USA Men finish sixth in World League following loss to Brazil - Articles

The U.S. Men’s National Team saw its hopes of advancing to the semifinals of the FIVB World League fade away with a 24-26, 21-25, 28-26, 25-21, 15-12 loss to Brazil on Friday at Tauron Arena. The U.S. Men finish World League with an 8-3 record overall and a sixth-place finish. On Saturday, Serbia will play Italy in one semifinal while France will play Brazil in the other. The United States went into Friday’s match knowing it needed a three points to beat Italy and advance to the semifinals. That meant it had to beat Brazil, 3-0 or 3-1. “(Brazil) put out mostly reserve (players) and they played at a very high level,” U.S. Head Coach John Speraw said. “I thought that we played with much better enthusiasm ourselves, but we just didn’t execute. We truly have not executed at a level we would wish for most of the summer. Max Holt: “We’re going to have to take this break before the Olympic Games and evaluate, regroup and train as hard as we can to come back and play at a level we have been at the last two summers.” After the U.S. had won the first two sets, the match came down to the final points of the third. With Brazil leading 23-20, U.S. setter Micah Christenson dumped the ball and middle blocker David Lee followed by blocking Brazil’s Eder Carbonera. Outside hitter Taylor Sander’s attack on the next play looked like it went out of bounds, but a challenge by Speraw showed it had been...

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