Milan, Italy, June 21, 2019 - Maciej Muzaj was one of three Polish players to score 15 points as his team began their campaign in Pool 14 of the 2019 men's FIVB Volleyball Nations League with a victory against Argentina in Milan on Friday.
Pre-match stats:
Poland - Argentina (21 Jun 2019)
Head-to-Head
· Poland and Argentina have met 33 times at world level major competitions, with Poland winning 27 matches and Argentina six.
· World level major competitions are: FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
· Argentina won their last encounter with Poland in a world level major tournament. At the 2018 World Championship, Argentina won in five sets, even though Poland scored more points (106-105).
· That 2018 World Championship victory ended a 27-match winless run for Argentina against Poland at world level, since a straight-sets victory at the 2002 World League.
Poland
· Poland have won five matches in the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League and lost four.
· At the 2018 World Championship, Poland won three of their four matches on Italian soil. Their only loss came against the hosts in five sets.
· Dawid Konarski is Poland's leading scorer at the 2019 VNL on 84 points.
· Konarski scored 74 points from spikes. Last year, in the 2018 VNL, only Artur Szalpuk (84) scored more points from spikes for Poland in the preliminary round.
Argentina
· Argentina won their last two VNL matches, 3-1 against France and 3-2 against Germany.
· Argentina could win three consecutive VNL matches for only the second time, after a four-match winning streak from 2018-2019.
· Argentina have won four matches this VNL campaign, as many as in the whole of the 2018 tournament.
· Argentina's four wins this year all came against European sides, while their five losses all came against non-European sides.
· Santiago Danani is the second-best receiver this VNL campaign with an efficiency of 35.05%. He also ranks second among the best diggers, averaging 2.71 per set.
Italy - Serbia (21 Jun 2019)
Head-to-Head
· Italy have a W19-L26 record against Serbia (incl. predecessors) in major world level competitions.
· World level major competitions are: Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League, Volleyball Nations League and Grand Champions Cup.
· Italy won only one of their last four world level meetings with Serbia, a 3-0 victory at last year's FIVB Volleyball Nations League on 27 May 2018.
· The most recent world level meeting between these teams was at last year's World Championship. In the third round, Serbia beat Italy in straight-sets.
Italy
· Italy have won seven of their last eight FIVB Volleyball Nations League matches, with the exception in this run their 3-0 defeat to Russia on 9 June.
· Italy could equal their VNL record winning streak of four matches, set earlier this tournament. That run was ended by the aforementioned defeat to Russia.
· None of Italy's last 13 VNL matches was decided in five sets, since their 3-2 victory over Republic of Korea on 16 June 2018.
· Fabio Balaso is the tournament's best digger, averaging 2.72 per set.
· Gabriele Nelli (157) chases only Sharone Vernon-Evans (158) by one point for this year's VNL top scorer honours.
Serbia
· Serbia have won each of their last five FIVB Volleyball Nations League matches. This directly follows a run of six successive VNL defeats.
· Serbia could set a team record of six consecutive VNL victories. They previously record winnings streaks of five twice in the 2018 tournament.
· On Sunday, Serbia beat Portugal 3-1, ending a six-match run of matches decided in five-sets.
· No team has played more sets than Serbia at the 2019 VNL (42).
· Serbia have not won or lost a match in straight-sets in this year's VNL tournament.
· Dusan Petkovic has scored a team-high 112 points this VNL campaign.
· Only Iran's Seyed Mohammad Mousavi Eraghi (0.67) and China's Zhejia Zhang (0.63) average more blocks per set than Petar Krsmanovic (0.48).