Head-to-head· Dominican Republic and Russia will meet for the first time at the World Cup.
· Dominican won two of their three encounters with European sides at the last World Cup in 2011. They lost 3-0 to Italy, but defeated both Germany and Serbia in five sets.
· Dominican Republic have yet to beat Russia at a major international tournament, losing at the Olympic Games (2 matches), World Championship (6), World Grand Prix (2) and Grand Champions Cup (1).
· Their most recent meeting came at this year's World Grand Prix in the preliminary round. Russia beat Dominican in straight sets.
Dominican Republic· Dominican Republic will participate in the World Cup for the fourth time, after 2003, 2007 and 2011.
· Their best result in the competition came at the last World Cup in 2011 when they finished in eighth place.
· Dominican have won four of their last six World Cup matches, three of which in five sets.
· In their previous three participations, Dominican have not won their opening match, losing to Cuba in 2003, to Japan in 2007 and to Argentina in 2011.
Russia· This will be Russia's eighth participation in the World Cup and the first since 1999.
· Their best result came in the very first edition of the World Cup in 1973 when they won the tournament as Soviet Union.
· The only time Russia qualified for the Olympic Games by means of the World Cup was in 1999 when they finished second behind Cuba.
· Russia have won 26 of their last 29 World Cup matches, suffering one of the three defeats in this span in their last match in the competition (1999). They can lose back-to-back World Cup matches for the first time since 1985.
· Russia have the oldest player at the World Cup in their squad with 37-year-old Liubov Shashkova.