Bangkok, Thailand, July 7, 2016 – Defending Olympic champions Brazil annihilated the European champions Russia in convincing straight sets 25-22 25-10 25-21 to storm their ways to the semi-finals of the 2016 FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix Finals at the Indoor Stadium Hua Mark on Thursday.
Sheilla Castro remained a point collector for Brazil to be reckoned with as the veteran attacker top scored with 14 points for the team, all of them through sharp spikes. Natalia Goncharova led Russia with 12 point consisting of 10 kills from 31 attempts and two stuff blocks.
Both Brazil and Russia started up in full strength in the opening set to trade points from the beginning. However, the Brazil’s solid blocks from Thaisa Menezes and Natalia Pereira worked out pretty well as Brazil sealed the first-set win 25-22.
Holding a 1-0 advantage, Brazil continued their brilliant run in the second set, while the Russians became more prone with hasty unforced mistakes. Brazil took the completely one-sided set 25-10 to stretch it to 2-0.
Russia put their acts together in the third set, hoping to revive their fortunes. They chased from trailing 14-18 to narrow the margin 19-22. However, as Brazil were leading 24-21, Sheila Castrol overpowered the taller blockers with her exceptional spike to help the team win 25-21 and match.
Following the scintillating win over Russia, world No.3 Brazil, which the previous day outclassed hosts Thailand in straight sets, had six points from two straight wins to assure them a semi-final berth at the Bangkok Finals.
Russia on Friday play a must-win match against Thailand. A loss to the host side means a drop from the semi-finals and instead contest the fifth-sixth place playoff.
After the match, Russia captain Kosianenko Ekaterina said, “We are very disappointed with our today’s performance. We didn’t play well as expected. Brazil played very well while we made so many mistakes. We will try to play better for the next match against Thailand.”
Russia coach Yury Marichev commented: “We didn’t play according to our game plan today. We will go back to prepare for the next match against Thailand. I think it’s going to be tough to play against them in front of packed home crowd.”
Brazil captain Claudino Fabiana said, “We had a good preparation for this match. We used a lot of power as we and Russia have the similar tactics and size.”
Brazil coach Jose Roberto Lages Guimaraes added, “We really played a good match. Now we are in the first of the group. We are waiting for the next game as we don’t know whom we will play with. It can be Netherlands, China or USA.”
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