In the second half of the women's volleyball semifinals, Japan will face off against the 2008 Olympic champions of Brazil at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Saori Kimura and Yukiko Ebata have shown some great quality in offense for Japan in a classy quarterfinal with China as they scored 33 points apiece.
Japan will have to reverse a pretty negative record on the Olympic arena having lost all previous matches with Brazil, three, to be able to make it to the final, something a Japanese team has not accomplished since the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.
Sheilla Castro will be the major threat for the Japanese back line and block, especially as she has gradually stepped up the quality of her performances throughout the tournament.
Brazil has reached the semifinals in the last seven Olympics. The team's only gold medal came at the Beijing Games when it went undefeated and beat the United States in the final.
Brazil made it to these semifinals after defeating Russia in 24-26, 25-22, 19-25, 25-22, 21-19 set wins.
Castro scored 27 points for second-ranked Brazil. Ninth-ranked Russia was led by Liubov Shashkova with 28 points for ninth-ranked Russia.
Brazil defeated the Russians in straight sets in Beijing. The two teams also met in the 2010 world championships final, with Russia winning 3-2. Brazil beat Russia in their last meeting in the 2011 World Grand Prix semifinals.
