Osaka, Japan, 5 October 2018 - Defending champions USA look to remain undefeated in the 2018 FIVB World Championship whne they go head-to-head with Bulgaria on Sunday. The American side completed Round 1 of the competition with a 5-0 run. Including the 2014 World Championship, USA can extend their run to 9-0. It is the fourth time USA and Bulgaria clash in a World Championship, with the Balkan side leading the series 2-1 (though they haven't beaten the Americans in 20 years).
Head-to-Head• Bulgaria and United States will meet for the fourth time at the World Championship.
• Bulgaria won the first two meetings, 3-1 in 1956 and 3-0 in 1998.
• United States won their last meeting at the 2014 World Championship in straight sets in the second round.
• United States won both their other encounters at world level major tournaments: 3-0 at the 1981 World Cup and 3-2 at the 2013 World Grand Prix.
• World level major tournaments are: Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World Grand Prix, Grand Champions Cup and Nations League.
Bulgaria• Bulgaria won two of their five matches in the first round, winning against Cuba and Canada, while losing against Italy, Turkey and China.
• Bulgaria can win successive world championship matches for the first time since three first round matches in 2014 against Turkey, Cameroon and Canada.
• In each of Bulgaria's last two matches, the team that won the first set lost the match.
• Only Italy's Anna Danesi (70) had more block attempts in the first round than Hristina Ruseva (60). Her average of 0.82 blocks per set rank Ruseva joint-fifth among all players.
• Gergana Dimitrova was Bulgaria's top scorer in the first round on 63 points. Nasya Dimitrova (58) is the other player in Bulgaria's squad on 50+ points.
United States• Reigning world champions United States won all their first round matches. They started with two straight set wins, but ended with two five-setters.
• United States won their first eight matches at the 2014 World Championship, of which five victories came in straight sets.
• Including their last three matches at the 2014 World Championship, United States can win nine successive world championship matches for the first time since 2006-2010.
• United States have lost only one of their last 22 world level major tournament matches, the 3-1 defeat against Serbia at this year's Nations League on 12 June 2018.
• Kelly Murphy is United States' top scorer on 60 points, ranking her only joint-18th among all players.