Ningbo, China, June 20, 2019 - China defeated Serbia in the final day of action in 2019 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League Pool 18.
Pre-match stats:
Germany - Bulgaria (June 20, 2019)
Head-to-Head
· Germany (incl. East & West Germany) and Bulgaria have three wins each in their six previous major world level meetings.
· Germany defeated Bulgaria 3-2 in their most recent world level encounter, at the 2017 World Grand Prix.
· Germany can become the first team to win successive world level matches in this fixture.
· Germany also won in five sets in their most recent meeting at the European Championships, in 2017.
Germany
· Germany beat Serbia 3-1 on Wednesday to claim their sixth win in the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League (W6-L8). Germany's tally of six victories is already one more than they managed to win in last year's edition (W5-L10).
· Louisa Lippmann scored 24 points in Germany's win over Serbia, at least nine more than any of her teammates.
· Lippmann has scored a team-high 216 points in the 2019 VNL. She needs eight more points in Germany's final preliminary round fixture to match her total from last year's preliminary round (224 points).
· Lenka Dürr is among the best diggers in the 2019 VNL, recording 169 digs for an average of 3.38 per set.
Bulgaria
· Bulgaria lost their first 11 matches in the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League but have now won two of their last three games in the tournament.
· Bulgaria lost the opening set in each of their last seven VNL matches. They lost all their four VNL matches in which they took the first set.
· Silvana Chausheva scored a team-high 13 points in Bulgaria's 3-0 defeat against China on Wednesday. Nasya Dimitrova followed on nine points.
· Gergana Dimitrova (184) is Bulgaria's leading scorer in the 2019 VNL. Miroslava Paskova (162), Nasya Dimitrova (122) and Mira Todorova (106) have also reached the 100-points mark for the team.
· Zhana Todorova is among the best diggers in this year's VNL, averaging 3.67 digs per set. Her tournament total of 187 digs is higher than any other player.
China - Serbia (June 20, 2019)
Head-to-Head
· Serbia (incl. predecessors) have won eight of their previous 15 major world level matches against China, including each of their last three.
· Serbia could win four successive world level fixtures against China for the first time. They had also won their three successive matches in their first three meetings with China (2010-2011).
· China's last world level victory against Serbia was a 3-1 in the gold medal match at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Ting Zhu (25) and Tijana Boškovic (23) both reached 20+ points in that match.
· Serbia defeated China 3-1 in the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League, their most recent world level encounter. Boškovic scored a 32 points, at least 17 more than any other player.
China
· China's 3-0 win over Bulgaria on Wednesday was their 11th win in the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League (W11-L3). They claimed a total of nine victories in last year's edition (W9-L10).
· China have won 11 of their last 12 VNL matches, with the only exception in that run a straight-sets defeat against USA on 13 June.
· Nine of China's last 10 wins in the VNL came in straight sets. In total, only USA (17) have won more VNL matches by a 3-0 scoreline than China (15).
· Zhu Ting (119) and Xinyue Yuan (109) are China's leading scorers in the 2019 VNL. China had five players on 100+ points in the 2018 VNL preliminary round, including the two current top scorers.
· Zhu Ting is among the best attackers in the 2019 VNL with a 50.96% spike success rate.
Serbia
· Serbia have lost each of their last six VNL matches. Their six-match losing run is currently the longest running losing streak in the competition.
· Serbia are on a total of nine defeats in the 2019 VNL (W5-L9), already four more than they suffered in last year's edition (W12-L5).
· Katarina Lazovic scored a team-high 17 points in Serbia's 3-1 defeat against Germany, including 14 from spikes.
· Lazovic is Serbia's leading scorer in the 2019 VNL on 142 points. Ana Bjelica follows on 120 points. Last year, Tijana Boškovic finished the preliminary round in third place in the top scorers list on 238 points.
· Maja Aleksic is among the best blockers in the 2019 VNL, averaging 0.86 blocks per set. Her tournament total of 43 stuff blocks is higher than any other player.