Lausanne, Switzerland, June 7, 2017 - Australia and China meet for the very first time in he history of the FIVB World League when they clash in Helsinki Thursday to open the second weekend of the 2017 edition - but they have come head-to-head before in other compeitions. Australia beat China last time around, in the World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Tokyo for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Head-to-Head• Australia and China will meet for the first time in World League history.
• These teams most recently met in a competitive match on 4 June 2016, when Australia beat China 3-1 in an Olympic qualifier in Tokyo.
• China last beat Australia on 3 August 2015, when they won in straight sets at the 2015 Asian Championships.
Australia• Australia followed up on a five-set victory over Portugal in their 2017 World League opener with 3-1 defeats against Slovakia and Japan.
• Australia could win multiple World League matches in a single edition for the first time since 2015 (2).
• Australia lost the opening set in 11 of their last 12 World League matches. The only exception in that run was their 25-20 first-set win in their 3-1 defeat against United States on 25 June 2016.
• Only Turkey's Metin Toy (67) and China's Jiang Chuan (65) scored more points than Nathan Roberts (52) in Group 2 in the opening weekend.
China• China beat Netherlands 3-1 and Egypt 3-0 following their five-set loss in their 2017 World League opener against Turkey last weekend.
• China could win three World League matches in a row for the first time since 2014-2015 (then 7).
• Three of China's last four wins in the World League came in straight sets.
• Only Turkey's Metin Toy (67) scored more points than Jiang Chuan (65) in Group 2 last week.