Bratislava, Slovakia, June 21, 2016 - Czechs an Dutch will meet in Bratislava on Thursday to open the week's Group 2 programme in FIVB Volleyball World League 2016.
Head-to-Head
• This is the fifth World League meeting between Netherlands and Czech Republic. Netherlands have won all four previous meetings, dropping a total of four sets.
• All these four previous meetings were in 2014.
• The last time these teams met was at the 2015 European Championship, where Netherlands won 3-1 in the Group Stage.
• The last time Czech Republic beat Netherlands was at the 2005 European Championship (3-0).
Netherlands
• Netherlands lost 3-0 in their last match against Turkey last week. They can lose successive World League matches for the first time since the Final Four of 2014, when they lost against Australia and Belgium (both by 3-0).
• The last time they lost successive World League matches in the Intercontinental Round was in 2010.
• Maarten van Garderen has a 64% success rate in spikes, best of all Group 2 players this season.
• Jasper Diefenbach averages 1.00 block per set on average, best of all Group 2 players.
Czech Republic
• Czech Republic lost their last match last week 3-1 to Canada. The last time they recorded successive World League defeats was last season when they lost against Korea followed by four consecutive losses against France.
• Czech Republic have played 13 five-set matches, of which they have won nine and lost four.
• They lost their most recent five-set match, against Egypt last weekend. They have never lost consecutive five-set matches in the competition.
• Marek Beer has 11 stuff blocks, most of all Group 2 players this season.