Kaliningrad, Russia, June 9, 2016 - Two of the four nations that will represent Europe at the Olympic women's volleyball tournament in Rio, Russia and the Netherlands, will test out their skills against each other on the first day of the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix 2016 Group 1 tournament in Kaliningrad.
Head-to-Head
• Russia have won five of their six World Grand Prix matches against Netherlands.
• Russia's only loss against Netherlands came back on 26 August 2007 (3-2), the only year the Dutch won the tournament.
• These teams most recently met on 23 August 2009 when Russia won 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-21).
• Russia and Netherlands their last three meetings were all in the Final Round, while their only three meetings prior were all in the Preliminary Round.
Russia
• Russia have won the World Grand Prix three times, trailing only Brazil (10) and United States (6).
• Their six silver medals are a tournament record. Brazil and China finished second on five occasions.
• In total Russia have collected 13 medals (G3-S6-B4), second only to Brazil's 17.
• Last year they finished second. Russia last won the tournament in 2002.
• Russia have a World Grand Prix winning percentage of 67%. Of all teams with 100+ matches only Brazil (81%) have a higher winning percentage (China third with 64%).
• Russia last lost their World Grand Prix opening match in 2013, losing 3-1 to United States.
Netherlands
• Netherlands clinched their sole World Grand Prix victory in 2007. That also remains their only podium finish.
• Netherlands finished outside the top-10 in each of their last three appearances: 12th in 2013 - 14th in 2014 - 13th in 2015.
• Netherlands won all their eight matches at the 2015 World Grand Prix.
• Their last loss came back on 16 August 2014, 3-2 to Belgium (25-20, 23-25, 23-25, 27-25, 10-15).
• Netherlands are on an eight-match winning streak. They last had a longer winning streak from 2007-2009, 18 matches.