Lausanne, Switzerland, July 21, 2017 - Italy and the Dominican Republic meet for the 22nd time in an official competition, Saturday in Bangkok. But while the European side enjoy a very solid 17-4 lead in the series, the Caribbean team have won two of the last four encounters. After losing their two opening games of the season, Italy are now on a five-match winning streak. The Dominican Republic are 4-3, but all three of their defeats came from European sides.
Head-to-Head• Italy have won 17 of their 21 encounters with Dominican Republic at world level, but have only won two of their last four.
• The Dominicans' last major victory over Italy came at the 2014 World Championship, where they defeated the hosts in straight sets.
• Their most recent World Grand Prix encounter took place in the 2015, won 3-0 by Italy in Saitama, Japan.
• Italy have won 12 of the 14 matches in the World Grand Prix. Their only losses both came in five sets.
Italy• Italy (99) are one short of losing 100 World Grand Prix matches (W111).
• Italy have won five consecutive World Grand Prix matches, after beginning the 2017 campaign with two defeats.
• Italy could equal their longest World Grand Prix winning streak. They have been victorious in six in a row on four previous occasions, most recently from 2012 to 2013.
• Only two of those four six-match winning streaks came in a single World Grand Prix campaign (2005 and 2007).
• Paola Egonu scored a team-high 23 points in Italy's 3-1 win over Turkey on Friday.
Dominican Republic• Dominican Republic have won four of their seven 2017 World Grand Prix matches, with all three defeats coming against CEV opposition (Netherlands twice and Russia).
• Each of Dominican Republic's last eight World Grand Prix defeats have been against CEV opposition, including one versus Italy in that run.
• Dominican Republic's last three World Grand Prix matches have all gone to a deciding set (W2-L1).
• No player scored more points for Dominican Republic in their 3-2 victory over Thailand on Friday than Gina Mambru (25).