Wroclaw, Poland, August 3, 2019 – Reigning world champions Serbia scored a second victory in Wroclaw on Saturday by defeating Puerto Rico in three sets 3-0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-16) in Tokyo Volleyball Qualification Pool A.
In the second encounter of the day in Wroclaw, Poland met Thailand in a match which extended to five sets, with the local team prevailing at the finish 3-2 (25-23, 22-25, 26-28, 25-23, 15-11).
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Serbia – Puerto Rico (August 3, 2019)
Head-to-Head
• Serbia and Puerto Rico meet for the second time in the last seven world Olympic qualifying campaigns (1996-2020). Serbia won 3-0 in 2008.
• Serbia qualified for the Olympic Games in 2008 with a second place in the world qualification tournament, while Puerto Rico failed with an eighth place in the tournament.
• Serbia are unbeaten in their major world level meetings with Puerto Rico: 3-1 in the 2013 World Grand Prix, 3-0 at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and 3-0 in the 2018 World Championship.
• Major world level tournaments are: Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World Grand Prix, Nations League and Grand Champions Cup.
Serbia
• Serbia started their qualifying campaign for the 2020 Olympic Games with a straight-set win against Thailand.
• Serbia are hoping to qualify for the Olympic Games for a fourth time in a row, after 2008, 2012 and 2016. Serbia claimed silver at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, their best result in the competition.
• Tijana Boškovic was top scorer in Serbia's match against Thailand with 28 of her team's 75 points.
• Serbia outserved Thailand by 12 aces to one on Friday. Tijana Boškovic had six of those serve winners.
Puerto Rico
• Puerto Rico lost their opening match 3-0 against Poland.
• Puerto Rico failed to win a single set at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, their only participation at the Games so far.
• Puerto Rico lost each of their last five world Olympic qualification matches against teams representing the CEV.
• Paulina Prieto Cerame (11) was the only Puerto Rico player to reach double figures in points against Poland on Friday.
Thailand – Poland (August 3, 2019)
Head-to-Head
• Poland defeated Thailand 3-1 in their previous meeting in a world Olympic qualification tournament, in 2008. Poland qualified for the Beijing Olympic Games, while Thailand failed.
• Poland have a W5-L3 record against Thailand in major world level tournaments (Olympic Games, World Championship, World Cup, World Grand Prix, Nations League, Grand Champions Cup).
• Thailand's three world level victories over Poland all came in five sets.
• These teams most recently met at world level in the 2019 Volleyball Nations League. Poland won in straight sets in the preliminary round.
Thailand
• Thailand started their hunt for a first ever Olympic Games ticket with a 3-0 defeat against Serbia.
• Thailand won only one of their last nine matches in world Olympic qualification tournaments versus teams representing the CEV, a 3-0 win against Serbia in 2012.
• Thailand (4) are the nation with the most participations in the last six world Olympic qualifying campaigns (1996-2016) without earning a ticket for the Olympic Games (Chinese Taipei next 3).
• Onuma Sittirak scored a team-high nine points for Thailand against Serbia. All of those nine points came from attacks.
Poland
• Poland opened their qualification campaign with a 3-0 win against Puerto Rico on Friday.
• Poland could qualify for the Olympic Games for the fourth time, after 1964, 1968 and 2008. They took bronze in both of their first two participations in the Games.
• Malwina Smarzek (23) was the leading points scorer in Poland's match versus Puerto Rico. Smarzek was the leading points scorer in the 2019 Volleyball Nations League.
• Malwina Smarzek won five stuff blocks on Friday, one more than the whole Puerto Rico team combined.