Shaoxing, China, December 4, 2018 - Reigning champions Vakifbank Istanbul of Turkey play French reprentatives Volero Le Cannet on the second day of the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women's Club World Championship on Wednesday.
Head-to-Head· Vakifbank and Volero Le Cannet will meet for the first time at the Club World Championship.
· Vakifbank played Volero Zürich, one of Volero Le Cannet's predecessors, twice at the Club World Championship. They lost 3-2 in the 2016 group stage, but won 3-1 in the 2016 third-place decider.
· A Turkish and French team meet for the first time at the Club World Championship.
· Vakifbank stayed unbeaten against Volero Zürich in eight matches in the Champions League (since 2000).
· Vakifbank have won eight of their last 11 CL matches against teams from France.
Vakifbank · Defending champions Vakifbank kicked off their 2018 Club World Championship campaign with a 3-0 win over debutants Zhejiang Women's Volleyball Club.
· Vakifbank can start a Club World Championship campaign with two straight-sets victories for the second time, after 2011.
· Ebrar Karakurt scored a match-high 17 points in Vakifbank's 3-0 victory on Tuesday, including 12 spikes.
· Karakurt (17) and Ting Zhu (16) combined for more points in Vakifbank's opener (33) than all players of Zhejiang Women's Volleyball Club combined (28, excluding opponent errors).
Volero Le Cannet· Tournament debutants Volero Le Cannet started their 2018 Club World Championship campaign with a 3-2 defeat against Minas Tenis Clube on Tuesday.
· The only side with two five-sets defeats at a single edition of the Club World Championship were Rexona Sesc-RJ in 2016.
· In last year's edition only one match needed a fifth set, the third-place decider between Voléro Zürich and Eczacibasi VitrA which Voléro won 3-2.
· Heidy Casanova Alvarez scored a match-high 25 points in Volero Le Cannet's opener, including 20 spikes.