The Russian women’s volleyball team have been beaten by Brazil in the quarterfinals of the FIVB World Grand Prix taking place in Macau, China and will now play in the bronze-medal game on Sunday.
Russia failed to capitalize on the set ball in the opener, gave away the second set without a fight and allowed their rivals to cut a six-point deficit in the third.
As a result the tournament’s favorites from Brazil cruised to a well-deserved straight-set victory with a 3:0 (26:24, 25:17, 25:23) scoreline.
Russia’s Katya Gamova still topped the scorers with 17 points, while the best Brazilian player Menezes Thaisa collected 15 points.
Russia’s head coach, Vladimir Kuzyutkin, wasn’t too upset with the final score after the game.
“Despite losing today’s match, I am still happy with the outcome,” he told the FIVB’s official website. “We played some new players in today’s game, so it is an inexperienced team. I am happy with what we learnt from today’s game, and there is no regret losing to such a strong team like Brazil.”
Team USA and Serbia are to clash for the second spot in the final in the other semi.