most recent world level encounter. Damian Schulz (17), Michal Kubiak (15), Aleksander Sliwka (15) and Jakub Kochanowski (15) scored the most points in that match, all for Poland.
Poland
• Poland lost 3-2 to Iran on Saturday, their second defeat in a row. They were beaten 3-1 by Russia on Friday.
• Poland could equal their FIVB Nations League record of three successive defeats, set from 15 to 17 June 2018 against Iran, United States and Serbia (all in straight-sets).
• Poland's 3-2 defeat to Iran was their first defeat in five sets at the VNL. They had previously beaten Italy (2018) and United States (2019) in five sets.
• Lukasz Kaczmarek scored a team-high 22 points in Poland's loss against Iran.
• Karol Klos attempted 10 blocks against Iran, but failed to win a single point from these attempts.
Canada
• Canada could lose four successive Nations League matches for the first time.
• In 2018 they recorded a three-match losing streak, against Bulgaria, France and Serbia.
• In all major world level competitions, Canada have not lost four matches in a row since 2015 (three at the World League, one at the World Cup).
• In their 3-1 defeat to Russia on Saturday, Sharone Vernon-Evans led all players on 16 points.
Iran – Russia (June 16, 2019)
Head-to-head
• Russia have won 11 of their 14 meetings with Iran at major world level (FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup).
• Iran's three world level victories over Russia all came at the 2015 World League (3-1, 3-0, 3-0).
• Russia have won each of their last five world level matches against Iran, including a 3-1 at last year's VNL. Dmitriy Muserskiy won a match-high 24 points.
Iran
• Iran have won 10 of their last 11 FIVB Volleyball Nations League matches, with the exception in this run a 3-2 defeat against Brazil on 7 June 2019.
• Iran won just four of their first 12 VNL matches.
• Iran have already claimed as many VNL victories in 2019 as they did in the whole of their 2018 VNL campaign: seven wins.
• Iran beat Poland 3-2 on Saturday. They now have a W3-L3 record in five-setters at the VNL.
• Amir Ghafour is Iran's top scorer this VNL campaign on 134 points, 44 points more than their second-highest scorer Purya Fayazi D. (90 points).
Russia
• Russia have equalled their FIVB Nations League record of winning seven matches in a row, set in last year's preliminary round.
• They could now become the first team to win eight successive VNL matches. Apart from themselves, France and Brazil have previously recorded seven-match winning runs in the competition.
• Russia have lost only two of their last 20 VNL matches, with both of those defeats suffered against France.
• Only two of their players reached double figures in scoring in Russia's 3-1 victory over Canada on Saturday: Denis Zemchenok (12) and Egor Kliuka (10).
• Kliuka (20) leads all players on aces scored this VNL campaign.
Quick links - Volleyball:
FIVB.com - Volleyball Nations League
FIVB.com - Volleyball
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