Veteran Brazilians Weather American Storm, Defend Home Court
All the pieces were in place for the U.S. Men’s National Team to take over the No. 1 spot in the Volleyball Nations League standings.
The Americans won their first two matches of Week 2 against Japan and Korea, and early Sunday, previous standings leader Poland lost its first match of the tournament. With a 2-0 lead over Brazil in their last match of the week, the U.S. men appeared well on their way to becoming the tournament’s new No. 1.
But the Brazilians, who are the oldest of all the 16 teams in VNL and have retained almost their entire Olympic-gold-medal winning roster from two years ago, countered Team USA’s hot start and enthusiasm with wisdom and determination, winning sets three and four to push the match to five.
In the fifth set, head coach John Speraw made a switch in the lineup, moving Matt Anderson to the outside and bringing in Ben Patch on the right, and it almost worked. Patch hit 1.000 with five kills on five attempts, and the USA had three match points in the fifth set.
But Brazil, led by Wallace De Souza and Mauricio Borges Almeida Silva, with 21 and 20 points respectively, ultimately won the match 21-25, 20-25, 25-19, 25-20, 20-18.