The team ranked seventh in the world has already beaten South Korea, Germany and the Dominican Republic in Pool 1 going into the meeting with the host nation at the Brookshire Grocery Arena in Shreveport-Bossier City in Louisiana. 

Japan are seventh in the FIVB women's world rankings, and finished fourth in last year's VNL.

They began this year's campaign with a comfortable 25-17, 25-16, 25-11 win against South Korea, before a closer contest against Germany required them to come from two sets behind to triumph 25-27, 23-25, 25-20, 25-22, 15-12.

They overcame Dominican Republic 25-17, 20-25, 25-21, 25-10, before making a real statement of intent in their final match of the first week against the US, who have won all three editions of the women's VNL.

Outside hitters Sarina Koga and Arisa Inoue both scored 19 points en route to a 25-22, 25-20, 25-20 victory.

Japan's aggressive serving strategy paid dividends, and Inoue highlighted the importance of catching the Olympic champions off guard.

"We know they are the number one team in the world, so we had to come up with something they wouldn’t expect," she said.

"We tried to make them uncomfortable and confused and we were able to do it from the first set."

Japan lead the women's VNL standings with 11 points, and are the only unbeaten team after China suffered a surprise defeat to Thailand in their last match in Pool 2.

China had beaten The Netherlands 16-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-23, hosts Turkey 25-16, 20-25, 25-16, 25-22 and Italy 25-13, 20-25, 25-22, 25-18 going into their match against Thailand at the Ankara Arena, the venue in the Turkish capital which is also due to host the final round.

Pimpichaya Kokram scored 28 points for Thailand in their 25-23, 13-25, 14-25, 25-23, 15-11 success, which followed wins against Bulgaria and Olympic bronze medallists Serbia and a defeat to Belgium.

The US are third in the standings courtesy of their straight set wins against Dominican Republic, Canada and Brazil, the latter match a repeat of the Tokyo 2020 final and the last two VNL finals.

Brazil also won three matches in Pool 1 the first week against Germany, Poland and Dominican Republic who has them sixth in the standings.

Turkey and Serbia finished with three wins and one defeat in Pool 2 to rank fourth and fifth respectively, and their record was matched by eighth-placed Poland in Pool 1.

The 16 teams in the women's VNL are set to play Pools 3 and 4 in Brasilia and Quezon City respectively from June 14 to 19.

A further 32 matches are scheduled in the second week of the women's VNL - a further four for each team.

Hosts Turkey plus the other top seven ranked teams after the three weeks of preliminary round action qualify for the knockout final round in July.