Brazil advanced to the Men's Volleyball Semifinals after defeating Argentina on Wednesday. They won in three sets 25-19, 25-17, 25-20.
Sidnei Junior dos Santos finished with 9 spikes, two aces and 1 block, giving him 12 points in the match. Murilo Endres had 12 spikes and 2 blocks finishing with 14 points. Wallace de Souza added 8 spikes and 3 blocks, good for 11 points.
Brazil started out the first set with a 2-0 lead. Argentina tied them and then took a 3-2 lead. Brazil controlled the game after a 7-7 tie. They went on a 4-0 run, taking 11-7 lead. Argentina briefly stopped the flurry a points, as they scored, making it 11-8. However, Brazil went on another 4-0 to talk a 15-8 lead. The closest the Argentinians got after this point in the latter stages of the match when they got within five points with the score 18-23. Brazil put away the set with a spike from Endres.
In the second set, Argentina jumped out to the quick 2-0 lead. Brazil countered with two of their own and the game was tied at 2. The set went back and forth from ties and one point leads until Brazil went in front after a 10-10 tie. They went on a 3-0 run to take the 13-10 advantage.
From this point, Brazil would never look back as they wrapped up the set on a serve by dos Santos Junior that was mishandled by Argentina's Alexis Gonzalez.
Set three had Argentina scoring first and the Brazilians tying in the following game. It was a back and forth set like the previous two, with ties going all the way up to a 16-16 score. After this point, Brazil scored two consecutive points, taking the 18-16 advantage late in the game.
Once given this little bit of breathing room, Argentina finished the set on a 7-4 run to take the set and the victory.
Brazil will now wait for an opponent between the U.S. and Italy.
