Jiangmen, China, June 12, 2019 – Poland and the United States are looking for a win after losing their respective matches on Tuesday, while China and Turkey are playing to break each other’s the winning streak at the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League.
Poland – United States (June 12, 2019)
Head-to-head
• United States won 10 of their last 11 world level competition encounters with Poland, after losing their first eight matches against Poland in those competitions (FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World Grand Prix and Grand Champions Cup).
• Poland's only victory in their last 11 world level major competition encounters against United States came in the 2010 World Grand Prix preliminary round (3-1).
• United States could become the third country to lose 10 world level competition matches against Poland, after Republic of Korea (11) and Argentina (10).
• The most recent world level competition encounter between Poland and United States came at last year's VNL. United States won 3-1, scoring exactly 100 points.
Poland
• Poland lost their last VNL match, 3-0 against China on Tuesday. It was only their third defeat in 10 matches at the 2019 VNL.
• Poland could lose successive matches within a single VNL tournament for the second time. From 23 to 30 May 2018, Poland suffered four consecutive defeats.
• That run also includes the only time Poland lost two VNL matches in a row in straight sets: against Netherlands and Brazil on 29 and 30 May.
• On 264 points, Malwina Smarzek is top scorer at the 2019 Volleyball Nations League. In the defeat against China, Smarzek (17) was the only Polish player to reach double figures in scoring.
• In last year's preliminary round, Smarzek (361) was the only player to score more than 250 points in the VNL.
• Agnieszka Kakolewska (26) has the most points from stuff blocks of all Polish players this VNL season.
United States
• United States have lost their last two VNL matches, 3-1 against Brazil on 6 June and 3-0 against Turkey on 11 June. USA had lost only three of their first 27 matches in the competition.
• At the 2018 World Championship, United States lost four consecutive matches in the second and third round.
• The defeat against Turkey on Tuesday marked the first time United States failed to win a set in a VNL match.
• The last time United States suffered straight-set defeats in world level major competition matches was at the 2014 World Championship: 3-0 against both Brazil and Italy.
• Jordan Thompson led USA in scoring in the defeat against Turkey on 10 points.
• In total, Andrea Drews (99) is the leading points scorer for USA at the 2019 VNL. Drews did not appear in the defeat against Turkey.
China – Turkey (June 12, 2019)
Head-to-head
• China lead the head-to-head against Turkey 6-3 in world level major competitions (FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World Grand Prix and Grand Champions Cup).
• Turkey's only win in their last five world level major competition encounters with China came at last year's Volleyball Nations League. Turkey won 3-1, with Hande Baladin scoring a match-high 27 points.
• China won their most recent encounter with Turkey in straight sets, at the 2018 World Championship. Ebrar Karakurt and Ting Zhu scored a match-high 16 points.
• That 3-0 win at the last year's World Championship was the only straight set victory by any team in the nine previous world level major competition encounters between China and Turkey.
China
• China have won their last eight matches at the 2019 Volleyball Nations League, since a 3-1 defeat against Russia in their second match this year. It is the longest current winning run at the VNL.
• Only Italy (12), United States (twice, 11 & 10) and Brazil (9) have won at least nine successive matches at the VNL.
• The last time China had a longer winning run in world level major competition matches was from August 2015 to June 2016 (16 consecutive victories at World Cup and World Grand Prix).
• Six of China's last seven VNL matches were straight-set victories, with the exception of a 3-2 win over Italy on 6 June.
• Ting Zhu (13) led China in scoring in the 3-0 win over Poland on Tuesday. She reached a total of 91 points in the tournament, surpassing Xinyue Yuan (82, did not appear) to become China's top scorer at the 2019 VNL.
• Xinyue Yuan has scored 21 points from blocks at the 2019 VNL, at least 10 more than any other player for China.
Turkey
• Turkey have won nine of their 10 matches at the 2019 Volleyball Nations League, with the only exception a 3-0 defeat against Japan on 28 May. Turkey are the only team at the 2019 VNL to have won nine of their 10 matches.
• Turkey could win at least 10 matches at a world level major competition for the third time, after the 2018 VNL (13) and the 2012 World Grand Prix (10).
• Turkey have won their last six VNL matches, their longest ever winning streak in world level major tournament matches.
• Turkey have claimed seven 3-0 victories at the 2019 VNL (including in each of their last 3 matches), more than any other team. In 2018, only USA (12) claimed more than seven straight-set victories in the competition (Turkey 6).
• Ebrar Karakurt (130) is the only player in the Turkish team to reach 100+ points at the 2019 VNL. Karakurt scored 20 points in the 3-0 win over USA on Tuesday, at least eight more than any other player on the court.
• Karakurt has a success percentage of 51.2% in spikes at the 2019 VNL. No other Turkish player has a success percentage of more than 41%.
• Zehra Gunes (23) and Kubra Caliskan (21) have both scored 20+ points from stuff blocks at the 2019 VNL.
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FIVB.com - Volleyball Nations League
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