Hoffman Estates, USA, June 22, 2019 - Stephen Maar scored 18 points to help Canada to victory against North American neighbours USA in Hoffman Estates on Saturday.
Pre-match stats:
China - Japan (June 22, 2019)
Head-to-Head
- Japan will meet China in a world level major competition for the 46th time. Japan won 27 of the previous encounters, China 18.
- World level major competitions are: FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
- China won five of their last six world level matches against Japan, with a straight-sets defeat at the 2011 World Cup as the only exception.
- Last year, these teams also met in the VNL with China winning 3-1.
China
- China have won only one of their first 10 matches in the 2019 Volleyball Nations League, a 3-0 win over Bulgaria.
- Last year China won three matches in the VNL, including a 3-1 victory versus Japan.
- Zhejia Zhang is among the best blockers in the competition, averaging 0.56 stuff blocks per set.
- Guojun Zhan is among the best setters in the competition (4.85 set average per set).
- Chuan Jiang (107) is the only Chinese player reaching a century of points in the 2019 VNL. He led China in scoring 274 points in the 2018 VNL.
Japan
- Japan have won four and lost six Volleyball Nations League matches in 2019.
- Japan (W4-L6) are two shy of their total wins in the 2019 VNL (W6-L9).
Yuji Nishida (124) and Yuki Ishikawa (120) are in the top-10 on this year's VNL best scorer's list, despite sitting out the match against United States on Friday (3-0 USA win).
- Last year, Nishida also led Japan's charge by totalling 187 points in the preliminary round.
- Issei Otake scored 13 of Japan's 53 total points against United States on Friday. He was the only Japanese player in double figures.
United States - Canada (June 22, 2019)
Head-to-Head
- United States have won 13 matches against Canada in major world level competitions, losing four.
- World level major competitions are: FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
- Last year, these teams also met in the VNL, with USA winning in four sets.
- These teams their most recent world level encounter came last September. At the 2018 World Championship, United States won 3-1 in the second round.
United States
- United States won their last five FIVB Volleyball Nations League matches, since a 3-0 defeat to Russia on 8 June.
- United States have equalled their VNL record winning streak of five matches in a row, set on two previous occasions, both in 2018. Another win here would give them an outright record.
- On 92 points, Benjamin Patch is USA's top scorer this VNL campaign. Taylor Sander and Torey Defalco follow on total 75 points.
- Last year, Benjamin Patch totalled 101 points in the preliminary round, ranking him third for USA behind Matthew Anderson (166) and Aaron Russell (128).
- Benjamin Patch's spike success rate of 52.76% ranks him joint fifth after Friday's matches in the 2019 VNL.
Canada
- By beating China 3-1 on Friday, Canada ended a run of four FIVB Volleyball Nations League defeats and gave them a W5-L5 record in this year's VNL.
- Canada won the first set in their match against China on Friday, ending a run of five matches (W1-L4) losing the first set.
- Canada have won each of their last 12 world level major tournament matches in which they claimed the first set. Their last defeat after a 1-0 lead in sets came in the 2018 VNL, against today's opponents United States.
- Sharone Vernon-Evans (159 points) is in second place on this year's top scorer's in the competition, behind only Iran's Amir Ghafour (167). Last year, only Stephen Timothy Maar (165) scored more for Canada at the VNL than Vernon-Evans (159) this year.
- Sharone Vernon-Evans is among the best attackers (53.28% success rate) and best servers (0.33 ace average per set) in the competition.