Turin, Italy, September 27, 2018 - Serbia, USA and Brazil have all qualified for the semifinals of the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship with a day to spare in Round 3 pool play - leaving one last spot to be decided on Friday between hosts Italy and defending champions Poland.
Serbia did it the hard way. They needed one set against Poland, fell in three, but eventually collected enough points to make sure they advanced.
Poland still need one set, or to gather more than 60 points in a straight-set defeat, when they come up against the hosts to close pool play on Friday evening - otherwise it's the Italians who join Serbia in qualifying from their pool.
USA's Daniel McDonnell hits past Ilyas Kurkaev as the Americans overwhelm Russia for a ticket to the semifinals of the 2018 FIVB World Championship.
With problems in reception and subsequently not too many choices in attacking, Russia were just not up to the task when they came up against USA, having already lost their opening match in dramatic fashion to Brazil.
The reigning European champions fell to the Americans in straight sets and took the way home early, allowing Brazil to advance without even playing today.
All USA and Brazil have to do now is sort out first place in their pool to determine semifinals pairings.
Match Centres:
• USA - Russia (Pool I) 3-0
• Poland - Serbia (Pool J) 3-0
Play continues on Friday at the Pala Alpitour as the final round of pool play concludes, ahead of Saturday's semifinals and Sunday's medal matches.
Match Centres for Fridy 28 September in Turin:
• Brazil v USA (Pool I) at 17:00 local time (15:00 GMT)
• Italy v Poland (Pool J) at 21:15 local time (19:15 GMT)
David Smith and Aaron Russell celebrate USA's victory over Russia that saw the Americans and Brazil advance to the semifinals of the 2018 FIVB World Championship.
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