Gondomar, Portugal, June 14, 2019 – Serbia defeated Brazil on Friday to get pool action underway in Gondomar in the 2019 men's FIVB Volleyball Nations League on Friday. Find out more on the dedicated Match Centre pages.
Brazil-Serbia
Portugal-China
Pre-match stats:
Brazil – Serbia (June 14, 2019)
Head-to-head
• Brazil won 30 of their 40 world level major competition matches against Serbia (incl. predecessors).
• World level major competitions are: FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
• Brazil won each of their last four encounters with Serbia at world level, since losing the 2016 World League final in straight sets on 17 July 2016.
• Brazil won each of their last three world level matches against Serbia in straight sets: both of last year's VNL encounters and their 2018 World Championship semi-finals meeting.
Brazil
• Brazil are the only team to have won all six matches in the 2019 Volleyball Nations League. This is the longest winning streak from the beginning of a VNL campaign.
• Brazil could begin a world level major tournament with seven consecutive victories for the first time since the 2014 World Championship (won their opening nine matches). They went on to finish as runners-up in that tournament.
• Brazil could equal their longest VNL winning streak - seven in a row from May to June 2018.
• Brazil (Yoandy Leal Hidalgo 78, Wallace De Souza 77) are the only team with multiple players on more than 76 points in this year's VNL.
• Ricardo Lucarelli Souza is the best attacker after the opening two weeks of the 2019 VNL, with a 58.16% success rate.
Serbia
• Serbia have won consecutive Volleyball Nations League matches, after they began the 2019 tournament with four defeats in a row.
• Serbia lost four of their 15 matches in the preliminary round of the 2018 VNL.
• Each of Serbia's last four VNL matches have gone to a deciding set (W2-L2). They have been involved in eight VNL five-setters in total, a joint-tournament high with Brazil.
• Only Canada's Sharone Vernon-Evans (107) and Italy's Gabriele Nelli (106) won more points in the opening two weeks of the 2019 VNL than Dusan Petkovic (103).
• Dusan Petkovic (93) has won the most points from attacks in this year's VNL.
Portugal – China (June 14, 2019)
Head-to-head
• Portugal and China have one win each in their meetings at major world level (FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup).
• Portugal defeated China 3-1 at the 2002 World Championships after losing the opening set.
• China beat Portugal 3-1 in the 2016 World League.
• Portugal and China (both 4) have suffered the joint-most straight-set defeats in the 2019 VNL.
Portugal
• Portugal won one of their six matches at the 2019 Volleyball Nations League, 3-1 against Bulgaria in their final match of Week 1.
• Portugal could lose four successive world level matches for the first time since the 2017 World League.
• Brothers Marco Ferreira (66) and Alexandre Ferreira (64) are leading Portugal in terms of scoring in the VNL.
• Both Marco and Alexandre have finished as Portugal's top scorer/joint-top scorer three times this VNL campaign.
China
• China's only win at the 2019 Volleyball Nations League was a 3-0 victory against Bulgaria on 7 June.
• That victory over Bulgaria is China's only win in their last eight VNL matches. At major world level, it is China's only victory in their last 13 fixtures.
• Zhejia Zhang (0.95) is the best blocker this VNL campaign after two weeks of play.
• Zhang's 19 points from stuff blocks are at least four more than any other player. Of those 19 points, 12 came in China's last three matches.
• Guojun Zhan (5.50) is in fourth place on the best setter list after the first two weeks.
Quick links - Volleyball:
FIVB.com - Volleyball Nations League
FIVB.com - Volleyball
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