San Juan, Puerto Rico, May 19, 2016 - The home-court advantage will not be the only thing Puerto Rico will be counting on to start the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Olympic Qualification Tournament in San Juan successfully, with a win against Algeria.
Head-to-head
• Puerto Rico and Algeria have never met at a world level tournament.
• Puerto Rico have won all of their matches against African sides at major tournaments. They beat Kenya at the 2002 and 2010 World Championship (3-1, 3-0) and Cameroon at the 2006 World Championship (3-0).
• Puerto Rico won their last World Olympic Qualification match against a team from Africa. They beat Nigeria in straight sets in 2004.
• Algeria played five matches against teams from North and Central America in 2015, failing to win any of them. They only managed to win a set against Mexico at the 2015 World Grand Prix (3-2).
Puerto Rico
• Puerto Rico are hoping to qualify for their first Olympic Games. They can become the sixth North & Central American side to qualify after Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico and United States.
• Puerto Rico have won only one of their last nine matches at the World Olympic Qualification tournament. In 2008, they prevailed in five sets against Kazakhstan.
• Puerto Rico have failed to win any set in their last three matches at the World Olympic Qualification.
• Puerto Rico finished in fourth place at the 2015 Pan American Games.
Algeria
• Algeria have participated twice at the Olympic Games. They finished joint-11th in both 2008 and 2012.
• Algeria are one of the two African teams that have participated at the Olympic Games alongside Kenya. Both teams never won a match at the Olympic Games.
• Algeria finished as runners-up in the 2015 African Championship after losing the gold medal match in straight sets to Kenya.
• That was their fourth medal at the African Championships in the last five editions - one gold (2009) and three silver (2007, 2011, 2015).