Yokohama, Japan, September 30, 2018 - Japan are meeting the Netherlands for the fifth time and the Asian side is looking to earn their fourth victory against the European squad in the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship.
Head-to-Head• Japan have won three of their four matches against Netherlands at the World Championship. That loss was a 3-1 defeat in 1998.
• Japan won the last time they met at the World Championship, in 2006 (3-1).
• Netherlands have a W9-L10 record versus Japan at all major world level tournaments.
• World level major competitions are: Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World Grand Prix, Grand Champions Cup and Nations League.Japan and Netherlands met each other in the 2018 Nations League, with Holland winning 3-0.
• Netherlands registered 14 stuff blocks in that match (Japan 4), and six serve aces (Japan 1).
Japan• Japan crushed Argentina in their first match at the 2018 World Championship, winning in three sets and conceding only 40 total points.
• Japan host the World Championships for the fifth time (1967, 1998, 2006, 2010, 2018). They won at least the first three matches at three of the previous four editions. The only exception is 2006, when they lost their first match before winning the following four.
• The last time Japan started a World Championship with consecutive 3-0 wins was in 1998, when Japan also hosted the tournament.
• Sarina Koga was Japan's top scorer against Argentina on Saturday with 15 points. Risa Shinnabe added a team-leading three serve winners.
Netherlands• Netherlands defeated Germany 3-1 in their opening match at the 2018 World Championship, coming back after losing the first set.
• Netherlands have won their opening match in each of their last seven World Championship campaigns. They won the first two in 1998, 2002 and 2014.
• Netherlands could win three World Championship matches in a row for the first time since their last match of 2010 (v Cuba) and the first two of 2014 (v Kazakhstan, Thailand).
• Lonneke Slöetjes scored 36 points against Germany on Saturday. Yvon Belien (13) and Anne Buijs (10) also reached double figures in the 104-point Dutch effort.