Turin, Italy, September 28, 2018 - With both teams giving court time to their subs and resting key player ahead of Saturday's semifinals, Brazil shut out USA 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-19) to finish top of their pool in Round 3 of the 2018 FIVB Men's World Championship.
Both had already qualified to the semifinals and the result only served to determine who finished first and who second.
It was USA's very first defeat in the competition, after a run of nine straight wins. This leaves no team with a perfect record at the 2018 World Championship.
Saturday's semifinals:
• Brazil v second of Pool J (Serbia or Poland/Italy)
• First of Pool J (Serbia or Poland/Italy) v USA
Brazil's Lucas Loh gets blocked by USA's Benjamin Patch, assisted by Averill Taylor, Friday evening in Turin.
Despite the first place in Pool I at stake, both coaches chose to put their starters to rest: coach Marcelo Fronckowiak - standing in for Renan Dal Zotto - only confirmed Douglas Souza and Mauricio Douglas, and rewarded William Arjona after his astonishing performance against Russia.
While John Speraw moved Daniel McDonnell from middle blocker to wing spiker, like he did against Iran, and chose a complete turnover.
For the whole match the USA blockers had no half-measure: it was either killer block (7 total) or nothing at all. Brazil did not lose their temper and kept a very high attacking percentage (66%) with Evandro Guerra as the dominator: 75% attack percentage, 3 aces and one block for a match-high 19 points. The Selecao never lost their handle on the match and ended up victorious, closing Pool I in first place.
On the other side Team USA faced their first defeat in the whole tournament, with Jeffrey Jendrik II as coach Speraw's only consolation: the middle blocker hit 6 on 7 in attack, took two killer blocks, and completed with an ace for 9 total points.
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