Head-to-Head
• Japan have won six of their seven WGP matches against Dominican Republic, including the last three.
• Dominican Republic's victory in this series was a 3-0 win in 2008. This is also the only match in which the Dominicans won the opening set.
• Japan also beat them in the second round group phase at last year's World Championship: 3-2.
Japan
• Japan gave up a 2-1 lead in sets on Friday to lose 3-2 to Italy in front of a home crowd in Saitama.
• Sarina Koga scored 28 points against Italy, most for a Japanese player in a match this season.
• They had only seven points from blocks in their five-set loss against Italy.
• Japan have won 98 matches in the WGP and they need to beat Dominican Republic and China in the remaining matches this weekend to reach 100.
Dominican Republic
• Dominican Republic extended their run of defeats to in the WGP to nine, including all four in this year's campaign.
• Dominican Republic have lost their last four matches in straight sets. On their WGP debut in 2004, they lost their first matches in straight sets.
• Gaila Ceneida Gonzalez Lopez scored 12 points against China on Friday. She is the first Dominican player to score more than 10 points in a match this season.
• Ceneida Gonzalez Lopez has scored a total of 12 points in her previous three matches.