Wednesday's opening SWATCH FIVB World Tour Finals match will mark the eighth meeting between Samoilovs/Smedins and Fijalek/Prudel. The Latvians have won the last three confrontations to hold a 6-1 advantage for FIVB World Tour matches. The two teams have met twice on the European Tour with Samoilovs and Smedins winning both times.
Match Preview
MATCH NOTES• LAT leads the overall series 8-1, with the POL win coming in Poland in August 2015. Two of the matches were European Tour contests
• In five of the meetings, POL forced a third set (including four times winning the first set)
• Three of the players have been in two Olympics, while Samoilovs has played in three
• LAT has a 59-22 record this season, including 32-10 in pool play and 18-13 in three-set matches
• LAT began the year 25-5 in pool play matches in its first 10 tournaments, but has gone 7-5 in it its last four events
• This season POL has a 42-27 match record, including 30-12 in pool play and 15-15 in three-set matches
• POL has gone 3-0 in pool play in five different events this season and lost its first elimination bracket match each time (placing ninth)