Head-to-Head· Italy and Serbia (incl. SCG and YUG) will meet for the 25th and 26th time in the World League. Italy won 11 of the previous meetings and Serbia 13.
· Serbia won 55 sets against Italy, while the Italians have won 48 sets. Both teams have failed to win a single set on only two occasions each.
· Serbians Uros Kovacevic and Nemanja Petric play in Italy at Modena Volley and will meet teammates Luca Vettori, Salvatore Rossini and Matteo Piano. Aleksandar Atanasijevic (SRB) plays in Italy at Sir Safety Perugia with Adriano Paolucci, Simone Buti and Andrea Giovi.
· Dragan Stankovic, Marko Podrascanin (both Lube Banka) and Sasa Starovic (Top Volley Latina) are also active in Italy.
Italy· Italy beat Australia twice last weekend and have now started their WL campaign with back-to-back victories for the sixth successive season.
· Last season, Italy started with six straight victories before their winning run was halted by Poland.
· Italy have won five of their last six WL matches, including each of their last three.
· Simone Anzani and Russia's Denis Biriukov lead all blockers in Intercontinental Group I of the WL this season. He is averaging 0.75 per set.
Serbia· Serbia have lost seven of their last 10 matches in the World League, including their last three.
· In June of last year, Serbia lost four straight in the competition, a run that ended with a victory against Bulgaria.
· Serbia have never lost five in a row in the World League, neither now nor when still appearing as Serbia and Montenegro and/or Yugoslavia.
· Last weekend, Serbia suffered two defeats against Brazil. It marked the first time since 2008 that they started a WL campaign with back-to-back defeats. In that year, it took Serbia until their fourth match to chalk up their first victory.