Brazil will make their third consecutive semifinals appearance at the Olympic Games, following their four-set triumph over South American rivals Argentina
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 17, 2016 – Brazil claimed the final semifinal spot, as they prevailed over their South American rivals Argentina 3-1 (25-22, 17-25, 25-17, 25-19) in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games men’s volleyball quarterfinals at Maracanazinho on Wednesday.
Brazil have been in the semifinals of the Olympic Games six times. They have won gold medals at Barcelona 1992 and Athens 2004, and silver medals at Los Angeles 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
Brazilian opposite Wallace de Souza had a prolific scoring night as he hammered all his 24 points from the attack line. Mauricio Lima, Luis Felipe Fonteles (Lipe) and Lucas Saatkamp also contributed 11 points each for the Brazilian victory. Cristian Poglajen notched 14 points for Argentina, followed by Facundo Conte, who scored 12 markers.
Argentina got the head start in the first set, but lost their concentration after Conte’s bad fall. Conte’s absence allowed Brazil to stay within striking distance, but Argentina kept their lead, with Poglajen leading them on the attack. Conte came back in but could not make his presence felt, while Wallace and Lipe turned things around for the hosts. Brazil led 22-20 then raced to the end, as Argentina suffered on a string of errors 25-22.
Argentina bounced back and notched some points from Conte and Bruno Lima to help out Poglajen. The score was tied at 8-all, but Argentina took command of the second set after they scored five straight points. Argentina triumphed in the second set 25-17 after Jose Luis Gonzalez’s spike.
Wallace and Mauricio scored two points each to open the third set, then Sebastien Sole stopped the Brazilian run with a spike from the middle. Lipe, Wallace and Mauricio continued with their onslaught that kept the hosts in the lead. Brazil reached set point then the final point was awarded to them after the successful challenge 25-19.
Both sides displayed with so much intensity in the fourth set and the final plays led to a draw at 23-all. Luis Gonzalez’s service error gave Brazil match point. Luciano De Cecco’s risky drop shot was kept alive by the home team to set-up Wallace’s counter-attack that touched the Argentine block 25-23.
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