Pool E: Croatia – Azerbaijan
Head-to-head
• This is the first encounter between these two sides at the World Championship.
• They have met three times at the European Championship. Azerbaijan won the first two encounters, 3-0 in 2005 and 3-1 in 2011. Croatia won the 2013 match in straight sets.
• Azerbaijan have never beaten European (CEV) opposition at the World Championship. Five of their seven victories in the competition have come against NORCECA foes.
Croatia
• Croatia cannot reach the third round. They can equal third placed Dominican Republic in points, but not in victories.
• Croatia are already guaranteed to improve on their finish from 2010, which was 17th place.
• Mia Jerkov is the most prolific server in this tournament, averaging 0.52 aces per set.
Azerbaijan
• Azerbaijan have lost their last two matches in this tournament, both defeats by 3-1. On Wednesday, they were topped by Italy and on Thursday they succumbed to Dominican Republic.
• Azerbaijan have never lost three in a row at a single World Championship. Their longest losing streak in the competition (across more than one edition) is four, when they lost their last two in 1994 and then their opening two matches in 2006.
• Polina Rahimova is the tournament's leading points scorer (after seven rounds). Her 174 points come from 145 spikes, 15 blocks and 14 serves and are 31 more than Russia's Tatiana Kosheleva, who is ranked second in this statistical category.