Team USA pulled off a stunner to highlight Thursday’s men’s volleyball action at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The men’s volleyball tournament resumed on Thursday with six matches, including a critical contest between Brazil and the United States to close out the evening.
After being upset twice to begin the tournament, Team USA looked to be in trouble going up against medal favorites Brazil. Playing in must-win mode, the Americans cut down on the unforced errors that have plagued them in Rio and surprisingly took the first two sets 25-20, 25-23 to set up a potential stunner.
Brazil responded with a 25-20 set win in the third to get the home crowd back in the match. The Americans responded by racing out to a 9-3 lead and held on 25-20 to move into a tie for fourth place in Pool A and potentially save their Olympics. Matt Anderson led all scorers with 24 points, while Aaron Russell and Taylor Sander also had their best games of the tournament.
The morning opened with three straight sweeps in Pool B action, as a few teams have clearly separated themselves. Iran outlasted winless Cuba 31-29 in the second set before putting the match away comfortably in the third, while Russia easily beat Egypt behind eight blocks from Artem Volvich.
One of the surprises of the third round was Poland sweeping Argentina to march to the top of the Pool B standings. Four players had at least 10 points for Poland, as it took a team effort to put away Argentina 37-35 in the third set.
In the most important match of the day for Pool A, France moved into third place in with a quick victory over Canada, which has lost three straight since upsetting the United States in the opener. Earvin Ngapeth had 21 points for France in one of the most impressive individual performances of the day.
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Italy continued its perfect start to the tournament with a 25-17. 25-13, 25-17 sweep over winless Mexico to move ahead of Brazil at the top of Pool A. Fillipo Lanza had 14 points on 10 spikes and three blocks to continue the strong effort for the Italians.