Bari, Italy, September 13, 2018 - USA meet Australia Thursday, at the 2018 FIVB World Championship looking to extend their head-to-head record against the Volleyroos, which currently stands at 8-0. The Americans come from a two-and-a-half marathon win over Serbia on Wednesday, while Australia lost their opening match to Russia in straight sets.
Head-to-Head
• United States won all their previous eight world level major competition matches against Australia.
• World level major competitions are: World Championships, Olympic Games, World Cup, World League, Grand Champions Cup and the Nations League.
• One of those eight matches was at a World Championship. In 2014, USA beat Australia 3-0 in the second round.
• Never have Australia forced United States to play a five-setter against them.
Australia
• Australia lost their kickoff match of the 2018 World Championship in straight sets against Russia.
• Australia could lose back-to-back World Championship matches in straight sets for the first time since 2006, against Cuba and Brazil.
• Australia have lost their last five World Championship matches, since their 3-2 victory over Venezuela in the first round four years ago.
• Paul Carroll led his team in scoring in the opener against Russia, with 13 points.
United States
• United States beat Serbia 3-2 in their first match of the 2018 World Championship.
• In 2014, United States won their first match, before losing the second 3-2 to Iran.
• United States could start their World Championship with two victories. The last time they did this was in 2010, when they beat Mexico, Venezuela and Argentina successively to open the tournament.
• Aaron Russell and Matthew Anderson paced their team in scoring against Serbia with 19 points each.