Brazil celebrate 3-0 victory in their rematch with Russia in the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship
Lodz, Poland, September 17, 2014 – Brazil are back on the winning track after beating Russia in straight sets (25-22, 25-20, 25-21) in the second match of the third round in Pool H of the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship at the Atlas Arena on Wednesday.
Key Points
• In their rematch with Russia, Brazil came up with a much better win than their 3-1 victory in the second round with a straight sets victory.
• Russia have now lost four in a row against Brazil at the World Championship.
• Ricardo Lucarelli and Wallace De Souza outscored the Russian scorers, charting 15 and 14 points, respectively.
• Lucarelli had a solid offensive game, scoring 14 of his 15 points on the attack line.
Brazil bounced back after their loss to Poland on Tuesday with a full roster, with Murilo Endres suiting up as starter for the Brazilian side. The Brazilians were focused to stay on tract for a qualification to the semifinals. With their opponents being on a similar situation, both sides started the game with closer rallies in the first set.
Brazil eventually gained a three-point advantage at the second technical timeout. Russia seemed to have woken up as Dmitriy Muserskiy and Dmitriy Ilinykh finally showed their power in block. Andrey Voronkov’s team levelled the score at 20-all, forcing Bernardo Rezende to call timeout. The break gave them a breather to take the next three points to clinch the set 25-22.
The second set had a similar start than the first set, with Brazil gaining control after the close rallies. Brazil maintained a two- to three-point lead until the turning point at 11-9, when Russia won the point over a long rally. Nikolay Pavlov’s ace gave Russia the advantage but the play continued on a point-by-point exchange. Nevertheless, Brazil quickly recovered and took the lead 21-18, which caused Voronkov to call timeout. The break did not help the Russian side as the Brazilians carried the momentum and romped into victory 25-20.
The 10-minute break between the sets proved to be very useful for the Russians, who came back to the court reborn – with new strength and determination. They took charge of the play and quickly jumped ahead to an 8-5 lead, giving the Brazilians some scare for the first time in the match.
Brazil somehow recovered and tied the score at 10-all, from excellent defence and powerful spikes by their opposite Wallace and outside hitter Lucarelli. The score remained close for a while, but then Russia had two service setbacks from Muserskiy that Brazilians capitalised on. Brazil showed excellent blocking at the end game to secure set and match 25-21.