Olomouc, Czechia, June 11, 2016 - Czechia will rely on their home-court advantage to tie the head-to-head FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix win-loss record against Bulgaria as the two teams meet in Olomouc for the fourth time in the competition.
Head-to-Head
• Bulgaria won their first two World Grand Prix matches with Czech Republic in 2013 (3-2) and 2014 (3-0), but lost their most recent match against the Czechs (3-2) on 11 July 2015.
• This will be the fourth consecutive season in which these teams meet at the World Grand Prix.
• The last other major tournament at which Bulgaria and Czech Republic played each other was the 2013 European Championship. Czech Republic won 3-2 in the group stage.
Bulgaria
• On Friday, Bulgaria saw their four-match winning streak snapped by Dominican Republic (3-0 defeat). This was Bulgaria’s first World Grand Prix defeat in almost a year, since the 3-2 defeat against today’s opponents Czech Republic on 11 July 2015.
• This was only Bulgaria’s third straight sets defeat in 27 total matches at the World Grand Prix. Earlier, they lost 3-0 against China in their debut match in 2013 and against Poland in last year’s opening match.
• Only once, Bulgaria have lost consecutive World Grand Prix matches. This occurred in the first two matches of last season, against Poland (3-0) and Canada (3-2).
• Bulgaria have won exactly 20 World Grand Prix matches (seven losses).
Czech Republic
• Czech Republic beat Canada 3-0 on Friday, a repeat of last week’s result between those teams.
• Czech Republic could win three consecutive World Grand Prix matches in straight sets for the first time since 2014, when they avoided dropping a set against Algeria, Mexico and Kazakhstan successively.
• They can win three World Grand Prix matches in a row for the second time ever, after winning seven straight at the start of the 2014 season.
• Czech Republic have won 14 of their last 20 World Grand Prix matches. These 20 included a win and a defeat against Bulgaria.