Xuancheng, China, July 1, 2016 - China and Turkey started the FIVB Volleyball World League 2016 Group 2 tournament with straight-set wins on Friday and will hope to ride the momentum as they face each other on Saturday.
Head-to-Head
• China and Turkey will meet for the first time in a World League match.
• China had won their last two World League encounters with European opposition after losing the previous three.
• Turkey are unbeaten against Asian opposition in the World League, winning both previous matches, each against Japan this year.
China
• China beat Slovakia 3-0 on Friday, booking their first straight set victory in 12 matches at the World League.
• China have now won three and lost four matches in this year’s campaign. They could equal the balance with a win over Turkey.
• China can register back-to-back straight-set victories in the World League. They did this on two previous occasions, against Puerto Rico and Spain in 2014 and in a doubleheader against Finland in 1993.
• Dai Qingyao (100) is the only Chinese player to have reached 100+ points in this year's World League.
Turkey
• Turkey beat Japan on Friday (3-0) to erase the defeat they suffered in last weekend’s match against Egypt. That loss broke an eight-match winning streak for them at the World League.
• Turkey have now won 16 of their last 19 World League matches, and six of seven this year.
• Six victories already is a record for them in a single World League campaign.
• Their win against Japan was a real team effort: five players contributed in the scoring, all had more than seven points, but none had more than 11.