The U.S. women’s national team excelled in the first round of the 2018 FIVB Women’s World Championship, defeating each of its five opponents in Pool C and advancing to the second round. 

The second round features two pools of eight, with the advancing teams from Pools B and C coming together to form Pool F and the top four teams from Pools A and D making up Pool E. Each team will then play the four teams in their new pool that they did not face in the first round.

That means the USA will compete in Pool F in Osaka, Japan, and face Bulgaria, Turkey, China, and Italy. Each team retains its record and points from the first round and at the end of the second round, the top three teams from Pool F and the top three teams from Pool E advance to the Final Six. 

Here’s what to know heading into the next round of Worlds matches.

Team USA

The USA is one of four undefeated teams advancing to the second round. Because two of the Americans’ victories came in five sets and earned them only one point instead of two, they have 13 total points and rank second in the Pool F standings behind Italy (15 points).

All 14 USA players on the Worlds roster saw the floor at some point during the first round. Setters Carli Lloyd and Micha Hancock, who head coach Karch Kiraly has often used in a double-sub, ran a well-balanced offense, taking advantage of the wide range of talent the USA can field, but also helping to keep the team as well-rested as possible during this long tournament. 

Despite bringing Megan Courtney along as a libero, Kiraly has retained Volleyball Nations League libero Kelsey Robinson as the starter, with the exception of during the Trinidad & Tobago when Kiraly played a second-string lineup and gave Courtney the nod.

Sarah Wilhite-Parsons has shown great potential in her first World Champs appearance, coming in as a serving sub in most matches and leading the team and ranking 11th in the tournament with 0.45 aces per set. 

Karsta Lowe, playing in her first major tournament since rejoining the team after taking a year off, has started in two matches and been used in the double sub in the other three. With 26 kills and six errors in 63 total attempts, Lowe boasts a .317 hitting percentage.

The Competition

Bulgaria | Saturday, October 6, 11:25 PM CT

Bulgaria barely made the cut for the second round, finishing its first-round pool with a 2-3 record and six total points. The team’s only wins came over Cuba and Canada, both of which did not advance.

Twenty-two-year-old Gergana Dimitrova leads the Bulgarian offense with 63 total point, and Hristina Ruseva has also been key at the net, averaging 0.82 blocks per set, which ranks her fifth in the competition. 

Despite mixed results so far at Worlds, Bulgaria has had some recent success, winning the FIVB Challenger Cup to earn a spot in the 2019 Volleyball Nations League.

Saturday’s match will mark the first time the U.S. and Bulgarian women’s teams have played each other the 2014 World Championship, during which the USA earned the sweep in pool play on the way to winning gold.

Turkey | Sunday, October 7, 11:25 PM CT

Turkey, on the other hand, is a familiar foe, with the U.S. women facing the No. 12-ranked Turks three times already this year. The USA holds a 2-1 lead in those three matches, losing in VNL pool play but defeating Turkey in the Final Six and again in the gold-medal match. Each of those three meetings went to five sets. 

So far at Worlds, Turkey boasts a 3-2 record, losing to China and and Italy and finishing third in Pool B, but just months ago, the Turks put on an incredible showing at VNL, going 11-4 overall and advancing to the final. 

At that event, and thus far at Worlds, Meryem Boz led Turkey’s offensive efforts, totaling 197 points at VNL and putting away 56 in the first five World Champs matches. 

China | Wednesday, October 10, 5:20 AM CT

This is one of the second-round matches we’ve got circled on our calendars and one worth waking up early for. China won Olympic gold in 2016, and the USA played China in the final of the 2014 World Championship. Just two months ago, the USA and China met in the Nations League semifinals, their second meeting of 2018 (the USA won both times).

China won its first three Worlds matches without dropping a set and finished the first round with a 4-1 record, the only loss coming at the hands of Italy. Six-foot-six Zhu Ting has once again established herself as the go-to hitter for China, collecting 75 kills and 87 total points. 

The USA leads the head-to-head series 2-0 this year, but as recently as 2017, China proved to be the stronger team, defeating the USA at World Grand Prix and World Grand Champions Cup, with the USA only getting one victory over the Chinese on the season. 

Italy | Thursday, October 11, 2:10 AM CT

After placing a disappointing sixth at VNL, the Italians appear to be playing with extreme focus and determination. Italy dropped only one set in the entire first round, the opener of its match with China, and its opponents averaged just 18 points per set. 

Nineteen-year-old Paola Egonu has led the Italian efforts in each of the team’s five matches and boasts 94 total points thus far. 

“Of course, Egonu is a very important player for us and gets some of the spotlight but [Lucia] Bosetti is also very important, particularly in terms of reception and defence, but she’s also good in attack so she’s a key player,” Italy head coach Davide Mazzanti said, referencing his second-highest offensive contributor Bosetti, a 29-year-old 5-9 outside hitter. 

In the one meeting between the USA and Italy so far this year, the Americans won in straight sets, however, Egonu was not on the roster for Italy during that match and her presence will no doubt make Thursday’s meeting more tightly contested.