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USA begin VNL week 4 against 2018 final rivals Turkey

 

Lausanne, Switzerland, June 11, 2019 – The United States take on Turkey in a repeat of last year’s Volleyball Nations League final on Tuesday at 16:00 local time in Jiangmen.

Last year’s final in Nanjing saw USA comeback twice as they lost the first set 25-17 and the third set 28-26 to claim the inaugural title with a 3-2 scoreline.

The USA-Turkey matchup will be the first VNL fixture to have been played four times, with all three previous VNL encounters between these sides played in five sets, with the European squad always winning the first set.

USA are tied with Italy, China and Poland in number of wins after suffering their second defeat in this year’s VNL against Brazil in a four-setter, while Turkey occupies the top spot with eight victories in nine matches.



Andrea Drews is leading the charge for the USA team together with some new faces in this 2019 campaign. She is the first USA player to reach the 100-point mark – surpassing her 89-point output last year.

At the other end, young Turkish player Ebrar Karakurt is the best attacker in the 2019 VNL with a 53 per cent success rate.

In the other Pool 16 match, Chinese superstar Zhu Ting will go head-to-head with the top scorer of the tournament – Poland’s Malwina Smarzek.

After missing the first week and only coming off the bench at the start of the second week, Zhu is now picking up the pace in offence, scoring in double figures in China's last four matches, while Smarzek has been consistent with her double-digit scoring in all nine matches.



Meanwhile, the order of play in the fourth week starts with the encounter between Serbia and Thailand in Tokyo at 15:40 local time. The second match in Pool 15 is the match between hosts Japan and Brazil at 19:10.

In Pool 13, Russia take on Korea at 17:00 in Perugia, then all eyes will could be on Egonu as she spearheads the offence of Italy when they meet winless Bulgaria at 20:00.

Stuttgart will feature the match between two European teams – Belgium and the Netherlands – at 17:30 local time, and the clash between the home team and the Dominican Republic at 20:30 in Pool 14.



All VNL matches will be available live and on-demand on Volleyball TV.

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