Only two days of competition remain at the 2018 FIVB Women’s World Championship. 

The semifinals pit Serbia against the Netherlands and China against Italy, while the United States and Japan will battle to determine a fifth-place finisher. All remaining Worlds matches will be played in Yokohama, Japan.

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Although it lost its final match of Pool H to China, the Netherlands enters the semifinals having already made history, far surpassing its previous best Worlds finish of seventh. The team, led by head coach and former USA assistant Jamie Morrison, brings a 10-2 record into its semis matchup with Serbia. The Netherlands won the two teams’ most recent matchup, a sweep in the second round of pool play in which the Dutch squad kept Serbia below 21 points in each of the three sets. 

In this tournament, Dutch opposite Lonneke Sloetjes has established herself as one of the top players in the world and ranks second among all players with 238 total points. In the Netherlands’ five-set defeat of the USA to block the Americans’ chance at a medal, Sloetjes’ 38 points more than doubled the haul of the next highest points contributor.

Serbia came out hot to start the World Championship, sweeping its first seven opponents, including reigning Olympic champion Brazil, and in the final match of the third round, the Serbs handed Italy its first and only loss of the tournament so far. 

Offensively, Serbia relies on a one-two punch from Tijana Boskovic and Brankica Mihajlovic, who lead the team with 138 and 128 points, respectively. Boskovic had a match-high 29 points in the upset of Italy to close out Pool G. On defense, middle Milena Rasic puts up a wall at the net and ranks second in the tournament with 0.83 blocks per set. With four players ranked in the top 11 for aces per set, Serbia can also challenge teams from behind the service line.

In the second semifinal, China, which has only lost once in the entire tournament and not since the first round, faces all-but-undefeated Italy, the team that handed China that sole loss.

Italy’s Paola Egonu has been absolutely dominant throughout the tournament, and she leads all players with 246 points and 206 kills. With only 54 errors in 415 total attacks, the 19-year-old averages an impressive 0.366 hitting percentage.

On China’s side of the net, captain Zhu Ting leads with 191 total points. Look for fireworks as the left-side Ting lines up across the net from opposite Egonu. 

The USA has to settle for fighting for fifth after losing both its matches in the third-round and finishing third in its pool out of three teams behind the Netherlands and China.

Japan also lost both of its third-round pool matches; however, the Worlds host team showed great fight in a third-round five-set loss to then-undefeated Italy. In that match, serving and defense were strengths for the Japanese, as they out-served the Italians six to two and out-dug them 45 to 39.

Prior to the Final Six, Japan had only lost twice, to the Netherlands and Brazil, and the Japanese bring a 7-4 record into the fifth-place match.

Regardless of the outcome of the fifth-place match, the United States will end Worlds with its lowest finish since 2006, when the Americans took ninth. In three of the previous four World Championships, the U.S. women have at least advanced to the semifinals.

FIVB Women’s World Championship Finals Schedule

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Semifinal #1: Serbia vs. Netherlands

Thursday, October 18, 11:40 PM CT

Semifinal #2: China vs. Italy

Friday, October 19, 2:10 AM CT

Fifth-Place Match: USA vs. Japan

Friday, October 19, 5:20 AM CT