Boryeong, Korea, June 18, 2019 - Poland defeated the Dominican Republic in five sets in the first match in Boryeong, but Korea ended Japan's hopes of progressing to the 2019 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League Finals by defeating their Asian rivals in the second match of the day. Get more information on the dedicated Match Centre pages.
Poland-Dominican RepublicKorea-JapanPre-match stats:Poland - Dominican Republic (June 19, 2019)
Head-to-Head· Dominican Republic have won nine of their 15 major world level meetings with Poland, including each of their last two.
· Dominican Republic's nine world level victories against Poland are most for them against specific opponents (8 versus Thailand).
· Dominican Republic could win three successive world level games against Poland for the first time.
· Poland's last world level win against Dominican Republic was a 3-0 at the 2012 World Grand Prix.
· In last year's FIVB Volleyball Nations League, Dominican Republic defeated Poland 3-1 in the preliminary round. Yonkaira Paola Peña Isabel (21) and Malwina Smarzek (19) won the most points for their teams.Poland· Poland have won eight matches in the 2019 VNL, to equal their total number of victories of last year (W8-L7).
· Poland could win nine matches in a specific world major tournament for the second time, after nine victories in the 2017 World Grand Prix.
· Poland beat Japan 3-1 in their first match in week five. They scored just one point more than their opponents in that match (94-93).
· Malwina Smarzek has been Poland's top scorer in 11 of their 13 matches in this year's VNL. Magdalena Stysiak was the team's top scoring player in the other two games (v Belgium and Turkey).
· Smarzek has scored 330 points in this year's VNL and she needs 31 more to equal her tally as overall top scorer in the 2018 VNL preliminary round. Smarzek scored 31 of Poland's 94 points in the 3-1 victory over Japan on 18 June.
· Agnieszka Kakolewska has 31 stuff blocks in the 2019 VNL. In last year's VNL, Agnieszka Kakolewska won a competition-high 52 points from blocks in the preliminary round. She could face Brayelin Elizabeth Martinez who is one of the best attackers in this year's VNL (47.90 success rate).
Dominican Republic· Dominican Republic have won seven matches in this year's VNL. They could win eight matches in a single world level major tournament for the first time. They also won seven in the 2014 World Championship and the 2016 World Grand Prix.
· Dominican Republic could clinch three successive wins in the VNL for the second time after victories in their last VNL match in 2018 and their first two in 2019.
· Dominican Republic scored 13 points from blocks in their 3-1 win against Republic of Korea on Tuesday, with six players on the scoreboard with a stuff block.
· Brayelin Elizabeth Martinez has scored 249 points in the VNL in 2019, only one point short of her 250 in total in last year's preliminary round.
· Lisvel Elisa Eve Mejia has won 31 points from stuff blocks at the 2019 VNL. She had 13 blocks in the 2018 VNL preliminary round.
· Niverka Dharlenis Marte Frica is among the Best Setters in the 2019 VNL with an average of 4.37 per set.Republic of Korea - Japan (June 19, 2019)
Head-to-Head· Republic of Korea and Japan meet for the 56th time in a major world level competition. Japan leads the head-to-head with 42 wins to 13.
· Republic of Korea have won only two of their last 27 world level meetings with Japan (2001-2018), a 3-0 win at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games and 3-1 at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
· Japan defeated Republic of Korea in straight sets in the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League, their most recent world level encounter. Yuki Ishii scored a match-high 17 points.
· Republic of Korea beat Japan 3-1 in the bronze-medal match at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.
Republic of Korea· Republic of Korea have lost 12 of their 13 Volleyball Nations League matches this year.
· Republic of Korea could lose 10 successive major world level matches for the first second time after a run of 11 defeats at the 2001 World Grand Prix.
· Heejin Kim and Yeon Koung Kim each scored 21 points in the 3-1 loss against Dominican Republic.
· Heejin Kim has scored 149 points in this year's VNL. She needs 26 points more to equal Yeon Koung Kim's 175 as the team's top scorer in the 2018 VNL.
· Juah Lee is among the top servers in this year's VNL on an average of 0.33 per set.Japan· Following Japan's 3-1 loss against Poland on Tuesday, Japan now have a W14-L14 record in the VNL. They are the only team to have won and lost the same number of matches.
· Japan's record in the 2019 VNL now is W7-L6. They need one win to better their number of wins from 2018 (W7-L8).
· Japan last won at least eight matches in a specific major world tournament in the 2014 World Grand Prix (8 wins).
· Yuki Ishii is Japan's top scorer in the 2019 VNL on 173 points, already more than Japan's top scorer had in the 2018 VNL - Ai Kurogo on 158 points.
· Miya Sato has one of the highest average as setter - 5.70 per set - in this year's VNL.
· Mako Kobata has recorded 167 digs in the VNL in 2019 for an average of 3.63 per set. In 2018, Japan's best player had an average of 1.5 in digs in the VNL (Kotoe Inoue).