Lausanne, Switzerland, June 17, 2017 - Turkey and Australia come together Sunday in Kunshan for the first time in the history of the FIVB World League and second time overall after the Aussies prevailed in five sets at the 1998 FIVB World Championship. Australia, as hosts of the Group 2 Final Four in Gold Coast are already qualified; Turkey can no longer make the top four after suffering their fifth straight loss of the season on Saturday to Japan.
Head-to-Head• These countries have met once before in a major competition.
• At the 1998 World Championship, Australia defeated Turkey in five sets.
• This season, Australia have won three of their four World League matches against teams from Europe.
Turkey• On Saturday, Turkey suffered their fifth straight World League defeat in a 3-2 encounter against Japan.
• This extended their longest losing streak in the competition. Until this five-match run, Turkey had never lost more than two World League matches in a row.
• In none of the last 11 World League matches of Turkey, they had the same result in consecutive fixtures since their double straight-set win over Japan and China in July 2016.
• Serhat Coskun scored 26 of Turkey’s 93 points against Japan (28%). The only other Turkish player with double figures in scoring was Mert Matic (14).
Australia• Australia's four-match winning run in the World League was ended by a 3-1 defeat against China on Saturday. It was their joint-longest run of victories in the competition, after piling up four straight in 2014.
• Back then in 2014, their four-match winning run was followed by a six-match losing streak.
• Australia have won at least one set in nine consecutive World League matches, an outright record for them.
• Lincoln Alexander Williams and Samuel Walker both scored at least once from a spike, a block and an ace versus China.