Sydney, Australia, June 18, 2016 – Australia’s fans will hope to see an improvement from their team when they play Italy in the FIVB Volleyball World League on Sunday.
Head-to-Head
· Italy has won 15 of their 16 official matches against Australia.
· Australia's only victory came in last year's World League (3-0). The other three matches at the 2015 World League ended in victory for Italy.
· In total the teams have met nine times at the World League. Australia only won five sets (including three in their only victory) against 24 sets for Italy.
· Their most recent meeting came at the 2015 World Cup: Italy won in straight sets.
· In only one of their 16 encounters five sets were played, at the 2012 Olympic Games (3-2 win for Italy).
Australia
· Australia have yet to win a set at the 2016 World League. They won 3-2 in their final match in 2015.
· Their next win in the World League will be their 10th victory in the competition.
· Paul Carroll is Australia's top scoring player with 25 points.
· Grigory Sukochev has an average of 11 setups per set.
· Luke Perry has one of the highest efficiency rates as receiver, 48%.
Italy
· Italy beat Belgium 3-0 to claim their first win in the 2016 World League.
· Italy joined Brazil by winning at least one World League match in 27 campaigns.
· They can claim two successive wins by a 3-0 score for the first time since 2014 when they beat USA and Australia in straight sets.
· Luca Vettori is Italy's top scorer with 24 points.
· Matteo Piano has had five successful blocks.