Ankara, Turkey, June 20, 2019 - Belgium defeated Italy in the first match in Ankara on the final day of the 2019 women's FIVB Volleyball Nations League preliminary round.
Pre-match stats:
Belgium - Italy (June 20, 2019)
Head-to-Head
· Italy are unbeaten against Belgium at major world level, winning all six encounters in straight sets.
· Belgium have only played more world level matches against Brazil (W0-L9) without ever winning.
· Italy only have a better 100% winning record against Argentina (W8-L0) at world level.
· Italy defeated Belgium 3-0 in the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League, their most recent world level meeting. Paola Ogechi Egonu and Elena Pietrini scored a joint-match high 19 points.
· At the European Championships, Belgium won one of their three matches against Italy, 3-1 in the 2013 group stage. They had lost 3-0 in 1967 and 3-1 in 1975.
· Indre Sorokaite (Italy) and Marlies Janssens (Belgium) have compiled the most aces in the 2019 VNL with 24 each.
Belgium
· Belgium have won seven and lost seven matches in the 2019 Volleyball Nations League.
· Belgium come off a 3-0 defeat against Brazil. They could lose back to back VNL matches in straight sets for the second time in the 2019 VNL, after falling 3-0 to Korea and China successively.
· Belgium could equal their highest wins total in a single world level major tournament: eight in the 2014 World Grand Prix.
· Britt Herbots is Belgium's leading scorer in the 2019 VNL with 213 points, exactly as many as she had in last year's full preliminary round.
· Marlies Janssens has the highest ace average per set (0.46) of all players in the 2019 VNL.
Italy
· Italy have won 11 VNL matches in 2019 (W10-L3), one more than in last year's preliminary round (W10-L5).
· Italy have equalled their highest number of wins in a single world level major tournament, 11 in the 2007 World Cup and the 2018 World Championship. A win here would set an outright record.
· With one preliminary round match to go, Indre Sorokaite (201) is Italy's top scorer in the 2019 VNL. Last year, Paola Ogechi Egonu was Italy's most prolific scorer with 180 total preliminary round points.
· Only Marlies Janssens (0.46) has a higher ace per set average in the 2019 VNL than Indre Sorokaite (0.44).
· Elena Pietrini (46.40%) is among the top players in spike success rates in the 2019 VNL.
Turkey - Brazil (June 20, 2019)
Head-to-Head
· Brazil have lost only two of their 10 major world level matches against Turkey, 3-2 at the 2014 World Grand Prix and 3-0 in last year's FIVB Volleyball Nations League semi-finals.
· Turkey could win successive world level games against Brazil for the first time.
· Brazil and Turkey met twice in last year's VNL. Brazil won 3-1 in the preliminary round while Turkey prevailed 3-0 in the semi-finals.
· Tandara Caixeta is the only player to have reached at least 20 points in this fixture in the VNL. She won 26 points in the preliminary round and 20 in the semi-finals.
Turkey
· Turkey have won 10 of their 14 matches in this year's Volleyball Nations League, but lost three of their last four.
· Turkey come off defeats against Belgium and Italy. They have never lost three successive VNL matches.
· Turkey could lose three straight world level major tournament matches for the first time since six in a row at the 2017 World Grand Prix.
· Ebrar Karakurt (209) is Turkey's leading points scorer in this year's VNL. In last year's preliminary round, Meryem Boz was Turkey's top scorer with 197 points.
· Karakurt is the among the best attackers (47.38%) and the best servers (0.42 per-set average) in the 2019 VNL.
· Karakurt has scored 20 aces in this year's VNL. Eda Erdem Dündar (22) had the most aces for Turkey in last year's preliminary round.
Brazil
· Brazil have won their last seven Volleyball Nations League matches, including their last four in straight sets.
· Only China (9) have won more matches in straight sets in the 2019 VNL than Brazil (8).
· Brazil have won at least one set in each of their 14 matches in the 2019 VNL, since a 3-0 defeat against China in last year's third-place decider.
· Brazil could win five straight world level major tournament matches in a row for the first time since the 2016 Olympic Games (also 5).
· With one preliminary round match to go, Gabriela Braga Guimaraes (225) needs six more points to equal Brazil's top scorer of least year's preliminary round Tandara Caixeta (231).
· Only Serbia's Maja Aleksic (43) has scored more points from stuff blocks than Ana Beatriz Correa (39) in this year's VNL.