Nagoya, Japan, October 14, 2018 - Hosts Japan are meeting Serbia for the second time in the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship and the Asian squad is hoping to extend their winning streak against the Europeans side.
Head-to-Head
• Japan and Serbia (including as Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro) meet for the fourth time at the World Championships and for the second time in this year's edition.
• On 10 October, hosts Japan came from behind to beat Serbia 3-1 in Nagoya (15-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-23). Serbia entered the match with a W7-L0 record at the 2018 World Championship and had not lost a single set.
• Japan are unbeaten against Serbia in World Championship matches, as they also won the first two meetings in 2010 (3-1) and in 2006 (3-2, versus Serbia and Montenegro).
• Japan and Serbia (incl. predecessors) have met 16 times before in world level major competitions (Nations League, Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, World Grand Prix and Grand Champions Cup), with both countries winning on eight occasions.
• These nations also met at the 2018 Nations League. Serbia won in straight sets, with Brankica Mihajlovic and Tijana Boškovic scoring 21 points each.
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• Japan suffered a five-set defeat against Brazil in their final second round fixture and can now lose consecutive matches for the first time at the 2018 World Championships (W7-L2).
• Japan are hoping to claim their fourth World Championship title after 1962, 1967 (as hosts) and 1974. Only Russia (7, including as Soviet Union) have won more world titles than Japan (3).
• Sarina Koga is Japan's top scorer at the 2018 World Championship with 133 points, including 122 spikes.
• Koga was Japan's (joint) top scorer in four of their last five matches at the 2018 World Championship.
• With 46.3%, Mako Kobata is the best receiver of all players at the 2018 World Championship.
Serbia
• Serbia have lost their last two World Championship matches and could suffer three defeats in a row for the first time ever in the competition. Serbia kicked off this year's edition with seven consecutive wins, without dropping a single set.
• Twelve of Serbia's last 13 World Championship matches have finished in straight sets (W9-L4), with the only exception in that run the 3-1 defeat against Japan on 10 October.
• Serbia's best result at the World Championship came in 2006 in Japan, when they finished in third place after beating Italy in straight sets in the bronze medal match.
• Brankica Mihajlovic has scored 101 points at the 2018 World Championships, at least 12 more than any other team mate. Milena Rasic is on 89 points.
• With 56.7%, Tijana Boškovic has the highest spike success rate at the 2018 World Championship. Italy's Miryam Fatime Sylla is in second place (54.6%).