For the fourth time in just over a week, Brazil spoiled the hopes of Team USA. On Friday, the Brazil men's indoor national team overcame the U.S. men in five sets during the World League Final Six in Krakow, Poland.
Due to a loss to Italy earlier in the week, the U.S. men needed to defeat Brazil in three or four sets to advance to the semifinals. They seemed to be well on their way as they went up two sets to none, but Brazil rallied back, and Team USA's errors made it difficult to stop the Brazilians from winning sets three, four and five.
"In the third set, we didn't execute from the service line," Team USA captain David Lee said. "I think we can learn a lot from these matches, but now we are eager to get back home, take a rest and get ready before the main tournament in Rio."
"[Brazil's Coach Rezende] built a very good and deep team," USA head coach John Speraw said. "Today, he reached for reserves, and still delivered a good result... We need to regenerate and regroup before the Olympics. We need to analyze, train as far as we can and hopefully find the level at which we played in the past two summers."
During the Brazil match, outside hitter Aaron Russell suffered a leg injury and sat out the remainder of the match. Neither Russell nor USA Volleyball have made any comment as to the specifics of the injury.
The U.S. Men's National Team concluded its World League performance with an 8-3 overall record and a sixth-place finish.
Brazil, Italy, France and Serbia advanced to the semifinals, with Serbia eventually winning the championship match over Brazil and France claiming bronze.
Due to a loss to Italy earlier in the week, the U.S. men needed to defeat Brazil in three or four sets to advance to the semifinals. They seemed to be well on their way as they went up two sets to none, but Brazil rallied back, and Team USA's errors made it difficult to stop the Brazilians from winning sets three, four and five.
[Brazil's Coach Rezende] built a very good and deep team. Today, he reached for reserves, and still delivered a good result.
"In the third set, we didn't execute from the service line," Team USA captain David Lee said. "I think we can learn a lot from these matches, but now we are eager to get back home, take a rest and get ready before the main tournament in Rio."
"[Brazil's Coach Rezende] built a very good and deep team," USA head coach John Speraw said. "Today, he reached for reserves, and still delivered a good result... We need to regenerate and regroup before the Olympics. We need to analyze, train as far as we can and hopefully find the level at which we played in the past two summers."
During the Brazil match, outside hitter Aaron Russell suffered a leg injury and sat out the remainder of the match. Neither Russell nor USA Volleyball have made any comment as to the specifics of the injury.
The U.S. Men's National Team concluded its World League performance with an 8-3 overall record and a sixth-place finish.
Brazil, Italy, France and Serbia advanced to the semifinals, with Serbia eventually winning the championship match over Brazil and France claiming bronze.